Tony L
Administrator
Is there a delay/timing or whatever option in REW where you can largely dial-out the effect of the room across the whole bass area, say 20Hz through to say 600Hz? I’m curious whether part of what you are unhappy with is some kind of cancellation artefact of the 66’s ABR design.
I certainly like 66s based on memory, but there are always imperfections with this kind of loading as at certain frequencies the air-spring of the cabinet volume along with the mass of the ABR means the main driver is moving ‘out’ and the ABR ‘in’, therefore cancelling rather than doubling or augmenting bass. Celestion knew what they were doing, and they are clearly good speakers, but the passage of 45 years or whatever may have impacted the surrounds, spider etc and I guess there is a possibility this artefact has shifted in frequency or consistency from its original specification.
To be honest I have issues with anything aside from sealed boxes, bass horns or dipoles. I do not like ports, I’m not a huge fan of transmission lines, and ABRs would again not be my conceptual choice, though they can offer some benefits over ports. I certainly view them as being far closer to a port than a sealed box in the way they behave and interact with a room. Despite saying all this you’ll find a large pair of Lockwood cabs in my living room, they are technically ‘aperiodic’ loading, a very damped low-q port that behaves more like an open back guitar cab to my mind, i.e. it doesn’t really create or reinforce bass. Again not ideal, but they work in my room as whatever that big hole is doing it is nowhere near my primary 41Hz room node!
I’d love to see measurements for a good hefty sealed box speaker in your room, e.g. NS1000s, Gale 401s, even a pair of 44s, something like that, and also an anechoic plot for the 66 to see what its ABR bass arrangement is actually producing, i.e. where exactly it is cancelling, doubling or impacting phase, as I suspect it will be somewhere.
I certainly like 66s based on memory, but there are always imperfections with this kind of loading as at certain frequencies the air-spring of the cabinet volume along with the mass of the ABR means the main driver is moving ‘out’ and the ABR ‘in’, therefore cancelling rather than doubling or augmenting bass. Celestion knew what they were doing, and they are clearly good speakers, but the passage of 45 years or whatever may have impacted the surrounds, spider etc and I guess there is a possibility this artefact has shifted in frequency or consistency from its original specification.
To be honest I have issues with anything aside from sealed boxes, bass horns or dipoles. I do not like ports, I’m not a huge fan of transmission lines, and ABRs would again not be my conceptual choice, though they can offer some benefits over ports. I certainly view them as being far closer to a port than a sealed box in the way they behave and interact with a room. Despite saying all this you’ll find a large pair of Lockwood cabs in my living room, they are technically ‘aperiodic’ loading, a very damped low-q port that behaves more like an open back guitar cab to my mind, i.e. it doesn’t really create or reinforce bass. Again not ideal, but they work in my room as whatever that big hole is doing it is nowhere near my primary 41Hz room node!
I’d love to see measurements for a good hefty sealed box speaker in your room, e.g. NS1000s, Gale 401s, even a pair of 44s, something like that, and also an anechoic plot for the 66 to see what its ABR bass arrangement is actually producing, i.e. where exactly it is cancelling, doubling or impacting phase, as I suspect it will be somewhere.