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Delicieuxz
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- May 11, 2016
- Messages
- 1,686
I recently bought a pair of NOS woofers for some old monitors, and I bought a pair that had matching appearances. For whatever reason, available stock of these woofers vary a lot in the construction of the rear magnet, the colour of the speaker cone, and the size and material of the dust cap. So, I bought a pair that was visually matching, which have much larger dust-caps than my originals.
After breaking the new woofers in for a few weeks (which should be more than enough time for the speakers to settle into their permanent character), they still have a noticeably higher resonant frequency than the originals they're replacing. With an original woofer in one monitor, and a new one in the other, if I pan the audio left and right, I hear a wooshing noise when shifting to the new speaker, as the sound becomes much brighter. Though the monitor with the new speaker generally sounds brighter than the other monitor, even with an old speaker installed in it, the difference with the old speakers isn't so much that I get a wooshing effect when I pan the audio between left and right monitors. And I don't like the significantly-increased resonant frequency of the new monitors.
From what I've read online, the smaller and more conical the dust cap is, the more top-end sizzle the speaker should have, while the more sudden the frequency change between the speaker cone and the dust-cap should be. And the larger and more gradually-curved the dust cap is, the less top-end brightness it should generate, and the shift from the speaker's lowest frequencies to its highest frequencies should be more even / gradual. I'm also thinking that having a large dust cap means more of the speaker cone is reinforced along the circumference of the dust cap, where it's glued to the speaker cone, and that this will limit the travel of the speaker cone and dampen a larger portion of its frequency response compared to a smaller dust cap.
So, I'm considering returning these woofers, as I have another week to do that (have to pay return shipping at a 15% restocking fee) and buying some others that I've since found that closely resemble the cone / dust-cap proportions of the original speakers I have, having smaller dust caps, hoping to get a more similar frequency response to my originals. What I suspect is that, according to the principles of dust caps, the woofers with the smaller dust cap might produce a higher maximum frequency, but at the same time also a fuller low-mid frequency range, due to the dust cap not being glued as far down the speaker cone, and thus focusing its dampening where the cone produces higher frequencies instead of middle frequencies. I'm not sure whether I'd end up with even brighter-sounding speakers than the NOS ones I got, or fuller-sounding ones with some additional sizzle. Or whether the significantly-increased brightness of the NOS woofers I got is only because they haven't been used for 30 years and they're closer to how my original woofers sounded when they were new.
Anyone have insight on this topic?
After breaking the new woofers in for a few weeks (which should be more than enough time for the speakers to settle into their permanent character), they still have a noticeably higher resonant frequency than the originals they're replacing. With an original woofer in one monitor, and a new one in the other, if I pan the audio left and right, I hear a wooshing noise when shifting to the new speaker, as the sound becomes much brighter. Though the monitor with the new speaker generally sounds brighter than the other monitor, even with an old speaker installed in it, the difference with the old speakers isn't so much that I get a wooshing effect when I pan the audio between left and right monitors. And I don't like the significantly-increased resonant frequency of the new monitors.
From what I've read online, the smaller and more conical the dust cap is, the more top-end sizzle the speaker should have, while the more sudden the frequency change between the speaker cone and the dust-cap should be. And the larger and more gradually-curved the dust cap is, the less top-end brightness it should generate, and the shift from the speaker's lowest frequencies to its highest frequencies should be more even / gradual. I'm also thinking that having a large dust cap means more of the speaker cone is reinforced along the circumference of the dust cap, where it's glued to the speaker cone, and that this will limit the travel of the speaker cone and dampen a larger portion of its frequency response compared to a smaller dust cap.
So, I'm considering returning these woofers, as I have another week to do that (have to pay return shipping at a 15% restocking fee) and buying some others that I've since found that closely resemble the cone / dust-cap proportions of the original speakers I have, having smaller dust caps, hoping to get a more similar frequency response to my originals. What I suspect is that, according to the principles of dust caps, the woofers with the smaller dust cap might produce a higher maximum frequency, but at the same time also a fuller low-mid frequency range, due to the dust cap not being glued as far down the speaker cone, and thus focusing its dampening where the cone produces higher frequencies instead of middle frequencies. I'm not sure whether I'd end up with even brighter-sounding speakers than the NOS ones I got, or fuller-sounding ones with some additional sizzle. Or whether the significantly-increased brightness of the NOS woofers I got is only because they haven't been used for 30 years and they're closer to how my original woofers sounded when they were new.
Anyone have insight on this topic?
