Could a large cabinet present sound problems

kidglove13
kidglove13 Posts: 207
edited June 2012 in Vintage Speakers
So here is my issue.

I have a really large piece of furniture/Cabinet between my SDA's and I cant move it because of the WAF.

And this is the only place in the room that I can put the speakers

Right now the speakers are 5'-6" apart and 27" from side wall and about 13 inches from the rear wall. Speaker faces are about 2-3 inches forward of the cabinet face

The drivers have been dynamated and it did tighten things up quite a bit.

But it seems that I am getting quite a bit of resonance from the large cabinet in between the speakers.

Is this possible and could this cabinet cause sound issues?
Post edited by kidglove13 on
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  • Toolfan66
    Toolfan66 Posts: 17,243
    edited May 2012
    Can you move the cabinet out for a few and see how they sound? I'm going to say yes that cabinet can produce sound do to vibrations..
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  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,496
    edited May 2012
    Larry is right, that cabinet is causing problems with the audio produced by your 1C's. Another setup would help greatly. The 1C's seem to be too far out from the back wall as well. You should spike them as well.
    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....

    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

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  • kidglove13
    kidglove13 Posts: 207
    edited May 2012
    The setup location is what it is, I have no other options at this point because of the WAF
    I cant move the speakers closer to the back wall do to the large cabinet and at 13 inches from the back wall now it is not that bad.

    Moving the cabinet is another story all of my equipment is in the bottom half and that thing is one heavy SOB.
    I might try and move it.
    The picture is old the, the speakers have new hardwood bases and are spiked.
    I wonder if there is some way I can deaden the cabinet?
    How far should I keep the speaker faces out in front of the cabinet face without having interference?
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  • headrott
    headrott Posts: 5,496
    edited May 2012
    I now remember you saying you added new bases for your speakers. I didn't know you spiked them however. That's good news.

    Ideally, the cabinet should not be in between the SDA's, but due to the WAF, I understand completely. Technically, no matter how far in front of the cabinet you put the SDA's they are going to interface with the cabinet inbetween them. That's why I am saying the cabinet needs to go, ideally. That said, if you put the SDA's about 3 to 4 inches in front of the cabinet face it will help some. I hope this helps you out.
    Relayer-Big-O-Poster.jpg
    Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
    "I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion." :\
    My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....

    "Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson

    "Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee
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  • Joe08867
    Joe08867 Posts: 3,919
    edited May 2012
    Can you Dynamat the interior of the cabinet? A couple of strips along the side and back walls should help with resonance vibration.

    I had to do this with a cheap cabinet I had. It would vibrate the cab which made the doors buzz. I used two 4inch strips down the inside of the walls and two 6inch wide strips along the outside of the back wall. It made the cabinet much more stable and all but eliminated the buzz.
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  • TennMan
    TennMan Posts: 1,266
    edited May 2012
    The resonance you hear could be the cabinet doors vibrating against the door facing. Have you tried putting felt bumpers between them? It might help.
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  • skrol
    skrol Posts: 3,375
    edited May 2012
    I have a similar issue with book cases next to my RTA11TL's. The bass seems a little muddy. For kicks I placed some sofa cushions between and it improved. Perhaps some type of room treatment panel would do the trick?
    Stan
    Stan

    Main 2ch:
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    HT:
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  • westmassguy
    westmassguy Posts: 6,850
    edited June 2012
    TennMan wrote: »
    The resonance you hear could be the cabinet doors vibrating against the door facing. Have you tried putting felt bumpers between them? It might help.
    My thoughts exactly. Make sure all the doors have either felt or rubber bumpers on them so they don't rattle. Home Depot or any good hardware store will have them. Also, as Joe08867 says the cabinet sides and especially the rear panel could be vibrating. Dynamat might ruin the value of the cabinet though. Some crossbracing, stained to match, and glued to the inside of the panels should work as well.
    Home Theater/2 Channel:
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited June 2012
    You and your SDA's are in quite the paradoxical situation: As you move them closer to the front wall to achieve better bass response, the cabinet will interfere more, and as you move them farther into the room to avoid the pitfalls of the cabinet, your bass response will suffer. Just experiment and find a happy medium... plus do as others have suggested and make sure the cabinet is not vibrating.

    The cabinet really poses (2) separate audio problems:

    1) Its existence in that space will affect stereo imaging and soundstage. You can't re-mediate this without removing it.

    2) It may be vibrating or creating other sounds of its own. You can re-mediate this by dampening it as suggested above.


    All in all, I don't see it as a big problem. There are much worse configurations that people have to deal with.


    Enjoy them SDA's!:cheesygrin:
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  • heiney9
    heiney9 Posts: 25,165
    edited June 2012
    falconcry72 wrote: »


    All in all, I don't see it as a big problem. There are much worse configurations that people have to deal with.


    Enjoy them SDA's!:cheesygrin:

    Actually it is quite a big problem as having something inbetween the cabinet severly limits the soundstage as the waves bounce of the side of cabinet, plus where the cabinet is makes it nothing more than a resonating chamber. Even if you could use Dynamat to keep it from audibly vibrating it's still a hollow resonating cabinet inbetween two large speakers. It may not be the worst set-up, but it definitely will diminsih performance by a large degree. I learned a long time ago no matter what speakers you have, having a large cabinet or entertainment center inbetween is much less than ideal.

    H9
    "Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul!
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  • kidglove13
    kidglove13 Posts: 207
    edited June 2012
    Well I have been messing around with this thing for a few days now.
    My end results: I took the wifes crap out of the upper part of the cabinet. There was only a few small things in this giant upper cabinet which is like a huge hollow chamber.
    I put some large pillows in the upper cabinet.
    Like someone said it is a trade off.
    Well the speakers sit about 13" of the back wall and with the upper cabinet filled with pillows the bass response is actually really tight right now, all things considered
    The face of the speakers sit about 3-4 inches in front of the cabinet as well so no interference.
    Who would of thought a couple of large pillows would have done the job
    The WAF is not very high but I dont care she will get over it.
    The living room doubles as my office and there are times where I listen to music all day while working.
    Thanks
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  • brunk
    brunk Posts: 11
    edited June 2012
    May good fortune come to you with better placement someday :D
    kidglove13 wrote: »
    Well I have been messing around with this thing for a few days now.
    My end results: I took the wifes crap out of the upper part of the cabinet. There was only a few small things in this giant upper cabinet which is like a huge hollow chamber.
    I put some large pillows in the upper cabinet.
    Like someone said it is a trade off.
    Well the speakers sit about 13" of the back wall and with the upper cabinet filled with pillows the bass response is actually really tight right now, all things considered
    The face of the speakers sit about 3-4 inches in front of the cabinet as well so no interference.
    Who would of thought a couple of large pillows would have done the job
    The WAF is not very high but I dont care she will get over it.
    The living room doubles as my office and there are times where I listen to music all day while working.
    Thanks
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