Can the location of the bass inductor in a SDA-1A affect bass output?

machone

Recently I tested three different bass inductors. I used a temporary terminal strip to make changing the inductors easy. I decided on the Solen.

I removed the temporary wiring and permanently installed the Solen. I have only finished one speaker but I believe there may be less bass. I checked polarity using a battery and everything checks out.

One thing that did change is that in the temporary setup the Solen was near the bottom of the cabinet mounted on the stiffener perpendicular to the back and now it has been moved just to the right of the original inductor and attached to the back of the cabinet parallel to the back.

Can the location of the bass inductor in a SDA-1A affect bass output?

F1nut

Absolutely. I believe most find it sounds best mounted to the cross brace as you had it.

westmassguy

Also make sure you use non-ferrous, non-magnetic mounting hardware, and keep it a safe distance from other Inductors.

machone

Thanks guys.

I didn't want to say anything until I had a second listening session but after asking this question last night I moved it back to the cross brace and it is better there!

I will listen again tonight to confirm.

machone

Westmassguy. What is a safe distance?

TennMan

westmassguy wrote: »

Also make sure you use non-ferrous, non-magnetic mounting hardware, and keep it a safe distance from other Inductors.

I guess I should have asked about this before mounting my Erse inductors in my 2BTLs. I didn't seem to notice any bad effects between how I have them mounted now and when they were laying on the floor of the speakers for testing. My meter still reads the same if they are mounted this way or on the floor. Did I make a big mistake doing this that should be corrected?

westmassguy

machone wrote: »

Westmassguy. What is a safe distance?

It depends, there are a lot of factors that come into play. The physical size of the inductor, orientation, type of inductor etc..
If you have a big air core, which I believe the Solen is, It should be a good distance away.

westmassguy

TennMan wrote: »

westmassguy wrote: »

Also make sure you use non-ferrous, non-magnetic mounting hardware, and keep it a safe distance from other Inductors.

I guess I should have asked about this before mounting my Erse inductors in my 2BTLs. I didn't seem to notice any bad effects between how I have them mounted now and when they were laying on the floor of the speakers for testing. My meter still reads the same if they are mounted this way or on the floor. Did I make a big mistake doing this that should be corrected?

I would have mounted it to the back wall, above the crossover, and close to the inside corner, or on the bottom, out in front as far as possible. The Erse have a focused magnetic field, so I'm not that concerned, it's the smaller air core's that would be affected more. Even though its mounted perpendicular to the closest small inductor, the Erse has a big chunk of steel inside.

machone

It is a Solen air core, 3.50" diameter and is cable tied to a 3d printed mount. Two screws attach the mount to the cabinet.






I moved it far away from the stereo mid driver and tweeter circuitry but it is only a couple of inches from the SDA driver circuit. Probably OK but easy to move further away.

westmassguy

What kind of screws? They should be Stainless or Brass.
As long as the windings are 90 degrees from the closest Inductor, you should be fine.

machone

Just wood screws. I'll change them out to SS tonight. Would that be 90 degrees from the centerline of the inductor? The centerline being like an axle attaching to a wheel.

westmassguy

Seeing is easier than describing it.

machone

A picture is worth a thousand words! Thanks.

machone

I moved the bass inductor further down, closed everything up and listened. I did not like the sound. It seemed like everything was there but not musical. I figured it must have been my mood. But then I moved it back and the good sound returned.
I will listen again tonight. I need to make sure that it sounds good at the beginning of the session to eliminate system warmup as a variable.