RTA11TL Bass Response

skrol

The upgrades to the tweeters and XO really breathed new life into my RTA11TLs for the mid through highs. However, I am having difficulty with the bass response in that it can get muddy at times. I may be a placement issue as I believe that they are too close to the walls (1.5' side wall and 1' back wall). The owners manual does not make any recommendation regarding distance from walls. What would be acceptable distances from the back and side walls?

Also, when I upgraded the XO, I had used Jantzen caps for the mid-woofers. I kept the original inductors. I later read that Daytons would be a better choice for the mid-woofer caps but never got an explanation why. Could it be my choice in caps?

I also added some additional absorption material to thecabinets. Could this be the cause?

I have come to realize that not all of our efforts to improve upon a design result in improvements and may be the contrary.

Thanks
Stan

Face

What type of material, how much, and where did you put it in the cabinet?

heiney9

They need to be farther out from the wall and only being 1.5 feet from the side walls is going to create the issue's you are having.

I had 11T's with plenty of breathing room and they were never muddy sounding.

GL

H9

skrol

Face wrote: »

What type of material, how much, and where did you put it in the cabinet?

Ken from Polk told me that the damping material should be above and behind each MW. See photo.

I added more damping material because there didn't seem to be enough Daycron present to place it per Ken's recommendation. I placed Sonic Barrier (1" Acoustic Foam w/PSA) directly behind the MWs. The original Daycron was placed horizontally just above each of the WMs. There is nothing behind the PR's and nothing on the bottom.

agfrost

Keep us informed as to any results you see as you experiment with placement or anything else. I've got 11TLs and am currently sitting on Sonicaps/Daytons (same as you did except with the Dayton 33uF in place of your Jantzens) until I get time to sit and do some soldering.

Hope you find a solution to better your bass!

Jay

skrol

I think I'll try placing them in the middle of the room to see if the bass cleans up before I try re-doing any of the internals.

Another change to my system was that I replaced my old Denon CD player with a Denon DVD-2910. The DVD-2910 seems to have higher output and seems much more lively than the old CD player.

Face

The placement of material should be fine, if anything, a nice improvement. In your case, I believe the most important thing is to keep it away from the PR's.

As the others have mentioned, placement is probably your issue. As for the Jantzen as a shunt capacitor, I doubt that's the issue either, but you never know.

skrol

For my education and others, why is it important to keep the absorption material away from the PRs?

Face

skrol wrote: »

For my education and others, why is it important to keep the absorption material away from the PRs?

The PR acts as a tuned port and any material around it can interfere.

John30_30

skrol wrote: »

Ken from Polk told me that the damping material should be above and behind each MW. See photo.

I added more damping material because there didn't seem to be enough Daycron present to place it per Ken's recommendation. I placed Sonic Barrier (1" Acoustic Foam w/PSA) directly behind the MWs. The original Daycron was placed horizontally just above each of the WMs. There is nothing behind the PR's and nothing on the bottom.

Maybe you should take out what you added? Also check for any obvious air leakage.

skrol

Eureka! I found it. The problem was my disk player. When I got it off fleebay it didn't come with the right remote and I couldn't get to all the setup menus. I just got the right remote (again off fleebay). It turns out that the audio output settings were goofed up. All is good now.:D

I'm just glad it wasn't anything with the speakers or my receiver.