Port plugs for 705s?

[Bandwagoner]

Anyone use these port plugs that come with the 705s?

Cheers
jer

[jlee]

Yes, I use them... in fact, I like them so much I ordered 4 more for my N804 and NSCM1... I like the tighter cleaner bass they provide... I don't mind sacrificing a bit of extension since I have REL subs to take care of that. With my 705, I don't use a sub but still prefer the tighter bass over a bit of extension.

[greggz]

jlee, If you are plugging your ports, what are you crossing your REL's over at now that you have reduced the low frequency extension of the speakers? I would think you'd have to crossover way high on your Strata's with the SCM1's plugged. 85Hz to 90Hz?

I've got my REL out of phase with my N805's and crossed over at 32Hz. If I was to plug the ports, I would have to put the REL in-phase and raise the crossover up to about 50Hz, I'm guessing.

[jlee]

Well, according to the crude diagram in the B&W manual, with the ports plugged, the curve drops off quicker... and that's how I concluded the extension would be slightly reduced.

I cross over at B6... which is slightly below the -6dB point. With my SCM1, I found that inphase worked best since the speakers are right on the wall and the bass arrives at roughly the same time.

With my N804, I cross over at A4 (27Hz). I liked A5 and A6 when I had a single Strata... but with 2 Stadiums, I liked A4 better... I have those out of phase since the 804's are 60" from the backwall and about 42" from the sidewalls... so the bass arrives out of phase.

My general strategy is to set the REL right into the corner, turn the volume up until there is a boomy resonance node being "activated" (you can find this point by going up 1 notch at a time... it will be very linear UNTIL you his this node at which point it will sound like the volume of the bass just skyrockets and sounds super boomy), go down 2 notches on the volume to get out of that resonance node... and then set the crossover at the -6dB point and go down from there to taste... I found that with 2 subs, you get a bit of a boost (about 3dB in theory) and therefore to get better extension (slower roll off) I like to set the volume as high as I can without going boomy (hence my technique above), but then to compensate for the slight push where the REL and speaker meet, you set the crossover a bit lower than normal to compensate (usually 1 semi tone lower). This will flatten out the response at the transition point and subjectively deepen the response of the REL.