Is it safe to assume that the PCB3 v1.4b boards have added solder points for the air core and small poly cap on the 10LX crossover?
Any thoughts on using the 10LX's open baffle? Or are they best utilized only in a cabinet or IB? Bass response would not be an issue for me as I have active H-frame Alphas and a sealed 15" Ultimax. 2 ch audio use only... no HT. Thanks Matt!
You could experiment with it, should not be any excursion issues for the woofers if you use a high pass of at least 80hz and are not giving them more then 100-150w or so (more power can be used with a higher crossover). The open baffle is likely to shift the frequency response around in the midrange and bass where you get cancellations and reinforcements from the rear wave of the cone. You will definitely need some EQ to bring things in line at the LP, I hope you are handy with REW or similar measurement software. If you are expecting a plug in and play type of situation don't get your hopes up.
If you volt 10lx was installed open back in the ceiling (atmos) with say a piece of fiberglass laid across the back to absorb the rear wave would that minimize any response issues? Would the ceiling acting as a baffle wall have any drawbacks? I'm thinking acting as a baffle wall it should help with midbass.
Yes placing a piece of fiberglass across the back should be done to minimize rear wave reflections within the wall/ceiling cavity. The ceiling will act as a baffle wall and that has many benefits over a regular baffle eliminating baffle step and single boundary interference response that are the main issues with regular speakers mounted close to or on a wall/ceiling.
Great. A baffle wall is also supposed to help with imaging and cohesion as speakers pan from one to another. These could be some big benefits having 4 of these used in atmos.
Speaking of baffle walls and the Volt Coax designs... If I'm building Volt-6 (with ported enclosures) into a ceiling (effectively a baffle wall) for Atmos Height channels how should the crossover be modified to remove or adapt the baffle step compensation? Or is my thought process incorrect and it should be left alone? If it matters The drivers and baffle will be angled out of the ceiling at 14 degrees by using the angled flat packs (flush with the drywall on the short end).
The Volt-6's don't have too much baffle step built in, so I would recommend leaving the crossover as is. It was designed with the thought that it will likely be placed on wall, semi in wall is not too different.
I'm a totally new to this. How do you connect the wires from the crossover to the woofer on the Volt-6? Thanks!
The LO+ and LO- on the board go to the woofer in the Volt-6. LO+ to the woofer + and Lo- to the woofer -. You can use .205" or .250" quick disconnect terminals on the ends of the wire that connect to the woofer terminals.
Need a set of rear surrounds (Volt 10LX) and front presence speakers for my Yamaha RX-A3010. Is it best to use the same (10LX) for the front presence as well even though those are supposed to be just for minimal "ambiance-sounds", or would Volt 6-8s be more than adequate? Also, I've read on these threads that the type of fill (fiberglass / polyfill) as well as quantity can affect the sound of the sealed systems, especially the midrange. In Erich's sealed Volt 10 flatpacks, what material and quantity is recommended for the best response from 80Hz up?
You can mix the two designs for surrounds and front presence speakers without issue. For the sealed speakers if using polyfill moderate fill of the enclosure is recommended. If using fiberglass or recycled denim/cotton insulation not as much will be needed as they are denser, so just lining the internal cabinet walls with 2-3" or so (or nominal R-11/13 thickness) would be fine. For the ported enclosures more care must be taken as too much material will kill off bass gains from the port. I recommend lining all the walls with material of choice (fiberglass, denim, poly batting, acoustic foam) but leave a gap around the ports so air can flow freely in and out. As a general guideline I'd say thickness of the lining should be about 10-15% of internal cabinet width/depth, so if the cabinet is 10" wide use roughly 1" to 1.5" thick material on the internal walls. Though it will likely be possible to get away with thicker material in some spots (above woofer) for better absorption of the internal reflections. You just don't want to block off or constrict air flow from the driver to and in and out of the port.
So if I am doing the volt 10 LX and keeping it sealed in the angled flat pack. How much polyfill in each cabinet? a pound? more...less?
I'm also wondering about polyfill or batting. For the angled Volt-6 flat pack from Eric. By the time you get the port, crossover and drivers in the box there doesn't seem to be much room for any fill in the box. Also, it seems the port can't be on the short end box since it almost touches the back of the enclosure.
For the Volt-10LX I would say 0.3-0.5 pounds per cabinet should be decent. That is a rough estimate, if it seems really loose fitting in there you could probably add more, if you have to push the driver down into the cabinet because the polyfil pushes it back out then that is too much. Don't worry about getting it exact. The Volt-6 can be pretty tight, you do not need a lot of damping material in that one, place some to the sides and behind the driver, possibly some up top if there is room. Leave the area at the bottom of the box and around the port open. Hopefully we can get some pictures of different enclosures with cabinet damping examples in the near future to help out with these kinds of questions.
Great thanks for the info. It looks like my kit and flat pack will arrive tomorrow. I'll just get a 1 pound bag of fill for now and see how that goes.
Building small custom enclosures for the Volt-6. Are there any rules insofar as how close the port can be to the back of the driver? Can it be on the wall adjacent to the driver. e.g. placing it close to the back of the driver?
You don't want the internal port opening to be right up against the back of the driver as the sound from the backside of the cone can beam right out of the port. Though if you separate them with a piece of foam that might be ok so long as it does not restrict air flow in and out of the port.
Thanks. That is what I was wondering. So the port can be close, but not positioned such that the sound can beam directly from the speaker to the port. I wanted to take advantage of keeping them close so the path between them would be easily kept clear. Thanks
I bought a roll of convoluted foam rubber ~ 1 1/4" thick. I am wondering if there is any advantage/disadvantage in using it to treat the interior of my 45 degree angled volt-6 speaker enclosures. Since I can glue it to all the interior sides of the enclosure and it won't get in the way of the port, it would be easier than using poly-fil. Since the baffle is at a 45 degree angle 'within' the enclosure, I plan to use it on the exterior where the speaker would otherwise reflect off of the MDF surfaces.