Bunging my bottom!!

[plastic penguin]

I tried putting the bungs into my RS6's to see whether it had any drastic effect on the bass they produce. It strangely had some restriction on the bass, but also, to my surprise, it muffled the other frequencies. The sound had a touch of 'Boxyness' about it.

I tried bunging the rears, just to obtain some sort of comparison, and the sound was identical.

I've always believed it was for bass limitation, and wasn't prepared for other frequency restrictions. Me not like! rather have a purer sonics, even if it does produce more bottom end, as opposed to the dreadful sound manipulation using the synthetic bungs.

Anyone had a similar experience?

 

[chebby]

Yes with the foam bungs in a little pair of MA Bronze BR1's a couple of years ago. Sounded gross. Don't do it.

Also experimented with rolled up pairs of (clean) socks in front of Rega R3's. Not good either. Eventual cure for R3's warm bass was a tad more expensive than socks. An entire new (Naim) system plugged in did wonders for them!

 

[Frank Harvey]

Although they're there for 'room tuning', I would normally recommend trying to leave the bungs out. The manufacturer ahs designed the speaker to sound a particular way, and 'bunging up the holes' is going to completely change that. As Chebby mentions, you could experiment with other materials, as the affect on sound will be different for a different density of bung or bunging material.

Toeing the speakers in or out can affect their bass response, so this is worth playing with too.

 

[matengawhat]

can't remember where i saw it or whether it was a joke but once saw photos of someone that had placed cut down drinking straws in their speakers holes so still let the majority of the air pass through unrestricted

ok not a joke seems to be a lot of topics on the subject if you google it

 

[vinod_david]

plastic penguin:
I tried putting the bungs into my RS6's to see whether it had any drastic effect on the bass they produce. It strangely had some restriction on the bass, but also, to my surprise, it muffled the other frequencies. The sound had a touch of 'Boxyness' about it.

I tried bunging the rears, just to obtain some sort of comparison, and the sound was identical.

I've always believed it was for bass limitation, and wasn't prepared for other frequency restrictions. Me not like! rather have a purer sonics, even if it does produce more bottom end, as opposed to the dreadful sound manipulation using the synthetic bungs.

Anyone had a similar experience?

I have my RS6 bunged in the front and not the rear, and toed in extremely (not the normal slight toe-in) according to my room needs. The result is very good - from bass to HF everything is just perfect. Why not experiment with speaker position along with bungs?

 

[plastic penguin]

FrankHarveyHiFi:

Although they're there for 'room tuning', I would normally recommend trying to leave the bungs out. The manufacturer ahs designed the speaker to sound a particular way, and 'bunging up the holes' is going to completely change that. As Chebby mentions, you could experiment with other materials, as the affect on sound will be different for a different density of bung or bunging material.

Toeing the speakers in or out can affect their bass response, so this is worth playing with too.

So the practicalities of bungs....?

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

plastic penguin:FrankHarveyHiFi:

Although they're there for 'room tuning', I would normally recommend trying to leave the bungs out. The manufacturer ahs designed the speaker to sound a particular way, and 'bunging up the holes' is going to completely change that. As Chebby mentions, you could experiment with other materials, as the affect on sound will be different for a different density of bung or bunging material.

Toeing the speakers in or out can affect their bass response, so this is worth playing with too.

So the practicalities of bungs....?

When you have finished with them,you could pop them onto the Oppo thread where the need is becoming increasingly greater.

 

[Frank Harvey]

plastic penguin:So the practicalities of bungs....?To calm down bass boom

 

[Craig M.]

yep, found that with my old focus 110, with the bungs in they were robbed of all life.

did mean they could go right up against the wall, but not worth it.

 

[chebby]

Makes sense.

You are effectively making a ported reflex cabinet into - almost - a sealed box design (given that the bungs I had were quite dense foam and a tight fit.)

Sealed box (infinite baffle/acoustic-suspension) designs usually have more bracing and different dimensions and more complex crossovers and lots of internal damping*, so trying to make 'fish' out of 'fowl' with a bit of foam is never going to be desirable as anything other than a 'desperation' workaround. Better to get the correct speakers for the room and experiment with their positioning and use rugs in front of the speakers (not in the ports) to absorb any ill efects from hard floors.

*Probably why there are so few good sealed box designs made any more because they tend to be more expensive to get right than a ported design.

 

[a91gti]

matengawhat:

can't remember where i saw it or whether it was a joke but once saw photos of someone that had placed cut down drinking straws in their speakers holes so still let the majority of the air pass through unrestricted

ok not a joke seems to be a lot of topics on the subject if you google it

Mission did some speakers with the straw effect moulded into the ports if I remember correctly, 707?

 

[Tonestar1]

I use bungs in the rear of my 684's but they also have front ports. Sounds far better to me unless I pull the speakers out about 1m into the room which isn't practical in my flat. I have a large rectangular room with the speakers against the long wall facing into the narrow side of the room. Need big speakers to fill the room but not keen on bass boom and reflections from back wall. I suppose what I'm saying is it's all about compromise, when I finally get a dedicated room and a set of quad electrostatics I wont need to worry about such things

 

[Anonymous]

I prefer the sound of my Dynaudio 52SEs with the bungs fully in. They just sound better in my room that way and the upper bass really comes out. No negative effect on sound at all.

My mates B&W 684s sound better fully bunged front and rear too.

jules.

 

[jaxwired]

I use to own RS6s and my experience was the opposite. I bunged the rear port only and found that the mid-range and highs were cleaner and more detailed with the port bunged. Also, the bass was over the top without them bunged. They did sound a tad brighter with the rear port bunged which isn't really a good thing with RS6s, but definately thought the mids and highs were superior with the bung in place. I A/B'd the bung change many many times to form this opinion.

 

[Big Chris]

chebby: ....use rugs in front of the speakers (not in the ports).....

So that's where I've been going wrong all these years.

 

[Big Chris]

chebby: ....use rugs in front of the speakers (not in the ports).....

So that's where I've been going wrong all these years.

 

[JamesOK]

plastic penguin:
I tried putting the bungs into my RS6's to see whether it had any drastic effect on the bass they produce. It strangely had some restriction on the bass, but also, to my surprise, it muffled the other frequencies. The sound had a touch of 'Boxyness' about it.

I tried bunging the rears, just to obtain some sort of comparison, and the sound was identical.

I've always believed it was for bass limitation, and wasn't prepared for other frequency restrictions. Me not like! rather have a purer sonics, even if it does produce more bottom end, as opposed to the dreadful sound manipulation using the synthetic bungs.

Anyone had a similar experience?

I have just replaced my arcam setup (A85/P85) with a Naim setup. Since getting rid of the Arcam I have been missing the bass I used to achieve with the P85. I read this thread and then realised I bunged the rear ports of my speakers a couple of years ago because the room coupled with the P85 actually gave me too much bass!

Came home last night, removed the bungs and hey presto. Not only do I now have back that bass I was missing, it seems to have made a positive difference on the mid range also.

I was missing my Arcams a bit. Now theyre just a distant memory!

 

[plastic penguin]

JamesOK:plastic penguin:

I tried putting the bungs into my RS6's to see whether it had any drastic effect on the bass they produce. It strangely had some restriction on the bass, but also, to my surprise, it muffled the other frequencies. The sound had a touch of 'Boxyness' about it.

I tried bunging the rears, just to obtain some sort of comparison, and the sound was identical.

I've always believed it was for bass limitation, and wasn't prepared for other frequency restrictions. Me not like! rather have a purer sonics, even if it does produce more bottom end, as opposed to the dreadful sound manipulation using the synthetic bungs.

Anyone had a similar experience?

I have just replaced my arcam setup (A85/P85) with a Naim setup. Since getting rid of the Arcam I have been missing the bass I used to achieve with the P85. I read this thread and then realised I bunged the rear ports of my speakers a couple of years ago because the room coupled with the P85 actually gave me too much bass!

Came home last night, removed the bungs and hey presto. Not only do I now have back that bass I was missing, it seems to have made a positive difference on the mid range also.

I was missing my Arcams a bit. Now theyre just a distant memory!

Missing your Arcs?

Whoops! just thought. Tin helmets ready for the anti brigade......

 

[JamesOK]

plastic penguin:JamesOK:plastic penguin:

I tried putting the bungs into my RS6's to see whether it had any drastic effect on the bass they produce. It strangely had some restriction on the bass, but also, to my surprise, it muffled the other frequencies. The sound had a touch of 'Boxyness' about it.

I tried bunging the rears, just to obtain some sort of comparison, and the sound was identical.

I've always believed it was for bass limitation, and wasn't prepared for other frequency restrictions. Me not like! rather have a purer sonics, even if it does produce more bottom end, as opposed to the dreadful sound manipulation using the synthetic bungs.

Anyone had a similar experience?

I have just replaced my arcam setup (A85/P85) with a Naim setup. Since getting rid of the Arcam I have been missing the bass I used to achieve with the P85. I read this thread and then realised I bunged the rear ports of my speakers a couple of years ago because the room coupled with the P85 actually gave me too much bass!

Came home last night, removed the bungs and hey presto. Not only do I now have back that bass I was missing, it seems to have made a positive difference on the mid range also.

I was missing my Arcams a bit. Now theyre just a distant memory!

Missing your Arcs?

Whoops! just thought. Tin helmets ready for the anti brigade......

I know, tiresome innit. I once asked someone how to sort out a problem with my speakers, mentioned my Arcam setup and some guy ranted in a response for about 3 paragraphs how my problem would never be solved if i chose to buy bland sounding gear (or something like that). Yawn.