needing more mid/bass punch on the tower

[perry386]

I went out yesterday, began a surf set, cranked up the music pretty loud and couldn't help but think that the tower speakers sounded a bit hollow. I seem to remember David telling me about a high pass/low pass filter on the back of the speaker to adjust the EQ of each speaker. Is there anything like this that I could use to give my tower some more midbass? All help is appreciated, thanks.

[MLA]

Perry,

I hate to ask, but can you outline your system for us? I know its been talked about, but I looked back through some threads and just couldn't find the details. Having the amp chnls on Hi-Pass is ideal for both the amp and speakers, but the frequency set point can have a lot to do with how a speaker sounds. The size of the speaker as well as the pod volume and material will impact the SQ. Too small a pod can kill the mid-bass and an aluminum pod will sound tinny. Adding some poly-fill can help in this department. Also, is your setup running stereo or mono? For a surfing setup, running mono has all program material playing through both speakers. If running in stereo, off-axis surfing may get you only half the material, depending on how the speakers are arranged on the tower. This can make it sound kinda flat.

[EarmarkMarine]

The highpass filter is active and on the amplifier input.
ALL tower speakers need to be in the highpass mode.
Even if you have a 10-inch HLCD on the tower, it is not a 10-inch subwoofer. The bass extension is limited by....
a) the fact that the speaker is engineered for output rather than deep bass extension. The two objectives are contrasting. As a designer you must pick one.
b) the net pod displacement to a great degree determines bass or midbass extension. And, tower pods are a very small displacement after you subtract the considerable HLCD driver mass.
c) unlike the sub and speakers down in the bathtub (contained in the boat coaming surfaces and near the sole) the tower speakers are elevated six feet above the boat with no surrounding and reinforcing planes. This adversely affects the lower frequencies to a greater degree. Even a rock concert places the larger bass speakers down on the stage surface or even under the stage.
So, you will never get deep bass from tower speakers unless you are sporting 50 gallon bass-reflex tubes up there.
The idea is to get enough lower midrange and upper bass (midbass) from your tower to capture the entire vocal range and offer a bit of balance. If you have ever heard one, it is much like a Bose table radio. Does it go deep? Nope. But, it goes just deep enough to be considered fullrange and plausable.
If you have the right speakers tuned correctly for your application with adequate power you should be able to achieve what is described above.
For surfing use or listening at rest you can set the crossover a little lower than the individual who's main objective is projection at wake range.

David

[perry386]

Perry,

I hate to ask, but can you outline your system for us? I know its been talked about, but I looked back through some threads and just couldn't find the details. Having the amp chnls on Hi-Pass is ideal for both the amp and speakers, but the frequency set point can have a lot to do with how a speaker sounds. The size of the speaker as well as the pod volume and material will impact the SQ. Too small a pod can kill the mid-bass and an aluminum pod will sound tinny. Adding some poly-fill can help in this department. Also, is your setup running stereo or mono? For a surfing setup, running mono has all program material playing through both speakers. If running in stereo, off-axis surfing may get you only half the material, depending on how the speakers are arranged on the tower. This can make it sound kinda flat.

Sure, I have the following:
Kicker KM6200 in the boat AND on the tower
1 Polk D5000.5
1Polk D4000.4
1 Wetsounds XS-XXX SUB
1 Kenwood stereo head

The system is in stereo mode. The sound is very clean, just a little hollow