Tuning KLS9 |
Page 1 of 2 This article is reprinted unaltered from Hi-Fi World DIY Supplement No29, June 1997 issue. It is published for reference purposes for those who use KLS9s today. We do not supply kits anymore, and cannot help with parts, service or technical queries. TUNING KLS9
Noel Keywood explains how to adjust our latest DIY loudspeaker, KLS9, to suit your tastes and how to tweak it for higher performance. In the April 1997 issue DIY Supplement we published plans for our new KLS9 two-way, floor standing loudspeaker. By using Audax's HM210Z0 High Definition Aerogel bass/midrange drive units in large-ish cabinets this loudspeaker produces a clear, uncoloured midband and plentiful deep bass. The HM21OZO crosses over to a TW025MO fabric dome tweeter, which extends output up to 20kHz. The idea behind our KLS9 DIY loudspeaker was that it should offer great results at a low price (just (230), a goal it successfully achieves. It is a relatively large (93cms high) floor stander that can be fine tuned according to taste. The 'speaker is sensitive to port dimensioning, giving constructors the chance to vary bass quality from rich and fulsome to dry and tight. KLS9 goes very low as well and can really shake the room. The precise quality of bass it produces can be adjusted, which is an interesting experience. It is one I performed taking into account comments from other listeners, by the way. I say this to underline the fact that although our test equipment provides a comprehensive picture of low frequency behaviour, allowing performance to be adjusted at will, there is virtually no literature relating operating conditions to perceived sound quality. And very difficult it would be to provide too. This being the case, bear in mind that no equation can give a notionally correct result. This is a misunderstanding, as I will explain. Unfortunately the wrong tweeter phasing was printed in the first article. The tweeter must be connected in-phase, not out-of-phase as originally shown. Bass sound quality was much as expected but I've been pleasantly surprised at how low this 'speaker will go. KLS9 plays bass lines cleanly and evenly, separating them from a mix with ease. It does so at low volumes too - this is not a 'speaker that demands huge amounts of power. Whilst bass quality can be changed significantly by reducing cabinet volume, I believe most people will find the variations produced by port tuning adequate. It's wise to bear in mind that when fine tuning bass subjectively you are not only working from your own tastes and expectations but are also listening to the combined behaviour of KLS9 and your listening room. Any 'speaker which goes very low (i.e. lower than 60Hz) will excite room modes strongly. If you tune the port so it hits a room mode, you'll get mighty bass at this frequency. It will only be apparent when an instrument hits and holds for a small time the particular frequency which coincides with this mode. So what I heard will not necessarily be what you hear because your room may be very different to ours. If you think this confuses the whole issue of loudspeaker bass quality in a room, then you're right! And that is yet another benefit to tuning your 'speakers subjectively in your own listening room. Which brings me onto one quick but important point. Some technically minded readers seem to regard theory as a way of achieving practical perfection. This isn't so. Because equations give an apparently 'intelligent' result does not mean the result is a truth. The result is valid only within the particular presumptions and simplifications which allowed the equation to be derived in the first place. So there is no one 'correct' cabinet volume or port size, as some appear to believe. There are various target values that come about in response to certain design criteria. You can, as I did, calculate port length for KLS9. It turns out to be around 3in. (7.5cms), according to the equation used. Audax on the other hand suggest 3.6cms. These are useful approximate values that get us into the target area. We know a port of this length should give decent results - and it did. But no port at all, just a hole in the cabinet, also gave very interesting results. Alternatively, a 6cm port with a small amount of wool damping gives another useful result. As does a port stuffed with wool whereupon KLS9 becomes an infinite baffle loudspeaker. All this goes to show how complex and variable port tuning is. For the purposes of this article I measured and listened to a short port, an optimal length (6cms) port and a long port (19cms). Port and cabinet damping were varied too, using Long Haired Wool. The general view is that reflex cabinets should not be internally damped since this reduces the effectiveness of the port. Like most 'rules' concerning loudspeakers, this contains a lot of truth. As always though the situation is sufficiently complex to defy simple rule making. In all cases below, our prototypes were lined throughout with half-inch thick fibrous carpet felt to absorb high frequency energy. |