# Beefing up Paradigm Monitor 7 Cabinets



## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

I was reading a little bit about bracing recently, and have come to believe that my Monitor 7 speaker cabinets (and probably the Mini Monitors too) are probably really not ideally braced. I'm just wondering if it would be worth opening them up and adding a cross brace or two, and maybe some corner bracing... or would it mess with the factory tuning and sound too much?


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## digital desire (Dec 17, 2006)

Were you happy with them *before* you read that?

First rule in engineering school : "What problem are you trying to solve."


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Good point. I am happy with them, just wondering if I can make them sound even better, and I've read about others improving their commercial cabinets before.

(obviously not an engineer)


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## fbov (Aug 28, 2008)

Here's a quick experiment to answer the engineering question. While listening at fairly high sound levels, have someone else apply had pressure to the enclosure sides. If you hear a difference at your listening position, and like it better, add bracing until you can't hear a difference. 

If you can't hear a difference...

Frank


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

That sounds like a plan. Thanks Frank!


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## JCD (Apr 20, 2006)

There will be one thing that I think that I'd be concerned about as far as adding bracing -- taking away from the internal volume of the speaker. Speakers are built with a specific internal volume for the particular drivers that are being used. Adding some bracing now would obviously move away from the specific volume required for the speaker. 

I think the only real change I would consider making to a commercial speaker, (in general) is to rip out the passive crossover and make it an active system.

That being said, I'd love to know how your experiment works when you have someone apply some pressure to the outside of the speaker. 

I'd try this experiment with a blindfold...


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

I was concerned about that too Jacen, and I wouldn't want to either lose some of the low end, or otherwise mess up the sound, so unless I really can tell a difference, I think I'll just leave well enough alone.


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## fbov (Aug 28, 2008)

Owen,
Have you run any box sims to see what effect brace volume would have? I think you'll fiind that you'd have to add a LOT of bracing to adversely affect box tuning. 

For simplicity, let's say you want to add 7 1x1x9" braces. That's 63 cu in, or about 1 liter. Now do a box tuning simulation and see what affect 1 liter has on box tuning. In my ~65l towers, F3 rises 0.6Hz - no audible effect would be expected. 

That's also why I suggested a test to see if box resonance was an audible problem. No point in fixing something that won't show an improvement. No point worrying about things you cannot hear. I'd consider the blindfold mandatory as that's the only way to be sure it's real!

Have fun,
Frank


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## Bent (May 24, 2006)

I'm not sure a single blindfold will be enough to hold the enclosure rigidly
:rofl:
:yay2::yay:
:hide:

:dumbcrazy:


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Ahh, there we go, I was wondering when someone would inject the mandatory Shack craziness into this thread. Thanks Ben! 

Frank, to be completely honest, I was just sitting staring at my speakers one night after working on the sub, when the idea popped into my head that they could probably use some extra bracing. I did a quick knock test, and there are some areas where there's a more hollow, echo-y sound, and I figured I'd look into it. Now I'm actually considering clamping 2 panels of MDF or something around the sides to see if I can tell a difference. One day when I'm bored and curious I'll mock it up and take some pictures to share along with my listening opinions. Part of me still wants to do it just to know that they're more sturdy, and just let the placebo effect do its job.


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## Bent (May 24, 2006)

No problem Owen, I feel it is my duty to do 2 things, 

Make a routine fool of myself so people's expectations of me don't run away on them,
Try to keep them wondering if I am stable or not.


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## fbov (Aug 28, 2008)

I like the idea of clamping MDF to the sides, but you may find it hard to do blindfolded...


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Ben, stability is overrated!

And fbov... you've been spending too much time with Ben!!


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## audionut71 (Dec 30, 2008)

Owen,
I'm with you on this one. I have an older set of Paradigm Titans that I have been enjoying for years. I recently had them down to mount some wall brackets on them. I took the opportunity to take the back panel off of them, and was surprised to see how inexpensively they were built. They have 1/2" particle board all the way around with no bracing at all (and a plastic back panel). I'm going to add a few 1/2" dowels across (from side to side) and some dynamat to the walls and back. I have a hard time believing that the small amount of airspace that will be displaced (2.7 cu. in or .0016 cu. ft.) will have any effect on tuning, and it will make me love them more than ever.:daydream:


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