EnABL
#1
I have attached a text file with many of the major EnABL postings. I would recommend the teaching texts first. I might also recommend splitting off any extensive EnABL content thread. I am getting uncomfortable about further stepping on Mark's six year old toes here.
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"You and I and every other thing are a dependent arising, empty of any inherent reality" Tsong Ko Pa
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IslandPink
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#2
It would be nice to have a dedicated thread for EnABL somewhere, because I'm likely to do something fairly soon myself with the 103E's . I have read some of the links , Bud , but I need to dig into them deeper and I'm sure there'll be some clarification/advice required when I actually get down to buying caligraphy pens & suchlike & get started.
"Once you find out ... the Circumstances ; then you can go out"
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pre65
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#3
Looking at my enabled FE126 drivers, I would imagine the process was quite time consuming. 
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
G-Popz THE easy listening connoisseur. (Philip)
Edmund Burke
G-Popz THE easy listening connoisseur. (Philip)
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IslandPink
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#4
Bud - thanks for the great summary of info there.
I'll ask a couple of basic questions for clarification as there are a lot of threads over a number of years :
Is the 'EnABL-II ' method now the recommended way, and how does it differ from the original method ?
From what I can tell so far from dipping into some threads, the system is : you apply (brush) a gloss coat ( diluted 'micro-scale gloss coat' ) to the cone ; to the front , or back, or both sides ? ; then the block patterns on the front of the cone (and whizzer if present) ?
I tried the tapping method with an empty ballpoint pen tube, on the front of the FE208Ez cone, trying to hear the transition points or locations from the block patterns, but haven't quite got my head round what I should be hearing .
I'll ask a couple of basic questions for clarification as there are a lot of threads over a number of years :
Is the 'EnABL-II ' method now the recommended way, and how does it differ from the original method ?
From what I can tell so far from dipping into some threads, the system is : you apply (brush) a gloss coat ( diluted 'micro-scale gloss coat' ) to the cone ; to the front , or back, or both sides ? ; then the block patterns on the front of the cone (and whizzer if present) ?
I tried the tapping method with an empty ballpoint pen tube, on the front of the FE208Ez cone, trying to hear the transition points or locations from the block patterns, but haven't quite got my head round what I should be hearing .
"Once you find out ... the Circumstances ; then you can go out"
#5
Gen 2 EnABL is just a different application of the same simple formulaic response, just a pattern of paint blocks. The gen 2 thing is all about where to place the paint. Specifically, at the point where the transverse wave is causing a high energy emission to occur, one that is forcing the direct pressure waves created by pistonic motion to deform and ring, in a torus loop, off of the cone or dome or planar or horn or baffle surface. Can't happen there?. Please look at the 4 youtube videos on resonance pointed to in the list of sites. These locations for placement are apparently what the usual Cymatic resonance domes form from and disturbing the location they arise from appears to mitigate their effects. Or, something completely magical is occurring. I vote for magic personally.
Whatever is being interrupted does appear to create those "breakup" mode sounds we all refer to when using drivers above their pistonic frequency region. Oddly, these breakup modes are not related to the jagged frequency response that occurs in the non pistonic realm, except as diminished peak energy emissions. Application of EnABL and a nice waterfall plot show this clearly. Also, application of the "extra" rings, out past the minimum phase portion of a cone, the inner part that actually has minimum phase performance, raises the high frequency phase tilt, with the outer ring controlling the highest frequencies.
There are three "sectors " to a tap.
Initial strike. This is what most people hear as a tap. We are geared to pay attention to initial arrival of any sound. You can use this portion of the tap sound to locate Raleigh waves and that is all. As you tap in a radial line there will be a sector that responds noticeably more vigorous than adjacent areas. This is very likely to be a Raleigh wave, but you cannot be certain until the rest of the driver is under control. Usually you must apply a damping material, in a fairly narrow band, on the other side of the diaphragm right under this area.
Mid tone. This is useful for finding subduction zones, usually immediately adjacent to Raleigh wave zones. This zone sounds dead compared to zones before and after, no tone to speak of. A pattern set in the middle of this zone and one just as it begins are the solution. Typically one pattern set at the point where the tone goes dead is sufficient and all that will fit. In 10 inch and larger cone drivers you may end up with more patterns here.
Decay tone. Here is where you will find most of the places to apply patterns. In listening to the decay you will have to ignore the other components from this tap. As you listen to the tap decay, while taping radially along the surface, you will notice a narrow zone where the decay seems to loose direction and then change direction as you move back and forth across it. Once you can focus on just the decay portion of the tap this will become fairly obvious. A pattern set in the middle of the directionless portion will disperse this activity completely.
The end product you are looking to achieve is a smooth change in direction of decay tone. From straight out or even slightly toward the center of the voice coil, when taping next to it, to aimed off the cone, parallel to the cone angle, out at the outer edge of the diaphragm. Dome diaphragms are a bit different but you will still find the same directional switch as you tap up the side of the dome. Same rule applies for placement and the eventual decay pattern will shift from lateral at the beginning of the dome to straight out on axis at the tip. In all cases the surface of the driver will seem to be "faster" than another untreated driver of the same part number. The tap will be dispersed very quickly with no echoes.
Whatever is being interrupted does appear to create those "breakup" mode sounds we all refer to when using drivers above their pistonic frequency region. Oddly, these breakup modes are not related to the jagged frequency response that occurs in the non pistonic realm, except as diminished peak energy emissions. Application of EnABL and a nice waterfall plot show this clearly. Also, application of the "extra" rings, out past the minimum phase portion of a cone, the inner part that actually has minimum phase performance, raises the high frequency phase tilt, with the outer ring controlling the highest frequencies.
There are three "sectors " to a tap.
Initial strike. This is what most people hear as a tap. We are geared to pay attention to initial arrival of any sound. You can use this portion of the tap sound to locate Raleigh waves and that is all. As you tap in a radial line there will be a sector that responds noticeably more vigorous than adjacent areas. This is very likely to be a Raleigh wave, but you cannot be certain until the rest of the driver is under control. Usually you must apply a damping material, in a fairly narrow band, on the other side of the diaphragm right under this area.
Mid tone. This is useful for finding subduction zones, usually immediately adjacent to Raleigh wave zones. This zone sounds dead compared to zones before and after, no tone to speak of. A pattern set in the middle of this zone and one just as it begins are the solution. Typically one pattern set at the point where the tone goes dead is sufficient and all that will fit. In 10 inch and larger cone drivers you may end up with more patterns here.
Decay tone. Here is where you will find most of the places to apply patterns. In listening to the decay you will have to ignore the other components from this tap. As you listen to the tap decay, while taping radially along the surface, you will notice a narrow zone where the decay seems to loose direction and then change direction as you move back and forth across it. Once you can focus on just the decay portion of the tap this will become fairly obvious. A pattern set in the middle of the directionless portion will disperse this activity completely.
The end product you are looking to achieve is a smooth change in direction of decay tone. From straight out or even slightly toward the center of the voice coil, when taping next to it, to aimed off the cone, parallel to the cone angle, out at the outer edge of the diaphragm. Dome diaphragms are a bit different but you will still find the same directional switch as you tap up the side of the dome. Same rule applies for placement and the eventual decay pattern will shift from lateral at the beginning of the dome to straight out on axis at the tip. In all cases the surface of the driver will seem to be "faster" than another untreated driver of the same part number. The tap will be dispersed very quickly with no echoes.
"You and I and every other thing are a dependent arising, empty of any inherent reality" Tsong Ko Pa
#6
Mark (& Bud),
I'm lucky enough to have access to a high speed video (HSV) capture system via work (I think I can wind it up to 10,000 fps provided it doesn't run out of storage, it will do 5,000 with ease), and have a run in, but untreated in any way, Fe103...
I'm wondering if there is any scope for a small experiment or two to figure out the cone resonance & breakup modes using HSV, or if these would just not be visible?
Mmmmm
Simon C
I'm lucky enough to have access to a high speed video (HSV) capture system via work (I think I can wind it up to 10,000 fps provided it doesn't run out of storage, it will do 5,000 with ease), and have a run in, but untreated in any way, Fe103...
I'm wondering if there is any scope for a small experiment or two to figure out the cone resonance & breakup modes using HSV, or if these would just not be visible?
Mmmmm
Simon C
#7
I'd think that you'd need a bunch of reference points - it'd be difficult to spot tiny deviations on a plain cone.
Put some dots on there (even in pencil, felt-tip or whatever), and you might be able to see differences in the movements of different points.
Chris
Put some dots on there (even in pencil, felt-tip or whatever), and you might be able to see differences in the movements of different points.
Chris
#8
Simon, this is a possible approach. I have no idea what will be found. Baranek, in his seminal "Acoustics" tome has a chapter devoted to direct radiators and the unusual behavior of their non pistonic emissions. He shows some mapping of vibrational patterns that were discovered by Corrington using some sort of flickering light and variable tone device that would allow this original investigator to actually see the various surface modes. Page 199 for those of you with access to this book.
If you combine these illustrations with the first resonance movie I pointed to, I think you begin to get a glimmer of what those patterns are dealing with. Obviously the resonance movie only hints at what the emissions look like out in our rooms, but it appears to show that most of the disturbance is off of the actual driver surface and the result of some sort of energy per cubic volume differences in the air adjacent to the driver. This, as opposed to the more common assumption that it is all being accomplished by mechanisms inherent in the cone, only, and being then expressed as a minimum phase replication of distortion activity that is maintained within the driver membrane.
There is also a photographic technique, using smoke in some manner that allows a view of air disturbances, but the name escapes me.
Do please continue to think on these questions. I think Chris may come up with a way to see and perhaps measure what is occurring on the driver surface, since it is obviously being displaced with reference to the surrounding surface, as is clearly shown by Corrington's drawings.
If you combine these illustrations with the first resonance movie I pointed to, I think you begin to get a glimmer of what those patterns are dealing with. Obviously the resonance movie only hints at what the emissions look like out in our rooms, but it appears to show that most of the disturbance is off of the actual driver surface and the result of some sort of energy per cubic volume differences in the air adjacent to the driver. This, as opposed to the more common assumption that it is all being accomplished by mechanisms inherent in the cone, only, and being then expressed as a minimum phase replication of distortion activity that is maintained within the driver membrane.
There is also a photographic technique, using smoke in some manner that allows a view of air disturbances, but the name escapes me.
Do please continue to think on these questions. I think Chris may come up with a way to see and perhaps measure what is occurring on the driver surface, since it is obviously being displaced with reference to the surrounding surface, as is clearly shown by Corrington's drawings.
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"You and I and every other thing are a dependent arising, empty of any inherent reality" Tsong Ko Pa
#9
I've also got no idea what this will show, but HSV is one area where measurement/analysis technology has moved on massively in the last few years and it may be a useful tool for figuring out whats really happening at the cone face for us amateurs.
My initial thought was be to apply a spider web sort of pattern to the cone, but Chris's suggestion of dots may actually be better as it would allow you to view/plot localised rotational displacements more clearly. I can see this needing some cheap and cheerful development drivers to get the hang of the marking techniques, and run a proof of concept experiment, before tackling it for real. (Plus a large box of ear plugs
)
Simon C
My initial thought was be to apply a spider web sort of pattern to the cone, but Chris's suggestion of dots may actually be better as it would allow you to view/plot localised rotational displacements more clearly. I can see this needing some cheap and cheerful development drivers to get the hang of the marking techniques, and run a proof of concept experiment, before tackling it for real. (Plus a large box of ear plugs
)Simon C
#10
Phillip? There are two processes on your Fostex drivers. The initial one is all Dave Dlugos, the trefoil shape in some chemical and then a coat of PVA derived compound. I have no experience with this, other than to point to a general smoothing of micro-dynamics and a loss to the edgy nature of these drivers. The spots, those you can see and those you can only feel, are the EnABL pattern. For this portion, about 30 minutes per driver, total, for treating just the front side. A few minutes more if they are going onto open baffles and are found to need the suppression of errant signals from that side.Looking at my enabled FE126 drivers, I would imagine the process was quite time consuming.
Backside patterns are not recommended for closed box installation, as the driver becomes very transparent to back side reflections. This will then force an exploration of how to mitigate those reflections. It can be done and I can advise anyone, but it is even more of an art form than the rest of this EnaBL process, or audio output transformers for that matter.
How do you find the sound qualities, compared to anything you might choose, or not?
"You and I and every other thing are a dependent arising, empty of any inherent reality" Tsong Ko Pa
#11
Simon I have some oval paper cone drivers with whizzer that I could send by mule. Many of them actually, well, too many of them actually. They were obtained specifically for this sort of testing as they are cheap, limited xmax, high efficiency drivers.
"You and I and every other thing are a dependent arising, empty of any inherent reality" Tsong Ko Pa
#12
Hi Bud,BudP wrote:Simon I have some oval paper cone drivers with whizzer that I could send by mule. Many of them actually, well, too many of them actually. They were obtained specifically for this sort of testing as they are cheap, limited xmax, high efficiency drivers.
Thanks for the offer but don't worry. I've got a shed full of drivers that I can use for this. My biggest problem is time, work at the moment is crazy busy; between that and the kids I'm going to be hard pressed to fit this in for the next few weeks. In the meantime I can get everything together and squirreled away ready to go.
Simon C
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IslandPink
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#13
Hi Bud ( et al ) . I need to somehow make a start and gain 'traction' ( as they say ) on this process. I've been reading some of the FE127E thread, which seems useful as a start point for the FE103E on which I'd like to practice/train . The first stage appears to be some sort of overall 'consolidation/damping' coat that I guess cures some of the 'papery' sound of the base driver ?
The product 'Micro gloss coat' probably has some UK/European equivalent . What would this be ?
You are specific about the brush used, and the 50% dilution with water. Is the coat best applied to the front of the cone, or the rear ?
The product 'Micro gloss coat' probably has some UK/European equivalent . What would this be ?
You are specific about the brush used, and the 50% dilution with water. Is the coat best applied to the front of the cone, or the rear ?
"Once you find out ... the Circumstances ; then you can go out"
#14
Sorry for the delayed response Mark, I have been ill enough to not pay any attention and without any prompting I had lost conscious track of this conversation.
I am not the expert on the PVA material and the trefoil pattern Dave achieves is from use of another material applied before the PVA/Modge Podge material. The initial coats of Modge Podge, ala Dave Dlugos, are indeed done to eliminate cone cry. They are unrelated to EnABL as they are aimed at the mechanical aspects of the diaphragm. A form of control over inner diaphragm activities, up to the cone surface, with EnABL taking on the control of emissions that occur out into near space, with both affecting what you end up hearing.
The ideal EnABL patterns would devolve in size, in some fractal pattern, down to the smallest Cymatic zone of redirected energy leaving the cone surface. This is not feasible in the macro world, so a substitute is needed and the Micro Gloss material helps here. So, on the front side of the cone you need PVA, EnABL pattern and Gloss coating. The Micro Gloss material should be available from a local plastic model sales site, either brick and mortar or pixel based. An equivalent material would be Johnson & Johnson Pledge acrylic floor wax, or a comparable product, as the Micro Gloss is actually an acrylic based, industrial strength, floor coating material.
I am not the expert on the PVA material and the trefoil pattern Dave achieves is from use of another material applied before the PVA/Modge Podge material. The initial coats of Modge Podge, ala Dave Dlugos, are indeed done to eliminate cone cry. They are unrelated to EnABL as they are aimed at the mechanical aspects of the diaphragm. A form of control over inner diaphragm activities, up to the cone surface, with EnABL taking on the control of emissions that occur out into near space, with both affecting what you end up hearing.
The ideal EnABL patterns would devolve in size, in some fractal pattern, down to the smallest Cymatic zone of redirected energy leaving the cone surface. This is not feasible in the macro world, so a substitute is needed and the Micro Gloss material helps here. So, on the front side of the cone you need PVA, EnABL pattern and Gloss coating. The Micro Gloss material should be available from a local plastic model sales site, either brick and mortar or pixel based. An equivalent material would be Johnson & Johnson Pledge acrylic floor wax, or a comparable product, as the Micro Gloss is actually an acrylic based, industrial strength, floor coating material.
"You and I and every other thing are a dependent arising, empty of any inherent reality" Tsong Ko Pa
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IslandPink
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#15
Hey Bud, thanks for getting back to me on this - it wasn't a problem at all - I was busy with various other things . Very concerned to hear you've not been well . Are you going to accelerate your retirement plans ? - I think you should if you can .
Once I started looking properly I found the Micro scale gloss coat wasn't hard to obtain here in the UK !
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microscale-Mi ... 1241wt_976
...so I will buy a couple of bottles to try out on the FE103E's. Is this stuff mixed in a certain way ( diluted ) ? - I guess that's on various of the existing Enable threads.
I'll do more reading and post up some comment as I progress.
I really liked the 'Travel speakers' I have made & took away to the Lakes ( FE103E's in tall MLTL cabs made from 18mm birch ) . They are very musical - the upper bass and mids are really nice, pace & timing is great . Upper mids are a little harsh compared to 2/3-ways , as expected, treble is a bit 'dirty' . These are the aspects I'm hoping to get some improvements on with Enabl . We shall see .. good testbeds for the FE208Ez's anyway .
Once I started looking properly I found the Micro scale gloss coat wasn't hard to obtain here in the UK !
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Microscale-Mi ... 1241wt_976
...so I will buy a couple of bottles to try out on the FE103E's. Is this stuff mixed in a certain way ( diluted ) ? - I guess that's on various of the existing Enable threads.
I'll do more reading and post up some comment as I progress.
I really liked the 'Travel speakers' I have made & took away to the Lakes ( FE103E's in tall MLTL cabs made from 18mm birch ) . They are very musical - the upper bass and mids are really nice, pace & timing is great . Upper mids are a little harsh compared to 2/3-ways , as expected, treble is a bit 'dirty' . These are the aspects I'm hoping to get some improvements on with Enabl . We shall see .. good testbeds for the FE208Ez's anyway .
"Once you find out ... the Circumstances ; then you can go out"