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Revisited: Neumi BS5P Powered Bookshelf Speaker

dfuller

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I was thinking, if they go the focal shape route and use passive radiator, would that make the cost a lot more expensive? since those seems to have a lot less resonance issue and yet provide the bass extension needed
yes - passive radiators aren't anywhere near as cheap as a port. A passive radiator is basically a whole speaker driver minus the motor structure and voice coil, and requires assembly. A port is a piece of injection molded plastic.
 

Destination: Moon

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I got my pair today. For the price they are pretty amazing. Plugged the ports, flashed the new EQ and fired them up.

For most of the stuff I listen to - they were better than expected. They didn't handle the song Dice by Findlay Quay very well though. Some of the sounds in this song distorted badly. Everything else we played sounded really good.
 

dfuller

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I got my pair today. For the price they are pretty amazing. Plugged the ports, flashed the new EQ and fired them up.

For most of the stuff I listen to - they were better than expected. They didn't handle the song Dice by Findlay Quay very well though. Some of the sounds in this song distorted badly. Everything else we played sounded really good.
I pulled this up on my KH310s for reference - there is a fair bit of low end present so it doesn't surprise me that it got overwhelmed at times.
 

Destination: Moon

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I pulled this up on my KH310s for reference - there is a fair bit of low end present so it doesn't surprise me that it got overwhelmed at times.

Yeah, there are some very deep, oddly phased electronic music that it couldn't deal with. I'm not sure if it was the amp or the speakers that distorted. Maybe both? Great song tho!
 
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hardisj

hardisj

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Yeah, there are some very deep, oddly phased electronic music that it couldn't deal with. Great song tho!

If you were playing it through MQA that would explain it. Since apparently MQA doesn't like anything that isn't "real music". :D :p

(just kidding, just kidding)
 

tomtoo

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Is there some news? If they address that little to much at 1khz, and some port stuffers,this would be exeptional good speakers for desktop use.
 

restorer-john

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Again, @hardisj Have you tested both the active and the passive speaker in this pair?

They have (like so many others) completely different volumes (due to one having the power amp in it and the other being empty) resonances, and each left and right speaker will not perform the same.

Which speaker did you test and how different are they to one another? Speakers are used in pairs remember...
 
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hardisj

hardisj

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Again, @hardisj Have you tested both the active and the passive speaker in this pair?

I did a standard FR and impedance on the passive one to see what showed up in terms of resonances. I can't fully compare the full scan (higher resolution than gated passive) but they overlaid essentially the same (same trends).


Yes, I remember speakers are used in pairs. No need for snark.
 

Destination: Moon

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The summer concert series is about to begin!
 

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Laserjock

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@hardisj

Since I’ll be opening mine up to do the firmware upgrade eventually, is there anything else that might improve the speaker while I’m in there? More damping material or better version etc? Sealant of anything?
I haven’t looked yet but is the passive left speaker accessible from the back as well?

I know it’s a cheap speaker but since I’m opening it up anyway...
 
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hardisj

hardisj

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I don't know that there is any improvement to be made other than the update and sealing the ports. The passive speaker doesn't need anything other than sealing the ports.
 

Destination: Moon

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@hardisj

Since I’ll be opening mine up to do the firmware upgrade eventually, is there anything else that might improve the speaker while I’m in there? More damping material or better version etc? Sealant of anything?
I haven’t looked yet but is the passive left speaker accessible from the back as well?

I know it’s a cheap speaker but since I’m opening it up anyway...


I dont know if mine is typical but the floor of the powered speaker didnt have any damping material - only the exposed cross-over. So maybe adding a little wouldnt hurt? The passive speaker can only be accessed from the front to any real degree by removing the 5inch driver. Have not looked into that speaker to see what they did
 

Laserjock

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I dont know if mine is typical but the floor of the powered speaker didnt have any damping material - only the exposed cross-over. So maybe adding a little wouldnt hurt? The passive speaker can only be accessed from the front to any real degree by removing the 5inch driver. Have not looked into that speaker to see what they did
Hmmm, maybe that’s what I’ll do and check the passive one too.
Would be minimal cost
 

sodface

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Probably obvious, but, I did more or less verify that you need a Windows machine to do the firmware update. I've been on Linux and have been Windows free (except for work) for a while now so I tried from Linux first before caving in and digging out an old laptop and installing Windows 10 just to perform the update. I tried both my main Alpine desktop and a Fedora laptop with similar results - it detects the usb connection to the speaker and identifies it as a mass storage device but when I try to do anything with /dev/sdb (in my case), like dd or cfdisk etc. the commands fail with "no medium found".

Neumi tech support responded very quickly and said "The software used to upgrade the firmware only has a Windows version." The one thing I found that makes me think Linux might have or might still work for this was from:
http://www.lemaker.org/product-guitar-guide.html

Which uses the same update tool, albeit an older version, and there is a Linux tool available there, which I tried but it just seg faults. So without an updated tool, or finding an older Linux live cd or something, it looks like Windows is the only option.
 

Destination: Moon

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Probably obvious, but, I did more or less verify that you need a Windows machine to do the firmware update. I've been on Linux and have been Windows free (except for work) for a while now so I tried from Linux first before caving in and digging out an old laptop and installing Windows 10 just to perform the update. I tried both my main Alpine desktop and a Fedora laptop with similar results - it detects the usb connection to the speaker and identifies it as a mass storage device but when I try to do anything with /dev/sdb (in my case), like dd or cfdisk etc. the commands fail with "no medium found".

Neumi tech support responded very quickly and said "The software used to upgrade the firmware only has a Windows version." The one thing I found that makes me think Linux might have or might still work for this was from:
http://www.lemaker.org/product-guitar-guide.html

Which uses the same update tool, albeit an older version, and there is a Linux tool available there, which I tried but it just seg faults. So without an updated tool, or finding an older Linux live cd or something, it looks like Windows is the only option.

Fwiw, I used an old laptop running XP to run the firmware tool. Worked without any issues.
Didn't want to introduce java onto my daily driver system
 

Destination: Moon

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I just wanted to pop in and thank Erin and Neumi once again. Now that they are run in, these speakers are far better than they have any right to be at the price.... It's insane! Yes, a crazy Eddie reference

Playing, Handle, Joe Sample, Jack Johnson, or MachineGun Kelly... Simply fantastic for 130 bucks!
Thanks Erin for cleaning these up
 

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Laserjock

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Probably obvious, but, I did more or less verify that you need a Windows machine to do the firmware update. I've been on Linux and have been Windows free (except for work) for a while now so I tried from Linux first before caving in and digging out an old laptop and installing Windows 10 just to perform the update. I tried both my main Alpine desktop and a Fedora laptop with similar results - it detects the usb connection to the speaker and identifies it as a mass storage device but when I try to do anything with /dev/sdb (in my case), like dd or cfdisk etc. the commands fail with "no medium found".

Neumi tech support responded very quickly and said "The software used to upgrade the firmware only has a Windows version." The one thing I found that makes me think Linux might have or might still work for this was from:
http://www.lemaker.org/product-guitar-guide.html

Which uses the same update tool, albeit an older version, and there is a Linux tool available there, which I tried but it just seg faults. So without an updated tool, or finding an older Linux live cd or something, it looks like Windows is the only option.
I used my wife’s Fujitsu laptop running Windows 8.1
What a miserable experience! I spent way too much time trying to find the “Start” position to get to the media update app and then after so many attempts decided to try another “cheap charging microUSB” cord and it did the update right away. Lesson learned

Had some leftover bung plugs from a set of Energy RC-70s and LCR that stuffed into the ports just fine.
 
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