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Stuffing Socks into Speaker Ports - Is There a Better Alternative?

Connor1a

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I have a set of rear firing Warfendale Heritage Lintons that are in the corner of my listening room with limited space behind them. They’re right up against a wall on one side and then about 18” away from the wall in the back. That’s about the best that I can do in my room. In order to control some of the midrange, I came across the idea of closing off some / most / all of the venting ports. Using plain old white (ish) gym socks does seem to help with boominess (WiiM’s RC showed some minor quantitative improvement in midrange).

As the title asks, is there an alternative to gym socks? From my reading, the speakers themselves should be safe / stuffing a sock down the ‘ole port isn’t going to hurt them (as long as you don't loose one down the port(!)). As the speakers are pushed back from general view, the socks aren’t immediately visible to guests, but are there better alternatives? I understand that the density of the material will affect the effect as well. I’ve even seen YouTube videos where the host / hostess will fill the entire cabinet with dampening material to reduce in cabinet resonances. Is that really advisable? My first blush response is that opening up the speaker cabinet would be a no-no, but then I leave the labels attached to pillows and blankets too…

Thanks much… Really appreciate your comments…
 
I understand that the density of the material will affect the effect as well.
Not really as long as it is an effective block. If you want something neater, you can buy foam plugs for this. FWIW, the corner placement of your speakers is of greater concern than the port.
I’ve even seen YouTube videos where the host / hostess will fill the entire cabinet with dampening material to reduce in cabinet resonances. Is that really advisable?
No. The physical properties of the enclosed/semi-enclosed space are essential to the proper performance of the loudspeaker.
My first blush response is that opening up the speaker cabinet would be a no-no
No, not a no-no but something that should be done with care and purpose. There is no useful purpose in stuffing the entire cabinet.
 
FWIW, the corner placement of your speakers is of greater concern than the port.
Yeah - I’m stuck unfortunately. I have a 24” x 24” spot in two corners of a rectangular room where the speakers can fit (that’s the Lintons and the subs if the subs go up front). Beyond that I’m stuck. It’s just not a great space, but it’s what I have… So the sock trick was frankly a straw grasp on my part…
 
I have a set of rear firing Warfendale Heritage Lintons that are in the corner of my listening room with limited space behind them. They’re right up against a wall on one side and then about 18” away from the wall in the back. That’s about the best that I can do in my room. In order to control some of the midrange, I came across the idea of closing off some / most / all of the venting ports. Using plain old white (ish) gym socks does seem to help with boominess (WiiM’s RC showed some minor quantitative improvement in midrange).

As the title asks, is there an alternative to gym socks? From my reading, the speakers themselves should be safe / stuffing a sock down the ‘ole port isn’t going to hurt them (as long as you don't loose one down the port(!)). As the speakers are pushed back from general view, the socks aren’t immediately visible to guests, but are there better alternatives? I understand that the density of the material will affect the effect as well. I’ve even seen YouTube videos where the host / hostess will fill the entire cabinet with dampening material to reduce in cabinet resonances. Is that really advisable? My first blush response is that opening up the speaker cabinet would be a no-no, but then I leave the labels attached to pillows and blankets too…

Thanks much… Really appreciate your comments…
I use foam pipe insulation. I've used it with the pipe hole blocked (with hot melt glue) or not. Blocking the hole might make an audible difference - but if it does it is subtle.
 
Yeah - I’m stuck unfortunately. I have a 24” x 24” spot in two corners of a rectangular room where the speakers can fit (that’s the Lintons and the subs if the subs go up front). Beyond that I’m stuck. It’s just not a great space, but it’s what I have… So the sock trick was frankly a straw grasp on my part…
Bass traps? DSP?
 
Maybe this would work?

Screenshot_2024-12-21_233325.jpg
 
This place amazes me with our members suggestions and range of knowledge. Where else can u get Kal with a smart and reasonable answer then a brilliant morsel from DanielT about an object that mite help. I learn something here everyday. Also love some of our members solutions to our audio problems. Thanx members. Happy Holidays to all.
 
One useful thing I've run across is further damping rather than blocking ports. Loose foam might sort of do that. I forget the product which fit in ports and let them breathe only one way or some such. My homebrew method is stuffing ports with straws. You can bundle them together so they fit the port and tape around them so they slide right in. This will resistively damp the ports action. Those small coffee straws provide a bit more damping than regular diameter straws, but both will measurably alter the port response. The length of the straw honeycomb also changes the amount of damping as well.

Here is an old Stereophile measurement section where they show the effect of straw stuffing on some RS LX5 speakers (one of those with the Linaeum tweeters).
 
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This place amazes me with our members suggestions and range of knowledge. Where else can u get Kal with a smart and reasonable answer then a brilliant morsel from DanielT about an object that mite help. I learn something here everyday. Also love some of our members solutions to our audio problems. Thanx members. Happy Holidays to all.
Well, that's just a thought. :) I don't know if that would work. It is one thing to use rubber freeze plug in car repairs, another if it would work to plug ports in a speaker, without scratching and so on. I don't know anything about that.
 
I used to own a pair of ported B&W speakers. I stuffed the ports with mini Nerf footballs and they sounded better, but I also didn't have a placement problem.
 
My homebrew method is stuffing ports with straws. You can bundle them together so they fit the port and tape around them so they slide right in. This will resistively damp the ports action.
Oh straws... I thought you meant audiophile straw from the U.K....

1734822438894.png
 
Well, that's just a thought. :) I don't know if that would work. It is one thing to use rubber freeze plug in car repairs, another if it would work to plug ports in a speaker, without scratching and so on. I don't know anything about that.
Well I really didn’t think you were Uber serious. My comment was more about our members willingness to help an think a wee bit beyond the box
 
Well I really didn’t think you were Uber serious. My comment was more about our members willingness to help an think a wee bit beyond the box
But it can work, even if it might be overkill. Otherwise, there are lots of different types of rubber plugs that TS, gently, can push into the ports.:)
Screenshot_2024-12-22_091005.jpg
 
Bass traps? DSP?
I have a couple acoustic panels in my shopping cart on Amazon right now that I’ve been staring at. The only reason I’ve not pulled the trigger is feedback from places like ASR and other AVR sites stating acoustic panels don’t actually do a lot. These are what I’ve been looking at (I’d only buy one for directly behind each speaker - even that is dodgy as I have a 65” TV there as well - I’m running out of wall space):


As for DSP, I’m maxing out the PEQs from both SVS (3 ea) and WiiM (10) at the moment. If I can get one of those troughs to close up by placing a plug in a port or moving the speaker (or sub) around, that’d free up a PEQ that I could use to attack another problem area. In some ways I’m picking at nits.

Looking at my WiiM Ultra’s RC, this is where I started:

IMG_0553.jpeg

This is where I am now:

IMG_0575.jpeg

So I’m in a +/- 5 db range from “ideal”, but if I could deal with those troughs at ~80 Hz and ~120 Hz that’d give me a couple of PEQs to deal with my problem children in the upper range. I’m definitely open to suggestions…

Thanks much!
 
I use foam pipe insulation. I've used it with the pipe hole blocked (with hot melt glue) or not. Blocking the hole might make an audible difference - but if it does it is subtle.
Ah… The dreaded radiator pipe covers. I spent 10 years in Europe. Very familiar with these. Thank you for the idea.
 
There's no evidence that the unidentified speaker is at fault. Placement clearly is.
If this is in reference to my quandary, yes, my issue is very likely placement. I’m certain my problem would be less… troublesome… were I to have a larger room.
 
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