SL2 owners: re. foam

Yes I did the same and it bounce back. Looking forward to your results :upside_down_face:

Mine feels like it may need to be removed with a spoon…

Bruce

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More before and after pics would be nice!

I’ll pull my top cabinets off tomorrow (time to replace the pip spacers I think - I’ve had the replacement spacers for a year and been meaning to do it), so I’ll take a photo when I do so.

I’ll be leaving the lower box foam the moment, as removing the drivers isn’t something I’m wanting to do just yet.

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This is how the foam in the tweeter enclosure looks like at the moment

I’m about to replace the spacers between the upper and lower cabinet. Is there a correct orientation for the little bumps on the end of the spacer arms? I assume it works better either facing up or down, but as a starting point will at least have them consistent. The spacers that I have are anodised silver (the finish appears rougher) on the side with the raised point)

(252 through the tweeter port is coincidental but serendipitous)

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Re. the spacer bumps; they should face upwards. Make sure they are all orientated the same way.

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I’ve just checked the SL2 foam within the tweeter enclosure, still has some spring so will I leave for now, the SL2s date from around 08.

Listening last night after returning from holiday totally blown away on how good the SL2s perform, beautiful speakers especially with a NAP300.

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Thanks @Richard.Dane . When I bought my SL2s the washers were basically flat, so it was impossible to tell which side had the nodules.

I put in new washers tonight. Then flipped them over to install them correctly. All this practice is making it a lot easier to assemble the speakers than the first time I did :wink:

I’m not sure if it’s confirmation bias, but the speakers are sounding nicer with the new washers in. Wish you were here was a lot more present, and I noticed the sound of Dave Gilmore settling into his stool as the sky moves on from the opening guitar

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Richard I hope this is the correct solder.
Has multicore Crystal 505 and a lead warning.
Cost twice as much as the other stuff (which has already gone to a friends, call me the solder fairy) l have googled the heck out of it and this solder is what comes up. Cheers

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This looks like the stuff that Naim used before ROHS, yes. Just be sure not to mix it with any lead-free solder.

Cheers, Will done. Think I have enough wire to cut the old solder off. I did email Naim last year and they did say I can use it, being 08 it did surprise me a bit. Knowing my grammar I probably didn’t relay about mixing it and they were just saying I can use it :grimacing:

@Richard.Dane Oh and thanks for that Richard. I’ll behave myself and keep my inside voices inside🤪

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Will take my speakers apart tomorrow. Is there a specified distance for the ‘gap’ between the boxes? Looking at mine in-situ I can see a clear air space but not sure what this should be, ie whether I will need to buy more bumpy washers.

Cheers

Bruce

The gap is critical and is defined precisely by the tiny bumps on the metal washers. It is the gap between the two metal interface plates that allows the interface to act like a sealed box. Change that and you change the way this works (or not).

Thanks. I guess the only way to be sure they have not flattened a bit is to get new ones then.

Tiny investment plus the £10 of foam to freshen them up.

Out of interest how does a gap allow them to act as sealed boxes? Intuitively that feels the wrong way round. Feel free to take a pass on that if the answer is highly technical!

Bruce

Would be interesting to see photos if poss.

How old are your SL2s?

Are you planning to use 1 layer of Wilmslow foam per sidewall?

I will update tomorrow with pics. I think I have enough foam to do two thicknesses but to be honest I need to see what comes out first.

Bruce

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Your foam tweeter pads look exactly the same colour and condition as mine were.

I have to admit that I am a bit confused.

As you say, reticulated foam is something like a network made from ‘the edges of bubbles when the bubbles have burst’.

Reticulated or Open Cell foam is usually used in speaker grilles, AFAIK, because it has little effect on SQ as the soundwaves pass through it.

Speaker cabinet damping is usually done using using Closed Cell foam, AFAIK.

[Speculation alert - That would make sense to me because I’d expect closed cell foam to more effectively absorb the energy of any soundwaves in the tweeter cabinet and to provide a more solid surface to dampen any vibrations in the cabinet walls.]

Anyway, that’s theory.

In the end, what’s most important is how the cabinets sound with any particular damping material.

Photos below of the foam from my tweeter cabinets.

This looks like closed cell foam to me - but then I’m no foam engineer.

Wild guess - perhaps the answer is that speaker grilles tend to be made from less dense open cell foams (around 30PPI) - but more dense open cell foams that are say 80 PPI (pores per inch) are fine to use as internal speaker cabinet damping materials?

@NeilS
@roy.george
In case you have any insights about closed vs open cell foams please let us know.

Jim


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Maybe the 80ppi rating is the significant aspect here, as you say, it is less reticulated, or denser, than the more open foams used in speaker grille foam?

Plus, speaker grilles aren’t entirely transparent to sound, nor are they typically 20 odd mm thick. As I understand damping materials used in speaker cabs are for two reasons, mass damping of walls (bitumen panels etc) and wadding to increase effective cabinet volume/attenuate reflections. I would have thought reticulated foam would play a similar role to wadding, you need sound to pass through, albeit with resistance.

Guessing though, would love to hear the rationale behind the spec!

(a close relative was a foam engineer, alas they are no longer with us, and I only absorbed a fraction of their knowledge! I do recall that you can vary density and degree of reticulation, the former just by using different densities of PU foam, the latter by leaving it in the solution that dissolves the walls for different times. Though it looks like the main spec is just the PPI rating)

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