Anyone tried Enacom Speaker filters on their Logans?

[daveneumann]

A friend gave me a pair of Enacom speaker filters to try out in my system. So I hooked them up to the upper binding posts of my Spires. First impression is that the treble is sweeter and with a more relaxed sound. Maybe even a little quieter background.

I plan to do more experimentation with and without the filters and will report back my experience.

Has anyone else tried these on their ML's? I'd be interested in your experience.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[MOON]

Hi Dave,

I will be really interested to hear more of your observations on the filter.I wonder if they are similar to the Walker Audio HDL links.When you mentioned sweeter and more relaxed, I assume the highs were still there but in a more natural way , would that be correct?
Thanks, Greg

 

[daveneumann]

Greg

Yes, you are right. The highs are still there, but they don't call attention to themselves in an overdone way.

For a time last night I was thinking the highs were too subdued and attentuated, but then a cymbol or bell would ring and it really sounded right!

I need to give it a couple more weeks of break-in and then I'll post some more careful comparisons.

Regards.

 

[FISH_MAN]

whats the general idea behind these things????

 

[miljac]

The simple explanation is that these filters suppress high frequency oscillations.
Used as a terminator on one side of the transmission line prevents the energy reflection back to the source caused by the impedance mismatch.

 

[FISH_MAN]

The simple explanation is that these filters suppress high frequency oscillations.
Used as a terminator on one side of the transmission line prevents the energy reflection back to the source caused by the impedance mismatch.

have you ever heard them? is there any real merit to this technology?

 

[miljac]

I never used the Zobel filters on my MLs, so I cannot judge if it works or not, I'd say the circuit's merit is obvious on the inductive load, if anyone here on the forum says it works on capacitive load too (ESLs) I have no reason to disbelieve. I would just be cautious not to strain the amplifier with too much capacitance!
On the other hand, quite a number of tube amps have Zobels across the output transformers. Many linear IC application circuits in datasheets use them on the output as a safeguard measure against oscillations too.

 

[JonFo]

Interesting, but I wonder how effective it is across the board.

If your amp is prone to issues with the reactance and varying impeadance of the ML's, then it might help.

From a frequency balance standpoint, it's also behaving as a low-pass filter.

Big line sources tend to have a summed rising output in the high frequencies that few rooms can sustain without ringing, so a bit of HF cut never hurts. It's one reason so many of you like tube amps, they tend to roll-off on the highs naturally.

And as Miljac points out, these tube amps often have Zobels on their output transformers already.


From reading the Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zobel_network

These devices in this thread seem to be more akin to a Boucherot cell.

Zobel networks and loudspeaker drivers
Zobel network correcting loudspeaker impedance

See also Boucherot cell

Zobel networks can be used to make the impedance a loudspeaker presents to its amplifier output appear as a steady resistance. This is beneficial to the amplifier performance. The impedance of a loudspeaker is partly resistive. The resistance representing the energy transferred from the amplifier to the sound output plus some heating losses in the loudspeaker. However, the speaker also possesses inductance due to the windings of its coil. The impedance of the loudspeaker is thus typically modelled as a series resistor and inductor. A parallel circuit of a series resistor and capacitor of the correct values will form a Zobel bridge. It is obligatory to choose R_B = \infin because the centre point between the inductor and resistor is inaccessible (and, in fact, fictitious - the resistor and inductor are distributed quantities as in a transmission line). The loudspeaker may be modelled more accurately by a more complex equivalent circuit. The compensating Zobel network will also become more complex to the same degree.[3]

Note that the circuit will work just as well if the capacitor and resistor are interchanged. In this case the circuit is no longer a Zobel balanced bridge but clearly the impedance has not changed. The same circuit could have been arrived at by designing from Boucherot's minimising reactive power point of view. From this design approach there is no difference in the order of the capacitor and the resistor and Boucherot cell might be considered a more accurate description.

 

[daveneumann]

Update...they are gone

After some careful listening I ended up taking the filters out of the system. Yes, they made listening very easy on the ears, but they also softened the sound and muted dynamics and leading edges of notes. Guitar strings were muted and softer sounding than what I was used to. And bass seemed to have slightly less impact. After just upgrading my amp to the Mac 402, the last thing I wanted to do was to undo what I liked about the amp!

Bottom line, I enjoy the excitement, impact and clear treble of the speakers without the filters. Oh well, glad I tried it just to learn a little more about my system and my listening preferences.

Dave