greetings,

any kindhearted foummer here cares to guide me how to dampen & cover-up the front port of my altec lansing vs4121. i don't like the present sound.

thanks.

What do you mean cover-up the front port?

You dont want the sattelite sound?

do u mean cover up subwoofer front port?? ask bsl555...he modded his vs4121..manage to tighten bass.

better don't cover the front cover, it's a duct which let air out and in, and most important, might be able to balance the air pressure.
if u simply cover it, might harm the diaphragm of the speaker.
for speaker that they design with seal type, the diaphragm is different, the internal enclosure also different.

Yeah, he's right about this and only audiophile speakers like B&W comes with a special foam to be inserted to the air duct as some speakers have two firing air ducts so the foam is used to fine tune the bass for Altec Lansing's case, their speakers were not designed for such purpose so I would suggest you to avoid doing so. If you want tighter bass, add sound dampening materials inside your subwoofer enclosure, you'll be able to buy those materials from Hi-Fi shops but please take note that such materials might cost half the price of your speakers so I'm not sure whether it is a worthwhile investment. Well, you should probably auditioned the speakers with own cds or dvds before buying them in the first place.

If you wanna simple DIY mod, buy some 3/4" or thicker sponge sheer and gum them inside the woofer box. I'm sure the bass will be a lot more pleasant.

There's a few more mods but unless you're well equiped and knowledgeble of electronics, its not entirely encouraged. The advanced mods can nudge it to another level on power output and improved clarity.

This post has been edited by bsl555: Dec 18 2006, 01:21 PM

thanks guys for ur reply. for ur info, i can only afford altec lansing vs4121, as my family needs comes first. anyway i simply rolled & stuffed some sort of sponge that comes with de mobo and de bass tighter now.

if i stick de sponge to de inside wall of de speaker using dunlop or shelleys glue, won't de sponge melt coz de glue is petroleum based.

Sponge doesn't last forever, it will turn to a powder substance after a few years. In Cantonese, we call it 'fu zhor'. Get what I mean? It will be messy when that happens.

Try getting decent sound dampening materials.

Sponge will last long enough inside the woofer box..at least 3 years or more, afterall we're talking about modding a RM200 thingy and most would likely dump it for something more canggih in future.
Anyway, if cost is no object (in my case) I used audio approved sponge damping inside plus other electronic mods all worth a fair amount of money and effort. Whoever I sell it to (if?) in future, after listening to it, may have an erection.

This post has been edited by bsl555: Dec 17 2006, 06:20 PM

ever thinking of modifying the internal parts? cheapest yet most viable solution.

Well, if the enclosure is made of solid wood from a tree trunk, I believe that will be the ultimate upgrade for a start since the speaker box enclosure has an impact on the sound quality but honestly, it's just a RM200 pc speakers, lets not get too carried away or have too high expectations, even the top of the range speakers are still nowhere near dedicated Hi-Fi speakers.

i suggest u trade in for altec lansing atp3.
sounds way much better than vs4121.
just my opinion..

ATP3 has good bass but VS4121 has better clarity but bass isn't too shabby either. For techno music, I think ATP3 gets the job done pretty well. By the way, have you guys heard of VS4221, the bigger brother with extra 4 watts to the satellites and a remote control plus the subwoofer is housed in a solid wood enclosure. How does it compare to VS4121?

tight base???increase the base?..huhuhuhuhu....cs21 oso can put sponge it the subwoofer??...better i do myself or just send it to the electronic shop??...

The sponge is not for increasing the bass, it's to make the bass less boomy and more focused. If it's under warranty, you better not open the subwoofer, you'll risk voiding your warranty.

There's this one other mod i know of....,they get a bunch of straws(yes,the one's used for drinking) and insert the whole bunch into the blowhole/duct...,wether or not this will give you tighter and more controlled base i do not know but you might wanna give it a go......

it won't melt as the woofer is made with medium density fiber board (MDF), sort of easy name "pressed wood" easy suggestion, try put ur woofer far from wall and corner, then buy two small carpet which people put at entrance of door, prefer those braid and cloth type. put two / three layer under the woofer, it will lighten the resonance and boomy of the woofer.



it's not from solid tree trunk it's MDF, or LDF.


hell agree, i just gonna suggest that, ATP3 sounds much cleaner than the 4121.
but what to do? 4121 always sound better in open space. and ATP3 sounds like no bass at all at the rack they sell speaker.


this is an great idea, i never though of it, teorically it can alter the air flow and hence reduce the woofer effect..

one suggestion, maybe u can change the potential meter of the BASS level to higher value.
so it might be able to reduce the bass, simple and fast.

Actually there's a another technique, by varying the length and diameter of the port, maybe inserting a fitting pvc pipe of different length internally. The length of the port (since the diameter is already of fixed size) can alter the bass frequencies. The effective length and diameter of a subwoofer port is seriously taken into the design of a subwoofer for desired frequency response. Nevertheless if the speaker is somewhat boomy (due to manufacturing cost reduction of this RM200 thingy), damping the internals can be to good effect, but to my experience because they used a rather underpowered chip amp, excessive internal damping can seemingly reduce the overall bass dynamics but with tighter bass lines for sure. Its a trade-off for a nicer bass tone in this case for the 4121.

This post has been edited by bsl555: Dec 25 2006, 05:53 PM

Well, by comparison, VS4221 might sound a tad better as the subwoofer is made from solid wood as mentioned by AL's website, I never get the chance to hear it but from foreign sites, they gave it 4 out of 5, considered quite a good review at this rating.

Only thing is that it will result in the warranty being void......,how old is ya vs4121?.......