Hello, I am a newbie here but just wanted to post a bit on the Atom speakers. I had read quite a bit about these over the last year or so, with several good reviews for them. I normally do not pay a lot of attention to reviews in general, but I do have a lot of fun checking out relatively inexpensive speakers that seem to sound a lot better than they really should for the price.
Needless to say about 2 months ago I found a pair of rosenut demo's at even a better price than the asking MSRP. I thought might as well give them a try, besides, I could use a nice pair of small standmounts for 2-channel listening. I had been giving them a good running in and felt like these speakers are really pretty good for even the MSRP. I think most of the reviews are pretty much spot-on. After listening to these for a couple of months, I developed an opinion that the only real thing that bugged me overall was some mild cabinet noise/resonance that would muddy things up a bit, especially at a bit of elevated volume levels. The treble can be a bit bright depending on the quality of source material, but overall, it is very good. Detailed, not sibilant, but pretty refined, again for the money.
As I thought about the cabinet noise, I thought that a little more dampening could be put to good use and maybe help tame this a bit. So, I went to one of the online shops that cater to speaker building and bought some dense half-inch sticky-backed damping foam. This stuff can be bought in different thickness and layers of compounds. The half-inch I bought was just a single layer, but I figured that the other thicknesses would be too thick for the cabinet design and volume. Also I did not want to interfere with the drivers in any way, or over-damp things.
So, out with the drivers/baffle, and I measured away. I made a couple of different pieces and through a good bit of trial and error, and putting the speaker back together and pulling it apart again several times, arrived at what I thought sounded the best. I basically lined both sidewalls and the bottom of the cabinet under the crossover. I also left the small rectangular stuffing that was stock in as well.
After having this speaker apart and looking at how the thing is made, I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the overall technology and parts quality. No, it isn't a world-beater, but putting in about $14.00 worth of damping material, twisting the speaker wire and dressing it all up a bit better, I think the speaker does indeed sound a bit better. Cabinet vibration is not noticeable and things seemed to be overall a cleaner and more open sound. I also think the Paradigm Mini-monitor could use a bit of damping as well. I enjoyed that speaker very much but again, was only bothered by cabinet resonanace at times. I might have gone for the Mini, but the price was just too right for the Atom.
So, maybe some of you will find this useful, again, I apologize if my posting isn't in the right place. Also, a word of caution, this sticky-back foam is really very sticky, use caution during placement, and be careful not to allow it to touch itself as it will be forever stuck to itself. It is tricky especially in the small confines of the Atom cabinet. I found it easier to take the baffle/drivers and the wiring/crossover out, it allowed more room to work and not get things mucked up. It is still tight, the reflex port is a bit of a pain to work around as well. All in all, this is a fine little speaker stock, but with a couple of small improvements, it can get even better. Hmmm, wonder if I have some really nice crossover caps and inductors....Nevermind. Enjoy the music! Tim
Needless to say about 2 months ago I found a pair of rosenut demo's at even a better price than the asking MSRP. I thought might as well give them a try, besides, I could use a nice pair of small standmounts for 2-channel listening. I had been giving them a good running in and felt like these speakers are really pretty good for even the MSRP. I think most of the reviews are pretty much spot-on. After listening to these for a couple of months, I developed an opinion that the only real thing that bugged me overall was some mild cabinet noise/resonance that would muddy things up a bit, especially at a bit of elevated volume levels. The treble can be a bit bright depending on the quality of source material, but overall, it is very good. Detailed, not sibilant, but pretty refined, again for the money.
As I thought about the cabinet noise, I thought that a little more dampening could be put to good use and maybe help tame this a bit. So, I went to one of the online shops that cater to speaker building and bought some dense half-inch sticky-backed damping foam. This stuff can be bought in different thickness and layers of compounds. The half-inch I bought was just a single layer, but I figured that the other thicknesses would be too thick for the cabinet design and volume. Also I did not want to interfere with the drivers in any way, or over-damp things.
So, out with the drivers/baffle, and I measured away. I made a couple of different pieces and through a good bit of trial and error, and putting the speaker back together and pulling it apart again several times, arrived at what I thought sounded the best. I basically lined both sidewalls and the bottom of the cabinet under the crossover. I also left the small rectangular stuffing that was stock in as well.
After having this speaker apart and looking at how the thing is made, I have to say that I am pretty impressed with the overall technology and parts quality. No, it isn't a world-beater, but putting in about $14.00 worth of damping material, twisting the speaker wire and dressing it all up a bit better, I think the speaker does indeed sound a bit better. Cabinet vibration is not noticeable and things seemed to be overall a cleaner and more open sound. I also think the Paradigm Mini-monitor could use a bit of damping as well. I enjoyed that speaker very much but again, was only bothered by cabinet resonanace at times. I might have gone for the Mini, but the price was just too right for the Atom.
So, maybe some of you will find this useful, again, I apologize if my posting isn't in the right place. Also, a word of caution, this sticky-back foam is really very sticky, use caution during placement, and be careful not to allow it to touch itself as it will be forever stuck to itself. It is tricky especially in the small confines of the Atom cabinet. I found it easier to take the baffle/drivers and the wiring/crossover out, it allowed more room to work and not get things mucked up. It is still tight, the reflex port is a bit of a pain to work around as well. All in all, this is a fine little speaker stock, but with a couple of small improvements, it can get even better. Hmmm, wonder if I have some really nice crossover caps and inductors....Nevermind. Enjoy the music! Tim
