So my thoughts on my 8" Hemptones:
I have the older style Hemptones with the driver on the "short" side. I upgraded to the Mk.II drivers and burned them in (facing each other, one speaker out of phase). I piled on the heavy blankets and pillows. I used some Rap to get those drivers moving (and since I'm not a big Rap fan I wouldn't care if I got sick of the songs
.
After about 20 hours, all of a sudden the bass showed up. Hello bass. After 100 hours, off come the blankets. Now this is where I go silly. I switch out speaker cable. Yep, I mean, why be rational?
I was using Mapleshade Double Golden Helix Plus- a very nice cable and IMHO, better than the Anti-Cables (which I found dark). Louis had suggested DNM Reson cable, so I called Creston Funk and talked to him for a while. We both came to the conclusion to try Eichmann bullets on the amp side and wire the DNM directly to the drivers, bypassing the Cardas terminals and internal wiring. I threaded the cable through the port.
Okay, so then I listened. Where did the bass go? My wife said the sound was fatiguing and bright. I checked the polarity, yep, correct. Speakers were toed in right at me, behind me, then in front of me- nothing was working.
I moved the speakers to about 2 feet from the side walls, and about 3 feet from the back wall with a VERY slight toe in. Currently the speakers are on books 13" high with a very slight angle up (Noel, I'm ready for those stands- ship'em!
The distance between the speakers is 8 feet. Okay! Now we have imaging! And after about 10- 15 more hours, the bass is back.
I think that my expectations were probably out of line for the cable and bass. I was expecting some 30 Hz notes or something... I believe I also needed to "adjust" to the DNM cable- it's a different sound- neutral, maybe a bit flat, lots of PRaT, but it does convey the sense of the music, my toes are tapping for sure. I've got a test tone disc and I'll measure just how much bass I'm getting, it still seems a bit "light". I do have a sub that integrates nicely, so I'm not too worried.
I'll probably switch back the Mapleshade cables mid next week and see what the difference is. I can recommend working with Creston (his web site is
www.concertsoundusa.com) he has a deep knowledge of music and he website has many good articles. Louis, as always, is a pleasure to deal with.
The differences between the Mk.I and Mk.II drivers- the latter drivers image much better; voices sound more realistic; a little more sparkle in the highs.
So those are my ramblings-
Skot
FYI- my room is 14' wide by 21' long with 8' ceilings. Speakers are on the short wall and I sit on a couch smack dab in the middle of the room.