[vidas7de7jesus7]

I got a pair of speakers and a reciever from a friend for free, but they're kind of old... and a little bit nasty... and ugly... Anyhow, I want to spruce them up.
First, some pictures:

As you can see... they have no back panel (or whatever you call it). They also seem to have an extra speaker cone, and little to no crossover (or is that what that little cylinder is between the cone and the tweeter). It's also ugly looking back there.

Notice the hideous fake woodgrain of the cabinet, as well as the overall crap look?

And that's how I connect the wire to the magnet (driver?), with spade connectors. Works fairly well for now.
Anyhow, what I want to do is either: A. repaint the cabinet a nice matte black and slap on some kind of back cover, or B. build and entirely new cabinet. Of course, by this I mean just stick on new sides since I have neither the time, nor skill, the route the holes all nice and pretty like. Either way, though, I think I might want to close the cabinet. If your sitting slightly behind the speaker, the bass is really flabby and generally, overall it sucks. Yes, it's because I'm behind it, but in the new future I plan on setting them on shelves right next to the wall and I don't want all that crap bouncing around. So, when I'm closing in the cabinet, A. should I put stuff inside? bubble wrap, fiber-fill, carpet, etc?, B. what should I use for the back cover, C. Would this be a good time to put on some kind of connector (like an RCA or one of those tab things), and D. any special kind of paint or anything? I don't need truly high-fi, I just want it to sound good. So, any and all advice is welcome. Thanks
And yes, I am a n00b

 

[amb]

The bass unit that has no magnet and voice coil is called a "passive radiator" (sometimes also known as a "drone cone"). It will not function if the enclosure isn't otherwise sealed, so you should definitely close up the back. You may also find that the enclosure is rather resonant and could use some internal bracing and damping. Bracing involves installing various cross-members to link up the side panels, front/rear panels, etc). You should also line the internal walls of the enclosure with some dacron or fiberglass insulation sheet for damping.

The woofer, tweeter and the single-capacitor "crossover" are all nasty cheap basura, so don't get your hopes up too high about the ultimate fidelity.

I find that the only thing semi-attractive about these speakers is the wood finish (that is, if it's actually real wood veneer -- can't tell from the photos). If it is indeed real veneer rather than fake woodgrain, then I wouldn't paint over it...

 

[Garbz]

I had a nasty set like that a while ago. They were incredibly nasty in the mids. I eventually worked out with the help of a friend (don't gimme crap about it, this was a long time ago), that most of this was because of a lack of crossover. Go to your local electronics store and get a crossover kit, will cost about $15US per speaker but it can do wonders. Heck put a 24band EQ through them and they may really sing too.

 

[creyc]

Yep, amb nailed it.

If you want to improve sound quality by any significant margin you'll first need to seal it up. You'll notice bass improves drastically. Acoustic foam on the walls will help quiet some of the annoying reverberation you'll get from such a large weak structure. The walls of the speakers look to be made of particle board, a particularly weak and forgiving material. If you really want to make a difference they will need serious side panel and lateral bracing. I'm sure the power handling of those isn't gigantic by any measure, but soldering some nice speaker wire directly to the terminals will be beneficial.

 

[vidas7de7jesus7]

Thanks for all your help. However, I don't know much about bracing speakers and the like, could anyone provide me some ideas/ a detailed explanation on how to do that? And would I just use MDF for the backing. Or... I've been considering going the whole new speaker set up route. Are there any recommendations/ auctions to definately check out on Ebay. I have an old Technics SA-303 amp that works for me, so...

 

[imported_Greg_R]

You guys aren't paying attention... those are infinite frequency range dipoles, don't mess with this expert design

 

[vidas7de7jesus7]

bump

 

[amb]

Google is your friend... try searching "speaker internal bracing" and you'll get a bunch of relevant hits, and maybe try some other related keywords too. It's a subject that can take a lengthy article to describe adequately.