Just bought Monolith II

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Hi,

Always wanted these. Picked them up yesterday. They are in good shape, missing covers for the panel but I like they way they look. The sound is a tad bright for my tastes but I heard it has a lot to do with the room.

I have a

small room with wood floors and no curtains. I bought some isolation feet, not the super expensive kind but a cheaper version to see if it helps. Looks like the original woofers so I may by a sub and use a 100hz cutoff to exclude most of the speaker's bass.

Any tips are appreciated!

 

[JonFo]

Welcome aboard Greg!

Those look to be in great shape.

Any tips are appreciated!

Oh, you will get many

Starting with a clear need for some room treatments, as that looks like a highly reflective room.
Given the space constraints, you could start by placing some absorption directly behind the speakers.
Ideally, it should be something like a pair of RealTraps MiniTraps HF (the HF is important: no limp mass that might reflect high frequencies).
But you can run some experiments by hanging a thick duvet in its cover behind each speaker.
Alternatively (for WAF and looks), you could use thick curtains and place 2" to 4" of Rockwool on the wall behind the curtains.

The idea is to dampen the rear wave from the panels, which is currently bouncing off the front wall and coming right back through the panels, causing some nasty comb-filtering.
With those huge panels in such a (relatively) small room, you will still have an enormous soundstage, even with many treatments.

 

[Brad225]

Congratulations Greg, I'm sure you will love them.

You also have the Monolith master, JonFo to assist you.

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Welcome aboard Greg!

Those look to be in great shape.


Oh, you will get many

Starting with a clear need for some room treatments, as that looks like a highly reflective room.
Given the space constraints, you could start by placing some absorption directly behind the speakers.
Ideally, it should be something like a pair of RealTraps MiniTraps HF (the HF is important: no limp mass that might reflect high frequencies).
But you can run some experiments by hanging a thick duvet in its cover behind each speaker.
Alternatively (for WAF and looks), you could use thick curtains and place 2" to 4" of Rockwool on the wall behind the curtains.

The idea is to dampen the rear wave from the panels, which is currently bouncing off the front wall and coming right back through the panels, causing some nasty comb-filtering.
With those huge panels in such a (relatively) small room, you will still have an enormous soundstage, even with many treatments.

Thank you for the advice! I went to the RealTraps website and I found MiniTraps but nothing with the HF. Also, should I place them in the corners or just behind the speakers?

Thanks for your help!
Greg

 

[Tmort]

I concur on the treatment suggestions, I too have panels in a smaller room and adding treatment behind the panels was transformative.

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Thank you. Do you have a picture? I'm confused as to where to put them especially since the sound is so spread out.

 

[JonFo]

Thank you for the advice! I went to the RealTraps website and I found MiniTraps but nothing with the HF. Also, should I place them in the corners or just behind the speakers?

Contact them directly and explain it is for putting behind an ESL, and they'll make sure you get the correct versions. Surprised they don't list them separately; they used to.

And yes, directly behind the speaker, aligned to absorb the panel's output, and offset it a few inches (2 or 3") from the wall to improve low-frequency absorption and alleviate the dipole cancellation below 400Hz.

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Thank you!!!

 

[Tmort]

Definitely in line in the wall behind the panels.
Try these, I have 2’x4’ panels behind mine. They have some nice fabrics in the non-std range.
https://www.gikacoustics.com/product/gik-acoustics-244-bass-trap-flexrange-technology/

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Definitely in line in the wall behind the panels.
Try these, I have 2’x4’ panels behind mine. They have some nice fabrics in the non-std range.
https://www.gikacoustics.com/product/gik-acoustics-244-bass-trap-flexrange-technology/

Perfect, thx!

 

[JonFo]

Note, the base model GIK 244 is fine (but ask if it has a limp mass element in the unit, that's a negative), but do NOT add the scatter plate for this application, you want as much pure absorption as possible.

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Note, the base model GIK 244 is fine (but ask if it has a limp mass element in the unit, that's a negative), but do NOT add the scatter plate for this application, you want as much pure absorption as possible.

Thank you!

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

One of my woofers seems a tad tired. I believe this is the replacement based on what I found on this site. It says it is a 4 ohm woofer, is that correct? Hard to replace?

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DCS305-4-12-Classic-Subwoofer-4-Ohm-295-204?quantity=1

 

[jacksky]

my room is not quite as small as yours but I found placement helped a lot with HF issues and sound bouncing off walls. I placed the speakers 18" away from side and front wall with slight toe in. For toe in I experimented with one side being 1.5" closer to front wall up to 3" closer. That slight angle change prevented the rear firing sound from coming right back at the panels. That angle also does not aim the panels right at my head so the HF was not too bright.
my room does not generally suffer from bass boom but any closer to front wall and the bass got muddy. Just my experience (mine are Gen 1 Monoliths).

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Thank you! I'm moving them to a much bigger room this weekend. I hope it helps!

 

[BigGuy]

One of my woofers seems a tad tired. I believe this is the replacement based on what I found on this site. It says it is a 4 ohm woofer, is that correct? Hard to replace?

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DCS305-4-12-Classic-Subwoofer-4-Ohm-295-204?quantity=1

Congrats on the Monolith 11's! Had a pair for about 15 years with 1 panel change before I sold them to a friend who continues to use them.

Be aware that there is a kit which upgrades the Monolith II to III status which has new woofers and crossover board. I did the install myself. Not sure about what availability might be on secondary market?!

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Congrats on the Monolith 11's! Had a pair for about 15 years with 1 panel change before I sold them to a friend who continues to use them.

Be aware that there is a kit which upgrades the Monolith II to III status which has new woofers and crossover board. I did the install myself. Not sure about what availability might be on secondary market?!

Thank you! I will look for it.

 

[JonFo]

One of my woofers seems a tad tired. I believe this is the replacement based on what I found on this site. It says it is a 4 ohm woofer, is that correct? Hard to replace?

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DCS305-4-12-Classic-Subwoofer-4-Ohm-295-204?quantity=1

That's a subwoofer driver, and what you need for this application is a woofer, so I'd recommend this model:
https://www.parts-express.com/Goldwood-GW-12PC-4-12-Heavy-Duty-Woofer-4-Ohm-290-332?quantity=1

Others here have successfully used it to upgrade Monolith III models. It has enough range to work vented or sealed, and the impedance should be a match for the passive XO. Get two and replace both drivers.

I still maintain your best bet for improved bass is to replace the drivers and go active using a Crown XLS amp, bypassing the horrible passive bass XO.

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

That's a subwoofer driver, and what you need for this application is a woofer, so I'd recommend this model:
https://www.parts-express.com/Goldwood-GW-12PC-4-12-Heavy-Duty-Woofer-4-Ohm-290-332?quantity=1

Others here have successfully used it to upgrade Monolith III models. It has enough range to work vented or sealed, and the impedance should be a match for the passive XO. Get two and replace both drivers.

I still maintain your best bet for improved bass is to replace the drivers and go active using a Crown XLS amp, bypassing the horrible passive bass XO.

Thank you very much! And go with the 4 ohm woofer that you sent me?

 

[Greg Zilberfarb]

Thank you very much! And go with the 4 ohm woofer that you sent me?

And would this amp be ok? https://www.proaudiostar.com/crown-...u2dZw3QZCjuJigUDwEgPg3T8Z0RwoliBoCeesQAvD_BwE