L212 foam insert?

[MJC]

The L212s that I picked up this weekend has 1/4" foam inserts stuck to the inside of the grille cloth. This fills in the square hole on the grille that is cut out for the 066 and LE5-9. There one hole in the foam for each speaker.
My original L212s never had this foam, what's the purpose?

[Mr. Widget]

I think I mentioned foam a while back as a method of reducing the effects of the L212s wide baffle. I guess rather than glue it to the driver faces like the L100, they put it into the grille frame. I have no idea if it was stock or someone's "improvement".

Have you compared the sound of the ones with foam to the ones without? It should help with a sense of space.

Widget

[johnaec]

Originally posted by Mr. Widget
I think I mentioned foam a while back as a method of reducing the effects of the L212s wide baffle.

What are the effects of a wide baffle, and how does foam affect this? (Thinking ahead in terms of my custom cabinets...)

John

[Mr. Widget]

John,

You can think of it as putting the speaker near any reflective surface. You will get more apparent sound sources and it will negatively affect your imaging. It is the same reason that a small "bookshelf" speaker sounds better on a stand out in the room than buried in a bookshelf.

Another benefit of foam or other baffle treatments is in lessening the effects of baffle edge diffraction.

Widget

[MJC]

Originally posted by Mr. Widget
I think I mentioned foam a while back as a method of reducing the effects of the L212s wide baffle. I guess rather than glue it to the driver faces like the L100, they put it into the grille frame. I have no idea if it was stock or someone's "improvement".

Have you compared the sound of the ones with foam to the ones without? It should help with a sense of space.

Widget

The foam inserts looks to factory.
As far as comparing, I'd have to do some switching around of speakers. Being the 'new' pair are mounted on the back wall right side up. And the originals are mounted on the sidewalls upside down. And to confuse it even more, the main L/R are mirror image, with no grilles at all.