KEF Q150 bass port plug disappeared inside

norm · 5 Mar 2023 at 18:24

I ended up using the foam plug on these because I didn't have enough space to bring them far enough away from the wall, and the bass was booming too much.

I noticed the other day that the plug was missing on the left speaker, presumably the negative pressure caused by the speaker has caused it to be pulled inside.

Originally the foam plug had a removable centre core, I assumed this was to allow for some degree of fine tuning incase you didn't want the full effect of damping the bass. Was I wrong not to remove this? Presumably that would have prevented it being drawn in.

lucid · 6 Mar 2023 at 00:53

On that basis you're equally likely to see the bung pushed out as pulled in, but neither is really likely as the bass cones don't really move enough to create that much 'suction'.

Put it another way, bigger SVS subs with far more cone excursion also use port bungs. If any were to disappear because of the 'suction', then those bad boys would be high on the list.

I'd go with it being pushed in a bit too far to start off with and maybe it has then had insufficient grip on the port walls to stay in place. That, or little fingers / kitty paws?

Whatever the cause, you're still going to need to get it out. Are you planning on removing the bass driver to get access?

As for the centre plug, the idea is that you listen and choose which state of tuning you prefer.

norm · 6 Mar 2023 at 01:54

At loud volume these speakers do move an awful lot of air, and I listen to a lot of bass heavy house/drum and bass, so I can't see any other reason for the foam plug to have disappeared.

There wasn't much resistance inside the bass port when inserting the foam plug so I don't think that helped.

I'm reluctant to try and remove it myself, I bought them from Peter Tyson originally and they're pretty helpful so I'll see what they say.

I may even end up swapping speakers because even with the bass port covered these speakers are quite bass heavy and I still can't stop the booming nature, when I demoed them they sounded so much more refined but that was under ideal conditions I suppose.

hornetstinger · 6 Mar 2023 at 02:07

norm said:
At loud volume these speakers do move an awful lot of air, and I listen to a lot of bass heavy house/drum and bass, so I can't see any other reason for the foam plug to have disappeared.

There wasn't much resistance inside the bass port when inserting the foam plug so I don't think that helped.

I'm reluctant to try and remove it myself, I bought them from Peter Tyson originally and they're pretty helpful so I'll see what they say.

I may even end up swapping speakers because even with the bass port covered these speakers are quite bass heavy and I still can't stop the booming nature, when I demoed them they sounded so much more refined but that was under ideal conditions I suppose.

Do you use a avr or stereo amp? Sending them full range of filtered? High passing?

Maybe get a sub, use bass management . Use room EQ

norm · 6 Mar 2023 at 05:26

hornetstinger said:
Do you use a avr or stereo amp? Sending them full range of filtered? High passing?

Maybe get a sub, use bass management . Use room EQ

Paired with the Audiolab 6000A. I don't really like messing with EQ on the software side because I'm using streaming.

I think given their location front firing speakers would be better, or I take the more radical approach of rearranging my living room and putting them on stands.

hornetstinger · 6 Mar 2023 at 11:23

If you use rooon that allows you to use peq on a source

NickK · 7 Mar 2023 at 22:48

Some streamers support CamillaDSP which allow you to setup room correction too.

norm · 18 Mar 2023 at 18:58

Well luckily I managed to fish the foam plug out with a pair of long nose pliers wrapped in masking tape so as not to scratch the bass port.

I have recently acquired the Wiim Pro streamer, and boy what a difference that makes. Before I was streaming music via Bluetooth from my phone. With the Wiim Pro the level of clarity and detail is amazing and the bass is a lot richer and far less boomy now, I'm hearing low frequency notes in tracks that I couldn't before.

lucid · 18 Mar 2023 at 20:19

norm said:
I was streaming music via Bluetooth from my phone.

norm said:
With the Wiim Pro (Wi-Fi streamer) the level of clarity and detail is amazing and the bass is a lot richer and far less boomy now, I'm hearing low frequency notes in tracks that I couldn't before.

Revelation - 'Bluetooth is cack' - Who knew? :cry:

I'm just teasing. (But Bluetooth is cack.... mostly)
:cry:

norm · 19 Mar 2023 at 00:23

lucid said:
Revelation - 'Bluetooth is cack' - Who knew?

I'm just teasing. (But Bluetooth is cack.... mostly)

Yeah it was only ever a temporary thing, but I didn't expect the sound to change that dramatically, sort of akin to playing MP3s at 192kbps Vs 320kbps you can't really discern much of a difference (more to do with how the codec operates probably), but clearly if you feed the amp/speakers with an inferior source they won't perform to their potential, being more noticeable in a hifi context.

NickK · 20 Mar 2023 at 07:34

norm said:
Well luckily I managed to fish the foam plug out with a pair of long nose pliers wrapped in masking tape so as not to scratch the bass port.

I have recently acquired the Wiim Pro streamer, and boy what a difference that makes. Before I was streaming music via Bluetooth from my phone. With the Wiim Pro the level of clarity and detail is amazing and the bass is a lot richer and far less boomy now, I'm hearing low frequency notes in tracks that I couldn't before.

Yep B-loo-tooth is rather bad due to the limited data rate. Add to that the audio shaping to make things sound 'attractive' and the bean counter components that most manufacturers use.

I'm just about to finish building a differential native DSD DAC - compared to the Mac's internal and the 1996-era 1-bit Sony DAC in the CD player.. it's going to be an eye opener.