Old string single color blade

[Doru]

Saturday evening I wired everything outside the hilt and all good!
Sound, brightness (oh, my God! undifussed, out of the pc tube, even thise cheap chinese neopixel strips are incredible bright).
Then I start building the blade and the result was quite dissapointing.
First I follow the instructions posted by experienced sabersmiths.
So, 6 inches of packing foam, then 6 feet of cellophane.
It was not enough, not even close.
Then I used approx.15 inches of packing foam (0,019 inches thick), then a lot of cellophane, then a TCSS diffuser tube.
The blade tube is 1 inch, transparent.
I lost a lot of brightness.
If I use less foam or cellophane, the strips start rattling inside the tube.
I am missing something?
Of course, being my first blade construction, I did expect some troubles, but for my eyes is too much lost of brightness. You can stare at it with no eye strain...'cause it looks like and old, dusted neon tube.
And no, I dont want a sunbrightness blade.
I will rebuild the blade, forget about diffuser tube an add more cellophane.
Or less packing foam and even more cellophane.

After all information, tutorial and videos on the forums, I'm pretty sure this is not a case of unrealistic expectation.

Thank you.

L.E.:
I'm using a 8 pins GX-16 connectors.
I bridged pins 1, 2 and 3, then I soldered one 20 gauge wire for positive power.
I bridged pins 4, 5 and 6, then I soldered one 20 gauge wire for negative power.
I also bridged all three negative pads on the soundboard, accordingly to user manual.
Pin 7 is the data and has 24 or 26 gauge wire.
Because I was literally shocked by how bright were the strips before diffusion, I suppose the power wiring is ok.

L.L.E.
I pull out the plastic diffuser and the result was a lot of corncobbing.
So, the diffuser is doing a very good job.
Next days I'll pull outsome foam and I'll use a bit more cellophane.