Ok, so when to use what and where?
I am building 3-way speakers and a pair of subs (all sealed) and need to figure out the interior treatments / stuffing. Are there guidelines as to which dampening material is best suited to certain areas? for example, mid range enclosures vs sub enclosures, rear cabinet walls vs. sides?
How about deflex, vs some batting on the rear walls?
Thx
I am building 3-way speakers and a pair of subs (all sealed) and need to figure out the interior treatments / stuffing. Are there guidelines as to which dampening material is best suited to certain areas? for example, mid range enclosures vs sub enclosures, rear cabinet walls vs. sides?
How about deflex, vs some batting on the rear walls?
Thx
In a sealed box the main purposes of the stuffing are absorbing the rear radiation from drivers and, for the lf driver, to lower airspeed inside the box so that it appears larger
from the drivers point of wiev.
I think the best way is to use dampening felt, the green 1/2" stuff used on car floors, glued to all inner walls and then the entire interior filled with good quality wool or Twaron angel hair, how much You need is related to drivers parameters.
For midrange its all about absorbing so there is almost no limit to how much stuffing to use.
from the drivers point of wiev.
I think the best way is to use dampening felt, the green 1/2" stuff used on car floors, glued to all inner walls and then the entire interior filled with good quality wool or Twaron angel hair, how much You need is related to drivers parameters.
For midrange its all about absorbing so there is almost no limit to how much stuffing to use.
The best stuffing material for sealed boxes is fiberglass. It has been shown in test after test. It does the best job of enhancing box volume (lower bass) and damping of reflections off the rear wall. My rule of thumb is use about 1 lb per cu. ft of volume to stuff. Get some wall insulation FG from your local HD or Lowes.
With regard to midrange drivers, you can also use FG. But, in the case of some of them (I know Seas for sure) the VC is exposed, use crimped polyester pillow stuffing available from a craft store. The PET isn't brittle like FG and thus won't break into small pieces that could get into the VC gap.
With regard to midrange drivers, you can also use FG. But, in the case of some of them (I know Seas for sure) the VC is exposed, use crimped polyester pillow stuffing available from a craft store. The PET isn't brittle like FG and thus won't break into small pieces that could get into the VC gap.
I assume that the fiber size and shape are what gives fiberglass an edge in acoustical performance. Has thinsulate and other ultra fine fiber batting been tested as well? Just curious since my mid range is Seas and the abrasive nature of FG slightly concerns me with regard to the voicecoil...
Interesting idea and NRC looks good and up there with Mineral fiber I used for bass traps
People are saying that the stuff from home depot isn't decompressing to the full thickness..
Wonder about the acoustic specific panels from Bonded Logic..
Thanks for this. I will get samples and try it out..
Maybe cover the speaker cabinets with a T Shirt
Fiber diameter is the key.
There will always be materials that haven't been tried as stuffing. There's another thread in this forum where a guy is planning a whole series of trials with different materials.
If you don't have an aversion to FG, saver yourself some time and just use that.
I've personally experimented with wool in different fineness levels, bamboo, foam blocks, FG, PET in different fineness levels, etc, etc.....
I'm guessing your aiming higher than this but for an uber cheap option I've used Ikea Inner cushions fill. Worked a treat and is good for playing with stuffing variations without ruining the good stuff
I can't tell from the website - is are the thin HD rolls backed with anything, or are they suitable as is to use as loose fill?
See my threads on stuffing tests. Summary: For a sealed box, I went back to plain old FG insulation packed pretty tight. Much tighter than I expected. Pillow stuffing was terrible. Cotton, wool, foam, and boutique stuffing worked about as well, but cost a lot more. All that hub-bub on activated carbon I consider just plain inappropriate as I want a speaker, not a de-humidifier. ( and my test showed it did not work anyway). I learned enough to not bother with more tests and no one else seemed willing to take up the next level, just argue with no facts. So I am back to working on other problems. Can't decide: Small three way with first order crossovers or another two way with the Satori and OM1.
Readers take note of tvegeek's results with cotton.
Bonded Logic Ultra-touch is COTTON. I've tried cottan as well and got the same results as tvrgeek as far as bass LF extension is concerned.
Damping cabinet reflections is a WHOLE OTHER DISCUSSION from cabinet volume enhancement via stuffing optimization.
Agree totally , nasty to work with , but easily the most effective ...!!!
Do you really need stuffing and damping panels on the walls? Doesn't the stuffing do a pretty good job of absorbing the reflections as well as doing the resonant frequency thing? Commercial speakers I've looked in (not all that many admittedly) only seem to have stuffing or foam panels, but not both.
Reread post #3.
I haven't seen both foam and stuffing in the same box either. I've seen foam blocks used to replace the use of stuffing (vintage Advents). Not quite as effective but certainly easier to work with as far as production worker safety is concerned.
The thin rolls have a foil backing. It pulls right off. The large batts have no backing and are a looser pack.
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