Hey everyone,
I recently constructed two speaker enclosures with a friend and now we just need to dampen them. The speakers are sealed and going to primarily be used for vocals. I work at StewMac and saw this item today, and I am wondering if this could be an ideal material for dampening the inside of our enclosures. Otherwise, please recommend any other specific materials I could use.
Thanks!
I recently constructed two speaker enclosures with a friend and now we just need to dampen them. The speakers are sealed and going to primarily be used for vocals. I work at StewMac and saw this item today, and I am wondering if this could be an ideal material for dampening the inside of our enclosures. Otherwise, please recommend any other specific materials I could use.
Thanks!
It is useful, but the damping material wants some thickness. This is so it can intersect a larger portion of the wave that travels through it. You would generally want to lightly stuff the enclosure if it is sealed. A good material for that is dacron pillow stuffing but I prefer to use something like fibreglass batts.
Ditto. Fiberglass batts are the way to go. Enclosure lightly stuffed for starters. I prefer fibreglass for sealed speaker enclosures over rock wool, pillow stuffing, Parts Express stuffing or foam blocks. I don't have experience with any other materials.
Get some R19 batts, cut the fiberglass into blocks without cutting through the backing then peel the fiberglass from the paper backing. Block size is not critical, just make it easy to get them in the enclosure. I advise attaching coarse screen material, or some such over the driver basket openings to keep whatever stuffing material you use from making contact with the back of the cone.
Professor Google knows loads about this, should you choose to consult him for in depth study.
Good luck with your project.
Coxy 1214,
By damping you are referring to lining the cabinets or stuffing them?
From the choice of your material following the link you provided, it looked to me like you are thinking of lining the inside walls. If that is he case you might look up Ultratouch recycled denim insulation. I have not used it but read it works well.
By damping you are referring to lining the cabinets or stuffing them?
From the choice of your material following the link you provided, it looked to me like you are thinking of lining the inside walls. If that is he case you might look up Ultratouch recycled denim insulation. I have not used it but read it works well.
Even better than fiberglass for this application is Bonded Logic UltraTouch recycled cotton insulation. In the US can be bought in small quantites at Home Despot.
dave
Never tried it before, but I will should the opportunity present itself. Handling fiberglass has obvious drawbacks, so the recycled cotton would only have to be as good as fiberglass to replace it my stuffing pantheon. Better is always, well, better to boot.
Home Despot
Hadn't noticed this one before. Reminds me of the old song, wherein it is written: "Ya load 16 tons, and whaddaya get. Another day older, and deeper in debt."Linoleum is great for deadening. Stick it in with no more nails.
'fluff' or wadding also works but be very careful, especially on sealed enclosures. If your box has tight tolerances on internal volume then the wadding can cause problems. Wadding will make the woofer behave as if it were in a larger box as it slows the air flow between the woofer and walls of the enclosure.
'fluff' or wadding also works but be very careful, especially on sealed enclosures. If your box has tight tolerances on internal volume then the wadding can cause problems. Wadding will make the woofer behave as if it were in a larger box as it slows the air flow between the woofer and walls of the enclosure.
The term "dampening" is used pretty loosely around here.
You should probably answer the above question first. Otherwise much of the advice given will be off the mark.
Yes, it peels right off. The large rolls don't have it.
Both will work. Tho as a stuffing it's pretty heavy so you have to take that into account.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zman01
Coxy 1214,
By damping you are referring to lining the cabinets or stuffing them?
........
Quite right, gentlemen.
The OP inquired about dampening, which I consider to be treatments meant to deaden the enclosure.
However, my response refers to stuffing, efforts to make the enclosure seem larger.
Originally Posted by zman01
Coxy 1214,
By damping you are referring to lining the cabinets or stuffing them?
........
Quite right, gentlemen.
The OP inquired about dampening, which I consider to be treatments meant to deaden the enclosure.
However, my response refers to stuffing, efforts to make the enclosure seem larger.
There are 3 kinds of UltraTouch,
1/ The foil backed stuff you mention, i've not seen that.
UltraTouch 4 ft. x 6 ft. Radiant Barrier - 30000-11406 at The Home Depot
It is only 3/8". If the foil is facing the wall i don't see any issue except heat transfer
2/ a 1/2" felt with a very thin black cloth "lining" on the back. This is the stuff we use a lot of for lining vented boxes. The lining is an aid to gluing it to the box and scribing shapes with a felt pan. This isn't on the web site and Bob & i may have found a localized stash of new-old-stock. I just got 1 of the last 3 200' rolls (800 ft^2) the distrib had and it had a 2005 inspection code. Bob sells it in more diy-friendly quantity.
3/ 3 1/2" and 5 1/2" wll insultion, comes in bats like fiberglass insulation. We bought a bat of 3 1/2". We use it for volume fill (ir microTowers). This would be the choice for a sealed box Gary Pimm uses it in has Hartley Boffle like, open back boxes.
Bonded Logic - Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation
The stuff at Home Depot i was suggestion turns out to be something different, made od cellulouse. No idea about this.
Enuff people start going in and asking for #2 & 3, we may make a small dent. But the amount we use in a speaker compared to insulation a house...
dave
Actually, for damping, one needs a spring.
For absorption (or making the back volume "appear" larger) one uses fiber
Well, the cabinet walls act as a spring.
The cheap way to deaden a cabinet is with multiple layers of roofing felt stapled to the inside cabinet wall.
However, loose or hung fiberglass, acusta-stuf, rockwool, etc., also will dampen and deaden resonances inside a cabinet.
The end result is to turn some of the acoustic energy into heat and prevent it from resonating the cabinet walls or even the driver cone.
In the case of the original poster, all he needs to do is stuff the cabinet with loose fiberglass or a polyester fill like acusta-stuf. Since they are only sealed vocal monitors, the issues with resonance are just not that critical in the grand scheme of things.
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Do you find mass loaded vinyl to be a substitute to bracing the walls?
EDIT:
planet10 said:
If I remember correctly, cellulose is a natural substance that is the primary ingredient in cotton, (possibly used interchangeably??).
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I consider it as augmentation. You need both (bracing and damping) for a HiFi cabinet.
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