What are the characteristics of a better material for enclosure?

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I suppose an empty cabinet is really an echo chamber bouncing the sound around inside until it dies away.

I would have thought that it depends on how much sound goes back through the cone as to whether this is a problem or not.


This is a totally different matter, equally important though. The cabinet is a small "room" and needs proper damping to kill the standing waves that would otherwise develop.

Cabinet construction determines the general loss through the walls and the resonance structure of that. Internal damping determines internal resonances to come back through the cone and possibly through the walls as well.

Cone mass then determines what quality of a barrier it is, for re-radiation.

David S.
 
Another cabinet construction I can recommend is to use ceramic tiles.

You can start with a fiarly thin wall construction such as 1/2" or 5/8" MDF. Then on every surface glue ceramic floor or bathroom tiles to cover as much of the surface as is reasonably practical. Use a thin layer of a soft glue such as contact adhesive. Hard glues will eventually crack and drop the tiles. Better yet, use a proper damping compound (at Snell we used a Swedish glue called "noise killer yellow" that worked well, provided high damping in thin layers).

The ceramic is dense, heavy and somewhat decoupled. The thiner cabinet walls help assure a better damping to mass ratio.

David S.
 
Another cabinet construction I can recommend is to use ceramic tiles.

You can start with a fiarly thin wall construction such as 1/2" or 5/8" MDF. Then on every surface glue ceramic floor or bathroom tiles to cover as much of the surface as is reasonably practical. Use a thin layer of a soft glue such as contact adhesive. Hard glues will eventually crack and drop the tiles. Better yet, use a proper damping compound (at Snell we used a Swedish glue called "noise killer yellow" that worked well, provided high damping in thin layers).

The ceramic is dense, heavy and somewhat decoupled. The thiner cabinet walls help assure a better damping to mass ratio.

David S.

Could Green glue be used?

I have a crap load of tiles leftover to try this experiment. I also have new sealed boxes (2 way waveguides) ready for finishing so I have something ready to test, of course they are 3/4" birch ply so that might be too thick?
 
I have a bunch of rubber sheets, about 2 or 3mm thick and fairly heavy. Similar to Dynamat I suppose but not made with audio apps in mind. Would it be useful for cabinet internals, or sandwiched in a double-wall in place of the aforementioned sand? I have plenty for multiple layers if need be.
 
I have a bunch of rubber sheets, about 2 or 3mm thick and fairly heavy. Similar to Dynamat I suppose but not made with audio apps in mind. Would it be useful for cabinet internals, or sandwiched in a double-wall in place of the aforementioned sand? I have plenty for multiple layers if need be.

Rubber sheets sandwiched between other layers is a good way to go. We did a few models at Snell with baffles constructed that way (K5,E5, XA75, XA90). Very dead and didn't get "short circuited" by screws through (a major issue if you try soft decoupling techniques).

Doug20, I don't know what green glue is but don't worry about your wall thickness. It will still be a nice improvement.

David S.
 
In Denmark we have a special type of MDF with 30% fine sand. It's VERY heavy but easy to handle if you make a sandwich of plywood and this MDF for resonance control.
Wonder if it's available in other countries.

Peter


here in the UK you can find MDF or chipboard loaded with cement, for sound deadening purposes as 'floorboards' in modern build homes. Sounds like similar stuff to me 😉

how about a tri-lam (outside to inside) of [BB ply/ cement loaded MDF/ plasterboard] all with green glue as the jam in an audio sandwhich.
 
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Whilst staying within the topic, I would like to ask for ideas, or suggestions of a material to mate with granite as a 2 or 3 ply lamination....maybe something lossy, fibrous, but still rigid. maybe ive answered my own question. Maybe fibreboard? the noticeboard variety...or even just mdf....

any suggestions?
 
Whilst staying within the topic, I would like to ask for ideas, or suggestions of a material to mate with granite as a 2 or 3 ply lamination....maybe something lossy, fibrous, but still rigid. maybe ive answered my own question. Maybe fibreboard? the noticeboard variety...or even just mdf....

any suggestions?

Why? Why do you think you you have to laminate anything with granite?

It has mass and rigidity in abundance.

Seems to me you may have to put something inside a granite enclosure to attenuate interior reflections.
 
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