Opinions on possible speaker damping material.

[cleandan]

Ok, here we go with the hairbrained ideas so don't hurt yourselves laughing. I am wondering about damping my speaker cabinets and the back side of the horns. What do you think about using a spray in bed liner, LINE-X to be specific. The liner does not harden, the surface is not smooth, when sprayed correctly it fills every nook and cranny, you can also use tape to mask off the areas you don't want sprayed and the detail from this is excellent so very finite/close tolerances can be achieved. Let me know what you think about this.

[thegage]

Not sure about the bed liner material. I wouldn't be certain is has that much of a damping effect. You might try this stuff instead: http://www.e-speakers.com/products/blackhole5.htm

It might be a bit pricey, but you don't really need that much. I just did my VMPS speakers with it, judiciously treating the area behind the woofers and the midrange panel. The results were astounding in terms of increased resolution and a decrease in "muddiness". I experimented with differing amounts, then listening.

John K.

[-=Rudy=-]

Interesting! How about also trying some of those automotive sound damping materials? They are a thick asphalt-like substance that deaden the surfaces they are attached to. I've seen some home-brew speaker design plans where the walls are double thickness, with sand poured between the layers of the cabinet. Good luck trying to move it! :D

Don't go too thick on any material though--you risk reducing the cabinet volume and thus changing the bass response of the cabinet...which can be critical in some designs and not as critical in others.

[thegage]

I have used the auto damping materials (like Dynamat) to damp things like speaker baskets--where it works very well. The makers of Black Hole claim that there somehow isn't a significant reduction in cabinet volume. On my VMPSs I tried to take out a similar amount of fiberglas damping compared to the Black Hole I put in. Tte bass response did seem to get deeper, along with clearer. I need to experiment with the damping of the passive radiator to see if some tuning is necessary.

John K.

[Gary]

If I was doing this, I'd make sure that it was removeable. To my mind, it could go either way - better or worse! :eek:

[Strabo]

Dan and I have been emailing back and forth discussing the different ways to dampen speakers. This was started when I ran across a newsletter by Frank Van Alstine (http://www.avahifi.com/root/audio_basics/index.htm) where he recommended adding plast-i-clay (1982's version of Dynamat?) to basically everything inside your cabinets. Pick the 1982 .pdf towards the bottom of the page.

Anyone that has used Dynamat, it is easily removable?
I was thinking of using it on my woofer and passive supports for starters and if that worked maybe add it to the inside of the cabinet walls.

The Black hole stuff is to thick for me as I don't want to build new boxes to make up for the 2 3/4 loss of LWH. Heck, I was afraid that Dynamat would lead to a significant decrease in internal volume, but Mr Van Alstine didn't seem to be afraid of a little loss.

[thegage]

Anyone that has used Dynamat, it is easily removable?

I have (the "Extreme" version) and have had no problems removing it from stamped-steel speaker baskets or magnets. I have not tried it on cabinet walls, so I can't comment. Black Hole makes a similar product, noted here: http://www.orcadesign.com/Product%20pdf/blackhole%20pdf/blackhole.pdf

Here's a DIY speaker site that claims BH5 does not adversely affect internal volume. You could e-mail them for more technical info:

http://www.e-speakers.com/products/blackhole5.htm

John K.

[Strabo]

Originally posted by thegage


I have (the "Extreme" version) and have had no problems removing it from stamped-steel speaker baskets or magnets. I have not tried it on cabinet walls, so I can't comment. Black Hole makes a similar product, noted here: http://www.orcadesign.com/Product%20pdf/blackhole%20pdf/blackhole.pdf

Here's a DIY speaker site that claims BH5 does not adversely affect internal volume. You could e-mail them for more technical info:

http://www.e-speakers.com/products/blackhole5.htm

John K.

Oops, I misread that line.
So their theory is that this stuff adds enough dampening to off-set it's reduction of actual volume?