Another speaker question?

[jmvotto]

Anyone use damping material for there tower speaker pods? If so does it help remove the tininess from the aluminum cans. what other effects will it have , Louder , softer, none...

[mmandley]

I dont have cans right now. I know a lot of speaker enclosures use a damping material. Looks like realy thin or soft home insulation to me.

Since my sub in the boat isnt sealed yet i used some cloth and stuffed it behind it and the result was a much tighter and deeper bass and less hollowness, and echoing threw the boat.

Id expect putting something like that would take the tinging noices out as the sound waves have a soft surface to bounce off of. What your hearing is Sound Resonating.

Results should be, fuller sound, and cleaner sound since you wont have all those waves echoing in the cans.

Just my thoughts

[Razzman]

Go to Walmart and back in the fabric/sewing section you can buy a nice big bag of pillow polyfill for a few bucks. Open your enclosures/cans and fill it loosely, if you pack it in there you'll defeat the purpose. What the goal is here is to change the sound dynamics. This works for any speaker/sub and sometimes will make them sound better.

[sandm]

earmark told me to LOOSELY fill the cans with polyfil for the hollowpoints I'm installing, and I have filled every sub box I have ever built. it's supposed to make the enclosure seem bigger than it is and help the sound.
razz is correct. head to the evil empire and should have a bag for under $5.

[jmvotto]

earmark told me to LOOSELY fill the cans with polyfil for the hollowpoints I'm installing, and I have filled every sub box I have ever built. it's supposed to make the enclosure seem bigger than it is and help the sound.
razz is correct. head to the evil empire and should have a bag for under $5.

Thanks, I will head to wally world, the place everyone hates but always goes.


I watched the Krypt HCLD video install and "no Fill" ?? from bullet lines.

[cab13367]

When you say fill it loosely, you mean completely fill the can but don't pack it in?

[Razzman]

When you say fill it loosely, you mean completely fill the can but don't pack it in?

Exactly Al.

[sandm]

^^ what he said :)

[Brianinpdx]

Hey guys - I thought I'd chime in here on this one and offer a few tips on the how to and why to of dampening a speaker pod. This might be a bit tek, but I think most will find the information applicable....

Dampening a can is sometimes a confusing question. I always hear, "My buddy added this or that to his enclosure and it changed the sound. Why is this? What is it really doing and should I do it too?"

To understand whats going on here we have to learn a little about whats happening inside the pod and with that information in mind we might possibly effect change in a positive manner.

Before we get there. Lets talk about Materials:
Every enclosure (pod) is constructed in a different manner and with different materials. It's these different materials that will "color" the sound actually coming out of the speaker. In short, the spun aluminum pods will have a different resonant frequency than that of plastic / cast parts. In general, the metal parts scenario offer a potential for "thin" coloration, sound wise and plastic parts offer more a potential for "warmer" color. I say potential because every speaker is a different animal. And things can be done to compensate for this in the internal crossover design. It should also be pointed out that different materials offer different reliability considerations... But the point of this discussion is not that. Lets stay focused on acoustics.

With all this understood, whats going on inside that pod is going to be different acoustically depending on the attributes of the pod itself. By adding polyfill to the enclosure you are in effect changing the resonance of the can. And this in-turn changes the coloration of the output -- especially in the region of 600+ Hz where the sound waves are bouncing off the internals of the enclosure very fast. The polyfill changes the internal moving mass of the driver and in a way thicken the air space from an acoustic point of view.

In the real world, this means that you could take away some of the "ringing" found in the tube type of pods. Or you could even out some of those reflections. In the plastic pods, there is no point because the walls are very much dead already. Some manufacturers (i wont name names) actually build shapes into the internals of the pod structure that breaks up the reflections. But keep in mind this is only possible if you go to the trouble to cast/tool/die those internal parts right into the pod design.

The question of how much poly to put in has already been answered by others but suffice to say over stuffing your pods wont help. Doing so will choke the driver at some point.

Hope this helps everyone.

-Brian
Exile Audio

[tazz3069]

Very nicely explained. That is what I was talking about on a different thread. Unfortunately it was all erased. People like Brian are here to help on the difficult and technical questions. Thanks Brian. Good to have you here. I did the exact thing with my speaker pods. I had mt tower cans custom made for me. I had filled them with speaker foam. What a difference the sound made. I also added the same stuff to my bass box. Also made a difference. I played around with the amount that I put in until I got the sound that I wanted. The bass hit really hard and clean.

[Poison]

Bringing up an old thread here. My new 6500.2 set recommends filling 50%-100% of the can with poly-fil. I've been reading up and I understand to loosely fill it up. Just so I'm clear, its ok if the rear portion of the speakers (ie the built in crossover, wires, electronics) is touching/surrounded by the poly fil right?

[Poison]

Anybody have pictures?

[philwsailz]

Bringing up an old thread here. My new 6500.2 set recommends filling 50%-100% of the can with poly-fil. I've been reading up and I understand to loosely fill it up. Just so I'm clear, its ok if the rear portion of the speakers (ie the built in crossover, wires, electronics) is touching/surrounded by the poly fil right?

It is totally okay for the crossovers of the drivers to touch the damping material. Lightly filled flush with the hole in the front of the can is appropriate, prior to installing the drivers. They will end up surrounded by the material when you install the drivers; that is about the perfect scenario.

As a note on the Kicker KM6500.2... Since the horn is acoustically complete and functions as designed without an enclosure, there is no need to put damping material in that can unless you just want to. You only need to use damping material in the midrange cans, if you choose.

Damping material.... a topic of its own for sure!

Phil
Kicker

[Poison]

Thanks Phil. BTW, check your private messages. I sent a question. I purchased my 6500.2 from Earmark, but my buddy was asking about another dealer and raised some questions.