Replacing sound proofing in cabniets

I agree that we live in a free society and that we have the right to experiment with modifying speakers as much as we want, but if making a change as large as stuffing a vent hole actually IMPROVES the speaker, I contend that it's time to sell the speakers and buy something from a company/designer that actually KNOWS what they are doing! If the woofer section had been (apparently) designed so poorly, how much more well designed could the mid/high section be?!

Barry Kohan

For a vented system you should only have material lining the cabinet walls. In a sealed system you would have the filler material filling the entire cabinet interior (the amount of stuffing will depend on a number of design goals). Placing any type of material in the vent tube or vent hole will change the "Q" of the speaker system alignment. If we assume that the speaker's designer knew what he/she was doing, changing the alignment will probably not improve things.

Barry Kohan

Hi Sean,

After re-reading these posts I see that you are right - stuffing the ports was not specifically mentioned. Although filling the interior with foam to replicate a transmission line does prettty much fall into the catagory that I'm describing - that by making a significant change to the speaker's basic design actually improves performance does call into question whether buying an intrinsically well designed speaker would be more appropriate.

Best,

Barry Kohan

Hi Sean,

I generally agree with your post. The reality for a designer of a commercial speaker is that they are always walking a tightrope and doing a balancing act. No matter what the price point of a speaker (even the relatively new breed of extreme megabuck speakers) the designer is constrained by cost of parts, manufacturing and marketing versus the quality and performance of the parts available versus the size of the speaker system and its practicality for shipping and placement within the customer's home.

In the speakers that I have designed for commercial sale, maintaining a moderate size was a siginificant factor and an aperiodic loading chamber was employed to provide the target response for the system.

In my personal speaker system I do use a low Q sealed system for the dynamic woofer section.

Best,

Barry

Disclaimer: I am a manufacturer of loudspeakers and vibration control products.

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Hi Tunes4me,

The spray may be useful to damp the interior of a component's chassis. It would mainly damp gross ringing of the chassis but it can't absorb a large amount of vibration or even damp ringing as effectively as some other applied coatings or materials. The damping spray would be considered only PART of an overall scheme to eliminate vibration.

Best,

Barry

Hi Tunes4me,

Bright Star speakers did use multiple layers of compliant ceramic and a special damping compound that I developed that were quite effective when applied correctly to cabinet panels, driver baskets and crossover components.

Barry

Plus, I also agree with Sean's post above.

Barry