INSULATION QUESTIONS

You should fully line the entire cabinet with either 1"-2" convoluted (egg-crate) foam or 1" polyester furniture upholstery batting. A foam 'mattress topper' is cheap and works well. Staple it in, and don't block the back of the drivers or any ducts. AND STOP SHOUTING, WE CAN HEAR YOU JUST FINE.

 

bill, is this egg crate / mattress topper approach going to have the same "change apparant volume" as will insulation/acoustistuff type stuffing? Or, since this foam seems more dense, will it actually DECREASE your internal volume?

also, in doing this style of stuffing, you dont literally fill most of the box with insultation?

thanks in advance.

 

It may decrease the internal volume a bit but that means there are less destructive wavefroms bouncing back and cancelling whats coming out the speaker . . . something to that extent anyway

 

i ask because, if i ever get my act in gear and finish my honey do list, i am building a very tiny little practice cab. any reduction in internal volume is pretty significant as a %. So i want to insulate/dampen properly, but dont want to end up reducing internal vol by 25%.

 

Testing of various forms of damping material, ranging from high density fiberglas to pillow stuffing to mattress foam to expensive commercial products has not found significant differences in how well they work. As far as the internal box volume is concerned none of these reduce the apparant volume; if anything their use mimics a larger box. Fully stuffing a box is only necessary with transmission line designs, with other alignments lining alone is generally sufficient.

 

You should expect that it will sound like a properly engineered speaker cabinet. Without proper damping it's just a bunch of drivers in a box.