200mm diameter plastic (polypropylene?) tube for mid enclosure in sealed 3-way

Hello!

I'm on a quest to build an active sealed 3-way using the sb acoustics ceramic line of speakers (5 inch mid and 8 inch woofer) and just today placed an order for the 5 inch augerpro waveguide for the sb26cdc.

I had the crazy idea of using a plastic draining tube made for placement in the ground as an enclosure for the mid? This would make the build much easier since I am aiming for a more compact design to be used as studio monitors primarily.

I have tried researching the topic and it seems like it might be ok?

Here is a link to the swedish website of the tubing in question https://www.hornbach.se/p/markror-pipelife-pp-sn8-o200-x-1000-mm/10601365/

It says polypropen which i guess is polypropylene in english?

So what say you? Does it work or is it ill-advised? my thought was a tube running the entire length front to back and then stuffed, maybe gluing a bunch of bitumen pads around it in an effort to damp it?
 
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Should work fine. Beware that finding glue that sticks to both PP and other materials can be a bit difficult, but otherwise I don't see a problem.

Another option for tubes in the same diameter could be cardboard tubes for casting concrete (sold by Biltema and others). Some sort of damping/stiffening would probably be a good idea in both cases, but again it should work fine.
 
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Thank you for the reply! I read about the concrete casting cardboard aswell, might give that a try then.

In what way should one go about stiffening this construction? i guess normal braces will be difficult or maybe it won't? glue some braces around or something?

I was also under the impression that damping is better suited for mid enclosures aswell? so maybe damp it to the max and maybe the small increase in stiffness due to added mass is sufficient?
 
The bitumen idea is probably not bad to add mass, but otherwise I was thinking to maybe glue strips of wood to the tube lengthwise (and possibly also glue them to the front and back). It might end up looking a bit like cross between a hedgehog and a starfish, but it should work fine. Again, gluing to the PP-tubes might take a bit of research, but gluing to the cardboard tubes can be done easily with wood glue.
 
Maybe cardboard is the way to go? I've seen people use that so it seems like something that is widely accepted as something that works.

I found one with a diameter of 190mm which i guess i could make work even though 200 would have been perfect! and it's like 10 times cheaper so maybe it's worth it? Just feels a bit wrong using 4mm thickness of cardboard as an enclosure material but i guess that's where the aforementioned bracing comes into play!
 
Maybe cardboard is the way to go?

Certalnly a lot less pricy, and given the cylindrical shape, just as strong as a piece of PVC pipe.

First saw it used in the IMF TLs. Most recently in the Halcyons for the Alpair 10p.

The super-easy budget approach would be to visit the dollar store and find a flat rimmed plastic bowl of appropriate size.

dave
 
Ok nice thank you alot for that clarification! I am now convinced of the cardboard and considering a salad bowl haha. My one thought wiith the bowl is maybe it's not deep enough? the tube approach gives me more depth in the chamber which intuitively feels better? but my intuition was wrong with the plastic vs cardboard so not sure.
 
https://www.t-linespeakers.org/projects/sampson/index.html

Boomtube.jpg


dave
 
The super-easy budget approach would be to visit the dollar store and find a flat rimmed plastic bowl of appropriate size.
Tubes are MUCH better cos you need as much depth as possible between the unit and the back of the 'enclosure'. Thick cardboard or plastic is good. No need to strengthen or mechanically damp but there must be NO LEAKS to the main cabinet.

You need to FULLY STUFF the tube. Use Fibreglass Roof Insulation; the really nasty stuff. It wants to be about the consistency of a cushion.
 
PVC is easier to stick than Polypropylene.
Bore well pipes are sold here, 110 and 300 mm diameter, 20 foot lengths.
Best find a place that will sell cut pieces, or like above, discarded stuff.

Kitchen towel roll cardboard, 3 in diameter, sevberal in parallel will work.
Use a proper paint to protect the cardboeard from damp.

Another way is to roll or form plastic fluted sheet, and bond that somehow.

We use earthen pots here, look for 'matka speakers'....
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...usg=AOvVaw0eal7Pjg9I4CtqclD4SKwJ&opi=89978449
 
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i actualluy read about the ceramic pots and thought that sounded like an interesting idea. also saw some people used traffic cones or "soccer"cones and the like and thought that was an interesting idea aswell as you get the taper that they seem to use on the dome mids that ship with included enclosures. However the plastic sports cones that i grew up with seems maybe a bit too flimsy to use as is maybe?

I thought about maybe putting a cone in a cone with something that separates them some millimeters and then filling the space with something maybe?

But all in all the tube idea seems to be a way forward it seems which is nice!

Really liked kgrlee's response which is sort of what i had in mind, a long tube stuffed with fiberglass! so that should work then? I can maybe even use the plastic tube i had in mind then since that had the perfect diameter to fit my planned chamfer of the driver hole etc etc
 
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Greets!

You lost me here, the sb26cdc is a tweeter with a sealed back, so no cab required.

Sorry if I was being unclear, I meant the woofer box will be sealed (and also the mid ofc and the tweeter is sealed by default). Just tried to give a description of my plan in general.

However your input does lead me to ponder another thing I have thought about.

Say I have a really thick baffle which is thicker than the depth of the tweeter, how deep should you make the cut out for the tweeter? Should I leave some room behind the tweeter in order to "let it breathe" and cool etc or does it not matter much?
 
I’d encourage diy solutions but these items are for sale. You don’t need much volume behind a 5” mid, contrary to what a lot believe (and can’t properly explain). A bigger volume introduces more problems like standing waves within the enclosure that have to be dealt with (adequate stuffing will do though).
 
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You don’t need much volume behind a 5” mid, contrary to what a lot believe (and can’t properly explain).
Err..rh! Presumably you've tested this proposition with DBLTs.
I was involved in the DBLTs described in Peter Fryer's AES paper. I'm pretty sure IMF copied our midrange tubes.
The phenomena is that it's exponentially more difficult to absorb AUDIBLE reflections that come back through the cone if the cabinet is too shallow. IIRC, Peter did a HFN & RR article which has a somewhat less curt explanation than the AES paper.