The best cabinet material !!!!

[gedlee]

Bolt them to the floor - or move to a safer neighborhood!

Speaking of which did you move?

 

[Pano]

I did. About 5000 miles. Did not bring my safe size and weight speakers with me. Sent them to Texas where they groove on BIG.

 

[Clashing]

Let me clarify my last post: those are sonic impressions. I do not like damped cabinets as they tend to sound like they're obscuring small details and just subtracting from the music. Whereas I feel these effects significantly less than with speakers based on the inert cabinet model.

 

[AllenB]

I think I took your post that way. Naturally a soft cabinet wouldn't ring, but maybe a cabinet that is stiff and doesn't need a lot of damping, but has a little for good measure?

 

[djk]

The BBC found you need a still cabinet for bass, but a thin well-damped cabinet worked well for mids and HF.

 

[AllenB]

I believe the BBC suggested 400Hz or so as the hard/soft transition. I'm building a baffle out of steel channel (C section) for below 300Hz. It will be down firing if I can get that to work, and have hardwood accoutrements, such as magnet clamping. No idea what to expect, but there are several places I can decouple or load the panels if needed.

 

[gedlee]

The BBC found you need a still cabinet for bass, but a thin well-damped cabinet worked well for mids and HF.

I hope that you meant "stiff". Yes, for bass the enclosure needs to be stiff, but one can do stiff AND well damped at the same time.

 

[mill23bay]

How about cement board? They come in 1/2" and can be laminated.
PeterC.

 

[cradeldorf]

Marble works great too.

 

[impuls60]

I built a boomblaser with cement casting tubes(paper) with 6mm rubber mat in between. Tube-rubber-tube sandwich and it works really well. Dirt cheap too.. I guess the sandwich is about 16mm thick. I guess the rubber does the same job as the sand in previous post.

 

[gedlee]

Sand is very highly damped, and is the ingredient in most damping compounds as well.

Steel would be great too, but lets try and stay in the realm of reality.

 

[Pano]

Indeed. There are methods and materials that work extraordinarily well, but not all are practical or worth the cost. I love the way sand filled walls work, but have never built any of my speakers that way because, damn..... It's crazy heavy and rather labor intensive.

There are more clever way to get similar results, right?

 

[jcx]

cast iron with precipitated graphite flake, please - steel is usually very high Q

there are some AlMgZn die casting alloys that are "off the chart" high damping for metals



I think 2 outer constrained layers, one each side, for a 5 layer sandwich with thick center structural layer is more weight/volume efficient, do add the damping bracing too

 

[gedlee]

Indeed. There are methods and materials that work extraordinarily well, but not all are practical or worth the cost. I love the way sand filled walls work, but have never built any of my speakers that way because, damn..... It's crazy heavy and rather labor intensive.

There are more clever way to get similar results, right?

Certainly - using a good knowledge of noise control techniques helps a lot.

 

[LewinskiH01]

Micarta?

How about Micarta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micarta) for the baffle? I have access to 40mm Micarta in large enough pieces. Looks to me like a very good option.

 

[sippy]

How about Micarta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micarta) for the baffle? I have access to 40mm Micarta in large enough pieces. Looks to me like a very good option.

Paxolin (sp)..... would be good if a thinner section was laminated to wood.

 

[Pano]

Interesting. I've never heard of Micarta, but have probably seen it.

FWIW, cargo shipping containers are now using a similar sort of stuff. It's woven bamboo matts that are pressed and soaked in some sort of glue and/or resin. Makes for a pretty floor. about 25mm thick. I'd love to find some to test for speaker building.

 

[Kingnoob]

Plywood is what I used for my DIY SI 15 subwoofer, and I will say it sounds amazing. Much more durable then MDF , but not as popular.

 

[jcx]

natural fibers and phenolic thermoset aren't exactly world class composites - and while cheap for the class are still way more expensive than Baltic Birch Plywood, probably even pricier than the good bamboo laminate plywoods

maybe similar to panzerholtz?

 

[GM]

I've never heard of Micarta, but have probably seen it.

Remember the thin caramel colored plates we used to DIY circuit boards?

GM