You know Frank, i actually looked into it (ikea site) and didn't see anything suitable, think i saw that sometime in the past.
You know Frank, i actually looked into it (ikea site) and didn't see anything suitable, think i saw that sometime in the past.
Frank...made me do it.
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,302
I'm Richard.
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 109
I'm Richard.
Sorry to dredge up an old thread but I'm looking to buy some decent damping material to put inside my (currently empty) Celestion Ditton 66 loudspeaker cabinets. (They came with the original foam slabs missing unfortunately). I'd like to go the natural route and use lambswool. I see Wilmslow Audio sell a 75% lambswool / 25% polyester roll, but I'm thinking raw/unprocessed lambswool might be cheaper and more effective? Any links to suitable products would be most appreciated!
Main System: Mac Mini > Schiit Yggdrasil 2 OG > Yamaha A-S3000 > Celestion Ditton 66
Headphone System: Mac Mini > Schiit Yggdrasil 2 OG > Sparkos Aries / Schiit Mjolnir 2 > Sennheiser HD600
Location: Somerset
Posts: 35
I'm Ian.
I am thinking that there may not be one ideal damping material and that
one may just want to dampen the speaker walls, break up reflections, or dampen the box.
It may be that in some speakers there is only a real need to take out some upper bass coloration in which case some light polyester may work possibly together with some wall damping.
In my large B&W DM70's they came with total filling of fiberglass and no damping for the walls except for a bolt to tension from front to the back.
I have now removed some of the filling, using laundry wash bags to help keep what is left central.
The use of floor mats (the natural sort 3/4 inch thick and rubber backed) stuck to the inside rear has been useful to prevent a resonance of the rear panel and reduce reflected upper bass inside of the cabinet. I may try more on the rest of the larger sections.
I used spray carpet adhesive to great effect here.
One thing I know is that large speakers are much harder to get right, but I hope my experience will help others.
In the future I may try long fiber wool to replace the fiberglass, but I am having problems sourcing it in the UK.
How much better than fiberglass is it?
Polyester fill can be purchased really cheap at sewing shops, or where sewing notions are sold. The same exact stuff they use in speakers for ten times the price. I don’t see why fiberglass would be a better stuffing? Maybe they get it cheaper? You can pack polyester in as dense as you like, or not so dense. I’ve used it in a few speaker projects with great success. Spray on rubber undercoating for cars, works great on the insides of the cabinet, to deaden the panels. Wool is much denser than polyester or fiberglass, so you can just use it against the walls, or pull it apart to puff it up, best thing about it is no itchy fiberglass up your nose!
Russell
Location: Somerset
Posts: 35
I'm Ian.
I think that the reason to choose different materials is that wool and fiberglass work on lower frequencies.
Depending on the speaker and box design the requirements can be different.
Wool is said to work well because of its complex fibers, but fiberglass does not get moths.
It may be that polyester is fine for some speakers, but my large DM70's for instance require something that will dampen bass frequencies.
Last edited by iscm; 15-03-2018 at 23:18.
Location: swansea
Posts: 483
I'm gerald.
My speakers are Ditton 15xr and have foam in them just wondering if this wadding stuff would make much of a differance ?
I thought the damping in the Ditton 15xr was about right, adding more may kill the life in them.
Speaking generally, rockwool/fibreglass are horrible unfriendly to use materials and best avoided. They are not even particularly good at damping and used to be chosen by manufacturers for cheapness.
Synthetic fibres have smoother surfaces than organic ones, so do not work against each other as well to dissipate energy. BAF (bonded acrylic fibre) is more effective though.
Long fibre wool is effective at lower frequencies, but poly foam is better at higher frequencies. 'shoddy', a sheet material made from natural and synthetic waste fibre and sometimes sold as carpet underlay can be useful too, as an 'all round' damping material.
Take your pick according to purpose.