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Truck bed liner for pro audio spkr covering
I was looking at the spray-on truck bed liner material... locally called "Gator" truck bed liner. This is a rubbery, black, pebble finish material sprayed (with a hopper-fed gun) into pickup truck beds and van interiors. It occurred to me it would possibly be a good material to use for pro audio spkr covering, instead of vinyl or carpet. I went to the local dealer who does this and asked him if I brought in a scrap of the ply I use, would he test it for adhesion next time he sprayed a truck. Nope, he answered, been there, done that. Don't have to test it, it works. He explained it adhered even better to the wood than to metal. He had sprayed a pair of PA cabs for a commercial sound company in the next town as a test. A few months later, they dropped off 15 more pair to be sprayed. They have been very happy with the appearance and results. Since then, I have seen these speakers at a few outdoor festivals, and they looked good, with no visible scars, scrapes, or road rash. Just FYI.
Spray-on or roll-on truck bed liner is really great for speakers that will be used outdoors, on the road, in a club, etc. It's easy to apply and it's durable. We have taken speakers to paint shops to have it done and been very pleased. For one-offs, the cans of truck bed liner at Wal-Mart works pretty well. There's also a product made by Acry-Tech Coatings specifically for loudspeaker cabinets called DuraTex. Good stuff. DuraTex
While I like the look of pebble grain vinyl, the norm these days in the musical inst, pro sound industry is carpet covering. And in just a few months those nice looking speakers start to get ragged looking, frayed. At least with vinyl covering, you could glue down the torn spots with a drop or two of superglue, maybe touch up with a black Sharpie pen, and they would look pretty good. Another thing, for cabinets that need to be roadworthy, I prefer plywood cabinet material to MDF. MDF doesn't hold up under moisture, heaven forbid it gets wet, rained on outdoors, or some drunk spills a beer on it (why do people assume my expensive speakers are resting places for their drinks?)... swells, and chips. Screws do not hold well in MDF, so corner protectors get knocked off, and other handling damage. I have used furniture grade birch ply for many years. Several local musicians have brought me their commercially built MDF speakers to be copied over in birch ply. Even if there are a few resonance issues (and I brace well internally) this is nothing compared to the increased durability of road equipment using the ply over MDF. Just a few more thoughts on building cabs for working musicians.
I can vouch for the Wal-Mart elastomeric undercoat product. It's made by 3M and you can find it in the auto dept. This stuff is a good 'damping' substance on woofer baskets/frames and the exterior of 'horns'. JMHO. P.S. Not a good hairspray or deodorant.