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Wadding and/or Dampening a speaker cabinet
I made a pair of 3 way pa loudspeakers out of chipboard [3/4 inch thick] [dimensions of the twin ported cabinet.100cm hight by 50 cm depth by 40 cm wide] I've wadded only the back panel,and put bracing across the middle to help stop unwanted vibration. BUt When I remove the polywool wadding It makes it much more effient and is much louder. So Is there any point wadding ported or vented cabinets. I know Infinite Baffle [sealed] cabinets need wadding to operate properly. Cheers -Rudi
Re: Wadding and/or Dampening a speaker cabinet
Polyfill in ported enclosures can do some good, but putting too much in will do more harm. If you have your woofer producing higher frequencies, the damping material will help obsorbe those frequencies inside the box, preventing standing waves and smearing from those frequencies eminating from the port. It will also serve to enlarge the cabinet somewhat as the woofer perceives it. If you add to much stuffing however, it destroys the function of the ported box. It'll run more like a sealed box. That might be your problem. P.S. polyfill in a sealed box is by no means necessary, but usually won't hurt. Adam