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An impactful but inexpensive tweak

Posted by Dawnrazor (A) on November 6, 2009 at 11:03:31

SO I find myself sitting around thinking about the audio projects I have to do:

-build 10-20ft balanced ICs to allow me to move my amps and computer and also get rid of the horrid break out cable.
-make shorter speaker cables now that the new amps will be closer
-figure out digital crossovers once the wires are made
-make a diy rack for the components.
-wood frames for the mmgs
-sell my Pass amp somehow to finance subwoofers

And probably a few others.

So all that is fairly easy but can suck up days and days. Much easier to put it off :)

Then I am thinking about PGs theory about the wood frames sucking up vibration from driver that the mdf wouldnt and actually returns the vibrations to the driver. This seems to help a lot in the resolution dept. I remember Jben saying that when he was testing things he had a similar effect by just clamping wood to the driver and mdf frames.

I see the sheets of dynamat sitting in the corner and it hits me. Why not try that and see if it absorbs the vibrations before they get reflected back from the mdf. THats what Dynamat is designed to do, absorb vibrations.

So I do:

WOW. It is a totally different speaker. There is just more resolution. More microdynamics and I am hearing subtle things that I hadnt heard before. More ambiance and just a cleaner sound- the highs especially. The soundstage is alot deeper now and that is a bit shocking because it was always deep.

The tweak is pretty easy to do. Just cut strips of Dynamat Extreme and place on the metal frame and in the corner against the mdf. Be careful of the mylar. Dont let the dynamat touch that of course. The mylar could probably survive that encounter but you dont want to find out. Just be careful and there is no danger. I used the handle ( not the tip) of some pliers to push it in place in the corners and onto the metal frame. No need to use any heat to apply it, just pressure. And it is reversible as you can pull the dynamat off with some effort. It WILL be sticky but it does come off eventually. But I doubt you would WANT to remove it after you have heard the difference.

I suppose other things like rope caulk could be used and it might be a good thing to mix materials as they will absorb different frequencies. And if you are running stock and cant do the wood frames or have a warranty to worry about this would be an easy way to get alot of the benefits of keeping the drivers vibration from being reflected back to it.

This is a simple idea and has been proposed before I think but I havent heard of anyone doing it. Maybe an inmate with stock frames could try it and post their impressions?

So what about the wood frames? At this point they are last on my list. And I think I have an even better solution than the dynamat but it is a bit harder to do, non reversible and pricier. Well see what happens, but right now I am just enjoying the difference.

And here is the link for the dynamat I bought. It is way too much Dynamat for this project and you could probably get by with only a couple of sheets. But I love this stuff and like duct tape, one can never have too much Dynamat around. It makes any audio gear sound better if used in moderation. There is also a standard version that is black but doesnt work as well. If you are worried about seeing the silver through the socks, you could just use magnepans trick and just put some black tape over top.

Cut to razor sounding violins

• http://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-10435-Xtreme-Door-Sheets/dp/B0   (Open in New Window)

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