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Or anything else?
That stuff is expensive but the kind of speakers you are talking about treating cost about $2000 for just the drivers don't they? I hope someone can give you a better answer.Laquer is just a solution of cellulose and solvent.After reading an article in Discover magazine about how Stradivarius made his shelac I gave it a try too.Bass was always better.Mid-range and high-frequencies were very unpredictable.I only do woofers now.Good luck!
I may try this on a fostex FE164 or ( ~$300 ea) F200A in a ported box. Do you remember what issue of Discovery?Lewis
I'm sorry but I don't remember.It was about ten years ago.An afternoon at the library would turn it up.The salient points were that Strads used delignified wood(soaked in water for years before drying and sawing)and the type of cellulose used for the finish.Strad used flying insects(mainly dragonflies)as the base.Examination of at hand materials showed shellfish(shrimp hulls)had the same acoustic properties,although the orang-ish color of the finish was a little off-putting.Dye could be added.You need to decide how long the molecule chains should be and how they cross-link,and whether the finish should just sit on the surface or soak in to the spaces in and between the fibers.When I played with this I bought cases of full range inexpensive speakers(tv and drive-in-movie types,USD ~$1.50ea)for experimenting.In your situation I would experiment on inexpensive drivers first and inquire as to the cost of re-coning before doing the Fostex.
ummmm. It seems you have alot of experience with this stuff and other. Why should I be so careful with the genuine (c37) on a pair of cones or was this for a sub??Lewis
I have played with things as diverse as Elmer's glue to hairspray on speaker cones.They all change the sound.You can apply the same product the same way to two different brand midranges and hear different changes.In other words what constituted an improvement in one did not give the same result in the other(it often sounded worse).I was having a big problem with the cones on 15" woofers tearing for a while(pro sound use).In a horn cabinet the cones were tearing radially from the voice coil to the surround(looked like a starfish)and with another customer they tore in a circle just under the dust cap.Cerwin Vega used to treat their cones by dipping the neck of the cone in laquer to stiffen them up.I tried many combinations before realizing that it was an amplifier problem not a speaker problem(the starfish guy was the clue.I tried three different woofer types with different cone and surround types.They all failed in the identical fashion).As I see it the question is surface treatment or soak it in,and of course how much? I'm sure there is no cookbook response that would please all.
I prefer hairspray.
Are you jokeing ??
Only a little bit.Because the hairspray response seemed a bit flip I went back and added the longer remark.Hairspray is just laquer + solvent + propellant + scent.
C37 is real different stuff than typical nitrocellulose or acrylic lacquer. I'm waving a bottle of it under my nose at the moment ( hey for the money, all possible recreational enhancement should be extracted from that pee wee bottle) and it has smell more akin to model paint thinner, along with some other sort of oil and turps stuff going on, more like varnish than lacquer. Much deeper color than typical lacquer as well.I have used it in the past on metal drivers and it can cut the zing a bit. So yeah, it did something positive, but on the other hand I didn't buy the bottle, it was sent to me by a bud. The retail price seems pretty expensive for a nail polish bottle full of the stuff. If cost is a concern, one might check out Dammar varnish at an art supply store. I've been told it gives a similar effect for less mullah.
BTW I've been told recently that the latest theory is it wasn't the varnish per se that made a Strad sound the way it does. I'm told the varnish used seems to have opened the individual cells in the wood's structure, and this seems to be the thing that makes a Strad really different than the competition across town.
So I've been told, anyway.
I see the problem here.De-lignify isn't in the dictionary(I just checked).Lignin is an amorphus polymetric substance related to cellulose that together with cellulose forms the woody cell walls and the cementing material between them in trees(and plants).Soaking the logs in water for many years leaches out the lignin(de-lignify)or opens the cells up.How the surface finish soaks into these open cells is a very large part of the sound.Not only that but as the instrument is played the vibrations change the cross-linkages in the polymers(in the finish).Straight age does not have the same effect.It must be under tension(strung)and played.My interest in this is in part from a brother,sister,and brother-in-law that are into wood technology(with degrees in forestry)a friend that is a cabinet builder and musician(and has built two violins)and of course my interest in things audio(I am a mere wood butcher,I let them build the boxes).If there was enough interest we could have C37 analyzed and have a 55 gallon drum made up for ~$1000(I have done things like this before)and sell it for 1/10th the price.
OK just how much is it??
DM 195,-In Murican bucks that is apparently $101.646. My, but that's a big ol' number for a nail polish bottle full o the stuff. I gotta rethink my profit structure...
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