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Best Speaker Insulation?

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Do you mean acoustic wall lining/stuffing? Regular fiberglass (like you get at Home Depot) is one of the better choices for low cost. Acousta-Stuf is somewhat better in that it absorbs low frequencies less, and high frequencies more, meaning it won't goof up the cabinet Q as much for a given amount of midrange absorption. It is considerably more expensive than fiberglass, and is available at Parts Express.
 
Sand.

Just kidding (but not really). My W60E's (from around '71 or so) came with rockwool (and it's held together quite... It's not all disintegrated). Not sure what my W90's have because I haven't opened them up yet (They were recapped recently by the previous owner). Since they already use sand in the baffle, rear-panel, and the panel in between the two woofers, I really-don't know how much of a difference a bunch of rockwool is gonna' make, but I assume they put SOMETHING inside there. Whatever they did, it works.
 
fpitas said:
Do you mean acoustic wall lining/stuffing? Regular fiberglass (like you get at Home Depot) is one of the better choices for low cost. Acousta-Stuf is somewhat better in that it absorbs low frequencies less, and high frequencies more, meaning it won't goof up the cabinet Q as much for a given amount of midrange absorption. It is considerably more expensive than fiberglass, and is available at Parts Express.
Click to expand...

I probably wouldn't go using fiberglass in a ported enclosure though... I wouldn't want that stuff pumping out of the port and into the air. Maybe I'm worrying over nothing, but it doesn't sound like a good thing. Sealed cabs might be okay, I would think...

____________________________________________________________________

Listening to "Little River Band's Greatest Hits" (US 1st-pressing LP vinyl-rip)
2000x / W90's / :smoke:
 
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fpitas said:
I wouldn't either, but many ported enclosures have walls lined with fiberglass.
Click to expand...

REALLY? Wow, they must be from the '70's or earlier...



________________________________________________

Listening to "Little River Band's Greatest Hits" US 1st-pressing LP (vinyl-rip)
2000x / W90's / :smoke:
"Reminiscing"
 
What you do with the "stuffing", and what kind to use, is largely a function of whether it's a sealed or ported design, and then to some extent the design of the box and its size. There's alot on the interwebs about it, but what it comes down to is stuffing is used in sealed designs to both increase the apparent (to the driver) size of the box, and to absorb higher frequency back radiation from the cone. In vented designs, it's more for the latter, as it relates to sound coming out of the port and/or dampening the walls of the cabinet. Some, like Paradigm, used a mixed approach, that is, heavily stuffing even ported designs to greatly overdamp them.

Also, in sealed designs, it's been shown that fiberglass works much better than poly stuffing, but in ported designs where you need to be more precise with your stuffing and placement, poly or acoustastuff is better suited.
 
This has been argued a lot w/ speaker builders. I've found that polyfill works well on the cheap. It's the same thing they generally stuff pillows w/ and you can get a 16oz bag at your local hardware/grocery/or other similar type store for about $4. I've heard wool has the best acoustics, but to achieve those acoustics you need a precise amount and I'm not sure how they come to that conclusion.

Guys do use pink fiberglass insulation as well, but they generally put in some sort of cheese cloth before they put it in the speakers because the glass fibers aren't good for the voicecoils in your speakers.

Another option is acoustic foam or wedge foam. Acoustic foam generally will have an adhesive backing, wedge foam doesn't so you'll use 3M foam adhesive to attach it.

What are you putting it in?
 
Brad Muller said:
Putting in in Altec Model 19's:yes:
Click to expand...

That's a lot of stuffing... What did the 19's come with originally?

I have no clue what's inside my W90's. I was thinking maybe rockwool inside the sub-enclosures and nothing up top where the isolated mids/tweeters reside, but I really-have no idea what they did with the insides of mine (I'm repairing a smaller pair of the same brand from the same era with a friend of mine in the very-near future, and they should have the same stuffing inside).

__________________________________________________________

Listening to Love's "Forever Changes" 1st-pressing LP (24/96 vinyl-rip)
2000x / HRT MSII / W90's / :smoke: = Maximum Underdrive
 
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Sheep's wool has always been considered the best, but it's not used much due to cost and lack of availability.

BTW: Not all speakers benefit from stuffing.
Like many other "Rule of Thumb" ideas..."it depends!"

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
Polyester fill is among the best and considerably cheaper in fabric shops than speaker parts shops. Lambs wool is a great absorber so is of more use in sealed designs than ported.
 
You can get this stuffing from Bunnings for fairly cheaply.
Comes in rolls or batts
 

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