Cab insulation?

[TRBboy]

Hey folks! 

 

My 1x15" cab which was formerly a Trace Elliot combo doesn't have any insulation in it, so I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to add some? Is there anything I need to be conscious of, and what would you recommend? Is any kind of wadding material okay? 

 

Thanks for your help. 

 

Oli

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Ouch. Cabs should be fully lined, with foam or polyester batting, 25 to 50mm thick. Mattress topper foam is inexpensive, as is furniture upholstery batting. Don't bother with materials advertised for speaker cabs, they're more expensive but don't work any better. Adhere it with spray glue.

[TRBboy]

7 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

Ouch. Cabs should be fully lined, with foam or polyester batting, 25 to 50mm thick. Mattress topper foam is inexpensive, as is furniture upholstery batting. Don't bother with materials advertised for speaker cabs, they're more expensive but don't work any better. Adhere it with spray glue.

Thanks Bill, I was eyeballing some stuff from Dunelm! 😅

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

While on the topic most commercial acoustical foam is convoluted or pyramidal. That doesn't do a thing, it just looks like it will.

[Chienmortbb]

5 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

or pyramidal.

Probably comes from the time that egg boxes were deemed to have sound absorbing properties.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Egg boxes didn't absorb sound, they were used in radio stations and recording studios as diffusion devices. By scattering reflected sound waves they greatly reduced reverb and echo compared to flat surfaces. The shape became associated with improving acoustics, so when acoustical foam came along that shape was adopted. But foam lacks the density required to be an effective diffuser, so from that standpoint there's no advantage to the shape. Foam does absorb sound, with the rate of absorption and frequency to which it does so determined by its depth. Since the depth of the foam is less in the dimples it's less effective than foam with no dimples.

[shug]

6 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

Probably comes from the time that egg boxes were deemed to have sound absorbing properties.

Ah, shizzle. I been egg-bound for years working toward my perfect studio environment...