TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun May 12, 2013 6:46 pm

Have pulled the old AC out leaving a nice large area. I have removed the front facing of that shelf and cutout an new one which I have mounted 6X9 speakers. My question to the audio experts in the group is. Should I build an enclosure in the rear for each 6X9 speaker or just leave them open in the upper shelf. If you do recommend enclosing, should I also use batting. These are new 2-way 6X9's as I will be adding a subwoofer for the base

Cheers
Al

Sun May 12, 2013 6:58 pm

yes all speakers need to be boxed
for proper bass and l-r separation

Sun May 12, 2013 7:42 pm

thanks bdcain

what if they are 2 way speakers so not using for bass

Al

Sun May 12, 2013 8:02 pm

still need box's
your sub woofer is just a name for a woofer
a real sub would be 20 hrtz and below
which is sub audible (cant hear but feel)
and the so called subs start usualy at 50 htrz and go up to 150 hrtz or higher
the 6by9s still will reproduce any bass signal above that
up to the point the crossover (filter cap)in 6by 9 will feed the tweeter

depending on how the system is set up
the sub will re enforce the same bass that the 6by 9 reproduces

or the sub takes all low end signal away from the 6by 9s so they have less of a signal to reproduce(better)

ps a mono (bridged)woofer will muddle the sound staging and separation
and
not for the purist or deadhead

Sun May 12, 2013 9:16 pm

You should look at manufacturers recommendation as a box too small can alternatively hurt performance. If the speakers are designed for an " infinite" baffle, you may see better performance with a ported box at the correct size and port length. The manufacturer should have this info available.

Mon May 13, 2013 5:37 am

Easy way to hurt sound is not phased correctly, 1 right, 1 reversed etc. A dble 'A' batt can be used to do this, tap wire to batt and speacker cone should 'jump' towards u, match wiring to batt polarity.

Mon May 13, 2013 6:33 am

I just did this same work last year. I did build "boxes", but it wasn't so much for the acoustics as much as it was to protect the speakers from any accidental punctures or whatever since I stow gear up in the new shelf area.

Mon May 13, 2013 6:39 am

Here's the only picture of the inside of my AC cab... notice the angled piece which is intended to keep clothes/gear/junk from interfering with the speaker.

The autophiles out there will definitely point out that it's not an air-tight enclosure nor is it geometrically correct.... but my speakers probably cost me $25.

No enclosure is going to make them sound like anything else. :lol:

Mon May 13, 2013 7:02 am

morymob wrote: Easy way to hurt sound is not phased correctly, 1 right, 1 reversed etc. A dble 'A' batt can be used to do this, tap wire to batt and speacker cone should 'jump' towards u, match wiring to batt polarity.

better yet look at the terminals or tabs and one will be
one red one black red pos and black neg
or + and- + pos - negitive
or the bigger tab is positive one
if you cant tell then the batt test

doesnt matter how many watts your amps can do
or how many caps you put in line
your altenator is the power factor
and a 10 watt amp will blow a 1000 watt speaker easier than
a 1000 watt amp will blow a 25 watt speaker
and all speakers have a spl
sound pressure level
measured at 1 watt at 1 meter away
on my home system my speakers are over 100db at 1 watt
a train is around 120 db
if i crank it up to 10 watts i have to leave the room
i cant turn it up to the point of distortion without damaging my ears
and many makers will boast unreal claims as to wattage
and there are peak and rms
rms is the number to look for
but you may get more rms
but less of the sound spectrum reproduced (bad)ie 150 to 2000 htrz
or what sound is produced is distorted ie 5% instead of .05%

if it distorts its a bad thing
good kit costs but is worth it in the long run!

Mon May 13, 2013 7:05 am

The autophiles out there will definitely point out that it's not an air-tight enclosure nor is it geometrically correct.... but my speakers probably cost me $25.

when i was younger i had raw speakers on my dash
then put them into big gulp containers and the difference was huge
every bit helps

Mon May 13, 2013 7:47 am

I recently put some 5 1/2" speakers in the panel below the rear bench seat in my tin top and built little boxes behind them and they sound pretty good. Night and day difference over the terrible stock speakers in the pods in the very back.

Free Memphis Audio speakers with swivel tweeter and external crossover (even though they are a coax speaker) + 10 minutes to build the boxes = much better sound in my van

Mon May 13, 2013 8:15 am

Sounds like the consensus is to enclose them..The pic below shows what I have done so far. Would you put any sound filling within the speaker boxes?

Cheers
Al

[/img]

Mon May 13, 2013 8:32 am

go to home depo
in electric section
usually where the marrettes and small bits are
and for 5 bucks you can get a i pound brick of duct seal
a clay type stuff that never dries out
used for sealing the hole where your electrical service comes in your house
and apply to the inside of boxs to seal and to deaden the transfer of sound
resonating the box and for backwaves etc

Mon May 13, 2013 8:39 am

Im actually going there today..So if I understand you..I shouldn't put any batting in side the enclosure? Sealing it is more important

Al

Mon May 13, 2013 8:42 am

the reality is there are so many variations on how to skin this cat
unless you have all info on any particular speaker
va's qt's etc
and what kind of box
ported
sealed
horn
transmission line
etc
its a crap shoot
but at a basic level every bit helps
thats why at competitions folk will lean on their car to stop the car or that part from resonating and putting that wasted energy back where its needed(measuerd)

Mon May 13, 2013 8:51 am

yycwesty wrote: Im actually going there today..So if I understand you..I shouldn't put any batting in side the enclosure? Sealing it is more important

Al
batting is sort of the same thing
so get some and try with or without
because if you box is too big it will help to bring the internal space down
and if box too small well you wouldn't want it smaller by adding batting
batting wont seal your seams or deaden as well as this clay
hi end home speakers use cavites to put sable sand to do the same thing
think about sand bags stopping bullets
now think about batting stopping bullets
all about absorbing and or transferring of energy

Mon May 13, 2013 8:59 am

I would remove the white boards and take them down a 1/4 inch
and box up the tops with a 1/4 inck plywood
its more work but then they would be truly enclosed
and get 2 bricks
you can always take 1 back
but is useful around the house too!

Mon May 13, 2013 11:10 am

bdcain wrote: go to home depo
in electric section
usually where the marrettes and small bits are
and for 5 bucks you can get a i pound brick of duct seal
a clay type stuff that never dries out
used for sealing the hole where your electrical service comes in your house
and apply to the inside of boxs to seal and to deaden the transfer of sound
resonating the box and for backwaves etc

Oh, cleaver... thanks for that tip. I might just try this on my whacky enclosures, too. Like you said, every bit counts.

Mon May 13, 2013 1:05 pm

Thanks again for your wisdom BD..I'm going to experiment when I get them installed. The reason I don't have a top on the speaker enclosures is that this will mount to the ceiling of the van where the ceiling will act as the top of the enclosures. At that time I will caulk between the ceiling and the upper part of the enclosure

Cheers
Al

Mon May 13, 2013 2:06 pm

better yet caulk a piece of cereal cardboard to seal the top
the compression will hold in place along with a few staples
and then when its up and caulk dry smear some of that duct seal on the top
trying to caulk the inside when up with a caulking gun will be messy
or impossible unless you smear by hand