Airtight/Speaker question

lotas · Post by **lotas** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:20 pm

Alright guys my question is:

Is it even worth installing a speaker if it is not 100% sealed? Temporarily I had to place some pieces of foam in between the speaker and the door to get clearance for the window. In the past I've made MDF/plywood rings, and I've used expanding foam (which turned out to work best).

My question is, if I left it like it is now, not being airtight, how big of a difference is it going to make? Physics tells me I'm not going to get close to the same midbass response with leaks, but then again maybe I'm just overthinking it. So do leaks make a big difference or not?

I know it does with say a subwoofer in a sealed box. And I thought about that, but that is a completely sealed application, a door by no means provides an enclosed application like a sealed box. Anyways thanks in advance guys.

MobileAudio219 · Post by **MobileAudio219** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:37 pm

lotas wrote:Alright guys my question is:
Is it even worth installing a speaker if it is not 100% sealed? Temporarily I had to place some pieces of foam in between the speaker and the door to get clearance for the window. In the past I've made MDF/plywood rings, and I've used expanding foam (which turned out to work best).
My question is, if I left it like it is now, not being airtight, how big of a difference is it going to make? Physics tells me I'm not going to get close to the same midbass response with leaks, but then again maybe I'm just overthinking it. So do leaks make a big difference or not?
I know it does with say a subwoofer in a sealed box. And I thought about that, but that is a completely sealed application, a door by no means provides an enclosed application like a sealed box. Anyways thanks in advance guys.

Well you dont need the speaker to be in an sealed enclosure per se, you just want to separate the waves from the back of the speaker from the waves of the front of the speaker (infinite baffle).

Just get some non hardening mold clay to fill in the gaps.

(see there, I acutally help, I'm not just a post junkie)

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:43 pm

I would think a leak of whatever sort would allow even a small amount of back wave to meet up with the front wave wouldn't it?? Isn't it best to keep them seperated??

Tim

MobileAudio219 · Post by **MobileAudio219** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:06 pm

Tim wrote:I would think a leak of whatever sort would allow even a small amount of back wave to meet up with the front wave wouldn't it?? Isn't it best to keep them seperated??
Tim

Well you want to try and seperate (seal) the front waves from the back the best you can. Sound deadener helps to do this, and obviously reduces rattles and road noise.