jeffreyM

Where can I buy this stuff?

fozzz

iTrader: (1)

The reason to add the clay or other products is not to "decouple" . Decoupling would be like using spikes on home speakers. In other words, your isolating the speaker from the rest of the room. Adding heavy products to your cabinets is to reduce resonances. The more energy put into vibrating the cabinet equals less energy put into the sound it's supposed to be producing. I will use clay in the kick panel area of cars as it generally dosent get too hot down there. But in all other areas, there are better (more usable) products available.

JohnVroom

Most OEM gaskets are foam or butyl rubber, they set up an air tight seal and they decouple to a point. I generally use a thick double sided tape (with OE side peeled and permanently attached) to do what your thinking about (Duck brand tape since it is quite thick ...we will call it Dukk brand on this forum). I use the putty for several reasons including damping and for sealing air gaps, though it could be used in the surround but due to a putty's pliability it would be less effective than a rubber or foam gasket.

the Ideal industries duct seal is used by building profesionals and acoustic testing laboratories, google it using the item #.

SUX 2BU

iTrader: (1)

The way that I've seen clay used on a door panel speaker is to decouple, or isolate, it from the surrounding door panel. It's not used to merely add mass to the panel to lower the resonant frequency. It tries to absorb vibration from the speaker frame to prevent it from being transferred to the panel. Less wasted energy, just like you said. Sounds like decoupling to me. Sure, you can fill kick pods with it or put it behind a speaker to diffuse sound waves and prevent resonances, but I believe that's not really what the OP had in mind when he asked. If he did, then I'm mistaken. But of course, you wouldn't get 100% isolation if sandwiching it between the baffle and the door panel since the mounting screws act as a direct transfer point anyway, but it helps to some degree I'm sure. The larger concern would be to dampen the entire door panel anyway since the frequencies produced from the speaker are going to cause vibration and resonance in the metal door cavity. Everybody knows this anyway.

jeffreyM

So does anyone here use clay to mount there speakers on? Or would the MDF mounting ring be good enough?

JohnVroom

as long as the mounting point between sheet metal (speaker) and sheet metal (car) is screws you will not decouple. Rubber O-rings might help some though

Clay is not an adhesive so it is out, double sided tapes are in... but how long will it hold.

jeffreyM

So what exactly will modelling clay do? Is it to seal off air holes or is it stop decoupling? On another forum there is a full thread discussing it.
http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95925

Many users there have good things to say about it.

AAAAAAA

iTrader: (7)

I used it to deaden the interior of my Q-logic kick panels. Those Q's are so flimsy, sealing them off and using the clay to deaden them did the trick big time.

fozzz

iTrader: (1)

Clay has a low resonant frequency. Adding it or any other similar product will help to minimize your cabinet’s ability to resonate. Don’t get this confused with decoupling. There are lots of methods of decoupling. But using a foam gasket or a thin layer of clay between the speaker and the cabinet should not be considered a method of decoupling. Now I suppose if you added a large quantity of clay to an area and then placed your cabinet on that clay (no fasteners could be used), I guess that could be considered decoupling. But this is just not a realistic method of installation.

I built very high end home cabinet for quite a few years. The debate on whether to couple or decouple is a no win issue. But from a car audio point of view, coupling is the most realistic way of attaching your cabinets and speakers. Keep in mind your goal is to put all your amplifiers energy into making music, not making your door panel vibrate!

fozzz

iTrader: (1)

On a side note. MDF is a great material. I use it in lots of areas in my car and in others. But if you plan to keep you install for more then one season. Try to use a more durable material in your doors or in any other area that is going to get wet. I mean, there are several very affordable materail out there that will work much better then MDF. When I see an MDF ring in a door it makes me cringe!