What are you trying to acheive by building kicks out of all those various materials ?

 

Tim, the various materials are aimed at solving different problems.

My 4" mid has a rather large motor structure. The result is a 3/4" gap around the side of the driver to vent energy. Mounting the driver to a 3/4" thick or more baffle would block most of this gap creating and energy trap behind the diaphram. This colors the sound of the driver quite a bit. Using the 1/4" steel as a baffle would help to unshroud this area. However, it may cause some other problems.

The steel/MDF box combo is an idea that actually originated with Steve Brown's M3. This kick module would be constructed as part of the car's chasis, although I'd like to make so part of it is removable. The purpose of this idea is to increase PLDs by pushing the drivers further away from the listener.

The composite molding idea isn't new. There are a number of really high end home audio manufactures that use this in their cabinet designs. The benifit of this over fiberglass is it's density. A similar comparison could be made of chipboard and MDF.

The cement is just a wacky idea. I've never heard of it being done before (outside of SPL) and it could provide the level of cabinet stiffness that I'm looking for.

The tinfoil was a joke.

How would you mount these ideas Tim?

Adam

 

This is how a guy in Seattle built his, using lead shot and concrete:
http://www.sounddomain.com/memberpage/201005/5

 

Adam you like the questions that start with "what if.." and "is this the best at..."

 

Great link. Thanks!

 

Here's a pic of my midrange driver. Here you can see how mounting the driver in a "thick" baffle would block energy.



Yes that's a 4" midrange! Typical Focal build quality...

Adam