Dampining my subwoofer box?

Question

I read on a page that if you use a material such as cotton in your subwoofer box, that the bass is louder and harder, because it stops the box from vibrating as much. If this is true, then I will try to preform the same stunt. What materials do I need to do such a task? I have a dual 12" ported bass slammers box that is in the rear of my Cavalier 1996. Do I need this material or not? I'm not quite sure.

PS~ I had a single 10" sealed subwoofer box and it had like cotton material in it for insulation like the person on the blog page said, and it sounded decent.

Answer 1

the effect produced by doing that is it slows the moving air down so it acts like the box has more air space.  Do your speakers require a ported box and usually you do that in a sealed enclosure.  For ported  bigger box+more power=louder bass.

Answer 2

Pollyfil is a sound absorption, dampening fiber that will deepen bass, provide cleaner midrange, tone down any unwanted reverberation and improve the dynamic extension of any speaker system.

It does this by eliminating standing waves, which is something like an echo inside the box. The result is tighter, more accurate bass. It also helps to give a flatter frequency response to the overall sound, which is good. Besides this, it also helps reduce the vibration of the box, which results in less distortion.

Damping also increases subwoofer efficiency by dissipating some energy that affects the sub, particularly the voice coil. Pillow polyfill and fiberglass insulation are common, though polyfill is a lot easier on your skin. Polyfill also "tricks" a sub into thinking it is in a bigger box. Most sealed and vented enclosures require 1/2 lb. of dampening material per cubic foot of internal enclosure space. For best results it is recommended to loosely fill the material throughout the enclosure avoiding port or vent openings .

You can find polyfill at any craft store or the craft section in Wal-Mart.

More info here http://spkrbox1.spaces.live.com

Answer 3

i wouldn't do it i works for subs that dont produce much bass so unless your subs sucks then i would pass on that