SPEAKERMANIA SECRET REVEALED

In the late 1970s I discovered a secret ancient process that I applied to all my monkey coffins with great success, but at a great price..the smell.

What I discovered is that if I coated the inside of speaker boxes with a thin layer of modeling clay, and if I filled in all of the corners with molding clay and molded the clay so that there were smooth transition from wall to wall, and if I covered the speaker magnets with clay....a quantum of harmonic discombobularity disappeared. Modeling clay is great stuff, stick very easily to wood when it is applied warm, but to use it you must heat it up and that means putting it in a pot on your stove and we are now talking about a major stink that permeates your home. But that was before micro-wave ovens.

I have used modeling clay as a dampening compound with great success in my Tannoy horns, and that includes using it to remove all sharp bends, and to coat all of the surfaces of the walls where sound reflects off the driver. The magnet structure of the speaker is also heavily packed with modeling clay. What is the secret of doing this and still living in your home? Put the modeling clay in zip loc bag and then put it in your microwave oven and cook it until it is nice a soft and easily used. No smell!

It does take work to apply it properly but I know you can channel Michaelangelo and will enjoy the sometimes time consuming application. Don’t overuse it on the walls of your speaker, and it is great fun to fill in all of the corners and perpendicular joinings of walls so that your speaker cabinet has nothing but smooth organic shapes. Use a big soup spoon to help you smooth the clay

The benefit of this process is you can quickly reverse it with no harm. There is a slight smell for a couple of days, but that will quickly go away and until that time your home will smell like a sculpture’s studio.

And yes there is a benefit in applying and modeling the clay to the front of your speaker baffle, but you can imagine what that looks like.

Remember you are buying modeling clay from your local art supply store and not the clay that hardens permanently.

A confession: I also used modeling clay as a dampening compound on my turntable bases and platters.

If you try this tweak, report the results to our chat bulletin board

 

 

 

Back to The Triode Guild©               Back to Meta-Gizmo   

e-mail Dr. Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg: drgizmo@meta-gizmo.com

Copyright© 2004      Meta-Gizmo.com and Dr. Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg      All rights reserved.
All the material contained within the above articles may not be reproduced without his express permission
.