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An alternative to dynamat?


soundog

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Sand and Latex paint. My gut reaction is that this won't provide any dampening help (or very little at best). Of course, I haven't tried this, but I can't see how it would do much, besides make a mess.

If you wan't something cheap, I think silicone will work very well. However, it probably won't be easily reversible if you don't like it.

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Sand and Latex paint sounds to me as a attempt to mimmic the old Altec cement filled horns. I also think they did it with tar and something else maybe asbestoes? Anyways, I think rope caulk would be the way to go. Latex probally won't do squat for deadening the horn.

------------------

Just who is Dylan's Jokerman anyways?

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Sounddog--Lots of things work well to damp horns, I've talked to hornys who report good results with sand and paint, several layers, this would seem to work on the add mass and lower the resonance theory, if you lower the resonance to below the crossover point it will not be excited. Rope caulk and non-hardening modeling clay work well as do sand-filled boxes and auto undercoating. Some guys wrap innertubes around horns. Sometimes it's more where the material is applied than how much, Altec 511Bs respond very well to treating the "lips" and just a little on the body. And some horns don't need anything.

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Tom-

If anyone would know you would what would you use on the plastic mids of my Khorns and on the metal mids of my LaScalas to dampen them? Thanks I really respect you opinion.

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Dynamat works well and is easy enough to apply (warm it first) to the metal horns. Rope caulk would work just as well, I think. I would use rope caulk on the fiberglass K-horn horns. Getting dynamat down into that waffle pattern would NOT be worth the work. I used Dynamat on my La Scalas' aluminium squawker horns and rope caulk on the tweeter horn.

John

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Sounddog--I'm keen on non-hardening modeling clay or rope-caulk, they're cheap and easy to work. Make sure the horns are screwed down tight to the baffle, the mechanical connection between the horn and baffle is vital in damping. Hey, what about an oil-bath, using the horns surrounded by oil? Or Jello maybe. :-) You know, I know a fella with a home-brew EV horn rig who made his tractrix mid horns out of foamcore (styrofoam with palsticized paper covering) board about 1/2" thick, the pieces are pinned and glued together and have stout ribs of foamcore on the back. Things sound GREAT.

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Having tried both the rope caulk and Dynamat materials for damping my La Scala horns, I prefer rope caulk. It's cheaper, easier to work with, and I think it actually damps better. Part of my preference comes from the fact that even though I heated the Dynamat and put it on with pressure and even a roller, it eventually did not remain adhered to my squawker. This problem might be due to our very low humidity here in Colorado.

drobo

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Drobo,

Do you have the plastic or metal horns on the squawkers? I applied Dynamat to my metal horns, after cutting it to shape and heating it in an over until it was too hot to hold and very, veeeeerrrrrryyyyyy saggy, and now I couldn't get the stuff off the horns with a hammer and chisel.

Also, was this the old, original, icky brown asphault based Dynamat (which I preferred), or the newer, high tech, silver backed polymer variety (which I found didn't work as well)?

------------------

Music is art

Audio is engineering

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Ray,

I used the old brown Dynamat but I don't think I got it heated to the point you describe. I used a heat gun after applying it to my metal squawkers. The oven trick must be the way to go. Anyway, I am very happy with the performance of the rope caulk.

drobo

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I anticipated problems with the dynamat and so used the miracle fixit material that Red Green recommends:

duct tape.

Wrapped the horn (and dynamat) with layers and layers of good old duct tape.

Of course there is no connection between the horn and the tape, but the tape prevents the dynamat from sagging and detaching.

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