Enclosure project

[andr3w.4]

Hi

im currently working on a project for school that invloves designing speaker enclosures using different materials to prove which is best. ill be using db rating and comparing there Hz and KHz for proving which is best.

though my problem is i really dont know which materials to be looking for and researching. i need 6 different materials to build into 6 small speaker enclosures.

can anyone help me out in giving me a few ideas on which sort of materials to experiment with.

i was thinking to possibly try 6 different types of wood but id prefer if i could try out other materials such as fiberglass, etc

what are your thoughts on this??? does anyone have ideas on any more possible materials that i could use?..

i really am desperate for assistance on this...

[nova]

Hi Andrew, Welcome to the Shack.

You could try: 1/2" MDF, 3/4" MDF, Plywood, fiberglass, plastic, 1/8" carbon steel plate, cardboard, particle board, maybe some pine, maple, or walnut solid wood. Maybe even a 6x6 solid post? I should definitely think you would be able to demonstrate a difference that just about anyone would be able to hear.

[avaserfi]

This sounds like an interesting project, but there are a couple limitations with your plan. Firstly, you are planning on measuring each cabinets frequency response to see a difference between the materials. While this is possible, it requires specialized equipment and an anechoic chamber. This is so for your specific case because the differences will be caused by resonance which is audible, but will not show up in a typical frequency response plot due to methodology typically employed to take these plots. To actually see a frequency plot with resonance shown the measurements would need to be taken in an anechoic chamber using an impulse response tone at multiple angles in a far-field fashion and then the responses would need to be averaged. As it sounds this is fairly complicated and expensive. A far less expensive method would be getting a crude measurement using an accelerometer, but this would still cost around $100 unless you have access to an accelerometer and a pre-amp for it.

As far as the use of various materials go there would be differences, but just taking six pieces of a certain material and gluing them together would not be too useful scienctifically. If this method was used there would be substantial resonance with all of the designs due to lack of bracing. Perhaps rather than using different materials you could use one material and experiment with different levels of bracing to see their effect on resonance. An example of what you could do would be one cabinet that is just six pieces of 3/4" void free plywood, another with a single piece of oak bracing, etc...until the final model has a complex matrix that ties all the axes together.

I do realize this would be a complicated project, but you have perhaps unknowingly entered an extremely complicated area that cannot be tested using simple and typically conventional methods.