Speaker Baffles - Good or Bad?

[Ben]

Just as it says, in terms of audio quality, are baffles good or bad based on your experience? I read an overview of them and I know they are great for protecting your speakers, but do they add to the mid-bass quality as they say they do?

I've read so many mixed reviews, but they all vary on the car that they have. So, do any MR2 owners have baffles and have a review?

[Maruki-kun]

which kind? the MDF/plastic adapter to allow bigger speakers, or the foam insert kinda thing that encloses the speaker?

[Ben]

The foam ones like these:

[Mister2.2]

Personally I think they work well in areas like the door where there is thin metal behind them or around them. I think if you used them in a spot where it was solid it wouldn't make much a difference if at all though.

[Ben]

I guess I will find out the hard way, I just ordered some yesterday.....

[PHOENIX]

Baktasht sells those on emspowered.com

[Maruki-kun]

They make a difference if you have bad acoustics in a door. the doors in my S-10 are poorly designed so the acoustics suck plus they were too big so I lost punchyness in my speakers. they help if you have no deadening and cheaper speakers.

[MANDALAY]

Ben your right in my territory here I own a IASCA Championship car BMW with approx $60,000 of gear in it.
A speaker moves in and out. The suspension, mechanical, electrical parameters of the speaker are designed for : what frequency to play, quality of sound , power they can play etc.Therefore those foam cups will affect the speakers performance as it will restrict air movement. As the door speaker needs to see a large volume of air behind it. You will loose bass .
At times they can work if they are factory installed as the speaker chosen would have taken this into consideration.Want better bass close all the openings in the door with light weight dynamat. You will gain about 4 db

[Ben]

^ Where were you earlier Since I already ordered them, I figure I'll just mess with it and install 1 on 1 side and leave the other one alone and see if I notice the difference.

The BMW must need bullet proof glass to keep from blowing out the windows

[MANDALAY]

Dont want to go over your head but if you do that its great but to see the effects you will need a RTA and some pnk noise being played. Since you will have the door cards off , add the dynamat You will get a 100% improvement on the speaker responce, and the door will sound more solid when you shut it.
As far as the BMW it was a Sound Quality entrant. I can first inall of Australias states, won the National championship then went on to win the Australasian championship. My score was 20% higher than enen the pro audio shop guys But yes it can get loud 148 db but music not sound waves

[Alex W]

Originally Posted by MANDALAY

Ben your right in my territory here I own a IASCA Championship car BMW with approx $60,000 of gear in it.
A speaker moves in and out. The suspension, mechanical, electrical parameters of the speaker are designed for : what frequency to play, quality of sound , power they can play etc.Therefore those foam cups will affect the speakers performance as it will restrict air movement. As the door speaker needs to see a large volume of air behind it. You will loose bass .
At times they can work if they are factory installed as the speaker chosen would have taken this into consideration.Want better bass close all the openings in the door with light weight dynamat. You will gain about 4 db

I'm no audio expert, so I really shouldn't be argueing with one, but this seems strange to me. A sub without a box produces almost zero bass, and in fact almost zero sound of any kind. Why shouldn't the same apply to a door speaker? I mean, without those baffles its essentially operating in free air. It seems that these would help, but like I say, I really don't know

[MANDALAY]

A tweeter doesnt need a box right. A midrange doesnt need a box right. A sub in a way also doesnt need a box also. The reason the smaller units you will agree with me is because as long as the forward sound wave doesnt get cancelled by the rear wave you have sound. The frequencies covered by the tweeter and mid are small < 6 inches so only a small baffel is required. The frequencies played by a sub are very big so if you have a big baffel say 6 foot square believe me you will have base without a box.
The thing to note is to stop cancellation.The baffel which is the door should have all the holes blocked see. Door speakers usually are stiffer( suspension ) because designers realise that its an open box. A box will control the suspension to a certain extent. If the box is to small the base will be reduced since it will be compressing the air . These foam things will reduce the volume of air see ? Instead of the big volume of air in the door cavity.

[Alex W]

Gotcha

[Maruki-kun]

Originally Posted by MANDALAY

A tweeter doesnt need a box right. A midrange doesnt need a box right. A sub in a way also doesnt need a box also. The reason the smaller units you will agree with me is because as long as the forward sound wave doesnt get cancelled by the rear wave you have sound. The frequencies covered by the tweeter and mid are small < 6 inches so only a small baffel is required. The frequencies played by a sub are very big so if you have a big baffel say 6 foot square believe me you will have base without a box.
The thing to note is to stop cancellation.The baffel which is the door should have all the holes blocked see. Door speakers usually are stiffer( suspension ) because designers realise that its an open box. A box will control the suspension to a certain extent. If the box is to small the base will be reduced since it will be compressing the air . These foam things will reduce the volume of air see ? Instead of the big volume of air in the door cavity.

First off... Bass. not Base.


2nd. Cheaper speakers in a non deadened door will extremely benefit from having these foam baffles it also depends on the size of the cone. a 5.25" woofer will benefit from these in the doors to an extreme amount, but my 6.5's don't need them nor need the deadening, but add the deadening to the doors and it will make ANY speaker sound better weather it be some cheap ass pioneer 5.25's or some Utopia B's. in some cases as in the CTD's in my truck NEED the baffle along with the deadening because the speakers can't handle the large amount of airspace in the doors and would over exert themselves... but putting a baffle in a non deadened door is like putting a capacitor on a car before upgrading the alt, battery and wiring (AKA: The Big 3)... it's just putting a band aid on a broken arm and it really fixes nothing in the long run compared to doing it right the first time.

[Maruki-kun]

Originally Posted by MANDALAY

Dont want to go over your head but if you do that its great but to see the effects you will need a RTA and some pnk noise being played. Since you will have the door cards off , add the dynamat You will get a 100% improvement on the speaker responce, and the door will sound more solid when you shut it.
As far as the BMW it was a Sound Quality entrant. I can first inall of Australias states, won the National championship then went on to win the Australasian championship. My score was 20% higher than enen the pro audio shop guys But yes it can get loud 148 db but music not sound waves

IASCA or MECA? outlaw, headrest or dash? Slap or standard? sealed or windows down? Termlab 1 or 2, or even a radioshack meter? 30~Hz or 40~Hz?

before deadening I did a 151.4 at the dash sealed up IASCA Bass Race (not DB Drag, I got 152.6 doing a 33Hz test tone) at 33Hz with Late Nite Tip. BTW, mids and tweeters mean nothing on the score.

[MANDALAY]

IASCA SOUND QUALITY. Music playing 20 hz to 20,000 hz NOT SINE WAVES.
Ku-sama there you go you said it it will control the movement of the speaker there fore reducing the bass.
Golden rule,
1. wire
2. capacitors
3. battery
4. NEVER NEED A BIGGER ONE THAN STOCK.
POWER TO THE STEREO COMES FROM THE BATTERY not THE ALTERNATER.
Only when you excede the power supply from the battery will the alternator supply.
And if your doing that there is a good chance that the battery will be flat and wont start the car.
A larger alternater will only charge your batteries faster but generally they need at least 2,000rpm.
BUY more capacitors and keep them very close to the amp.

[DenverMR2]

I think many people would disagree go to any car audio forum and they will say that your money is better spent on a better alternator. Really the order is Big 3, battery, wiring, alt and never capacitors. Oh and the big three is not alt battery and wiring. It is a run of wire from the alt to the battery a better ground from engine to frame and moving the battery negative to ground out on the frame.

[Maruki-kun]

Running the bigger alt further reduces voltage drop. due to the fact it's supplying more power. hook up 10 optima yellow tops and hook up 20,000W RMS you will still get vdrop. why do you think that the master, Steve Meade, uses quad alts on his 17,000W RMS system?

bigger alt = constant voltage + more amperage = less dimming and Vdrop.

[eckoman_pdx]

Denver & Ku-sama are right, a bigger alternator is NO a bad thing. As he said,
bigger alt = constant voltage + more amperage = less dimming and Vdrop. An alternator puts on constant voltage, and supplies only what is needed. You don't need caps, caps are a band-aid. I HO Alternator will actually PRODUCE the needed voltage and required power. If you're short on power and put in a bunch of caps, you're still not producing the voltage needed. Sure, caps suck up power and discharge quick, but that's the band -aid effect. You still aren't producing enough voltage. If you need more power, go with a good High Output alternator like Ohio Gen. That's what I run in my other car, a 181 amp Ohio Gen alternator. The alternator powers the car while it's running, you're power comes from the alternator. The only time it won't is when the car's off. There's a reason the top level guys run HO alternators. If you just replace the battery and add so big caps, it's a band-aid, plain and simple.

[MANDALAY]

Last time l checked both IASCA AND DB drag were with the engine NOT RUNNING , so the alternator is not even on.
Unless your going to listen to sine sound waves the factory alternator is more than enough. UPGRADE POWER AND EARTH cables. Amps with good power supplies.
Anyway those alternators with higher output are only if your reving >2,000 rpm
Music is dynamic it swallows power in bursts thats why caps will always be benefitial. Gee thats why quality amps have caps ( a lot ) on their power supply.
Anyway the MR2 will NEVER be consifered for an IASCA or DB car its just wrong.
There is more to car audio than just being loud, l can go on forever if you want me to.
Open a thread if you like and ill answer all questions. Ive been it for 26 years. Seen the crap and lies.
But the question was for those foam pieces that i have already answered . Absolutely useless ! Dynamat the door. Leave the factory stereo as it is and enjoy. Little gain in the MR2 unless you spend absolutely thousands $.