hey audio gurus,
i got a 4080 box, i got a subwoofer (DLS MW110), i got a paper guide with the sub... now i got a question!

in the DLS guide, it states:
"Enclosure Damping
Most enclosures should be damped inside with syntetic [yes it is misspelt] (acoustic) wool or damping mat (line). Attach the damping material on the wall opposite from the speaker and port. A sealed enclosure should be filled up to 70-100% with acoustic wool."

because the 4080 box is a sealed enclosure, should i stuff it with acoustic wool?

from the looks of it, this practice gets some mention in home theater applications, but little mention in the car audio arena...

i appreciate any helpful comments/opinions
thanx in advance!

here's some specs on the MW110
10", 4 ohm, 350W nominal (max 550)
X-max: .35"
Fs: 36.7 Hz
Vas: .97 cubic feet

the 4080 10" box has .85 cubic feet internal air space

 

The DLS paperwork is not very well translated.

Many pros use this practice.

You can use polyfill - the same stuff you can get at a sewing store for quilts. Failing a sewing store nearby, I sometimes buy cheap pillows and tear them open and use their polyfill stuffing.

Any sealed woofer box can benefit from polyfill in that the backwave is diffused by the material and the box then "acts" slightly bigger.

However, the benefits are incremental with irregularly-shaped boxes like 4080's. The backwave is reflectively broken up pretty well. Still helps, but don't expect night and day differences...

REMEMBER that your woofer will NOT sound right for 3 hours or so of playing, and at that time it will get louder and play lower than it did when new. Do NOT be bummed out by the first few hours of playing. DLS paperwork specifies thatt there is a 10-20 hour break in but 3 hours seems to be the magic number with that woofer. I would also set the LP xover to around 65.

 

dude, thanks for the confirmation

yeah, about the paper guides, i'm trying to figure out just what exactly is recommendation versus mandatory... another one of these is
"For wiring use high class speaker wires, min AWG13."

peeking inside the 4080, i see that Monster Standard 16/2 UL CL3-rated speaker cables (S16-2R CL) have been conveniently provided & set up for connection... i'm thinking that i should replace these with 13AWG or 12AWG twisted-pairs (for peace of mind if for nothing else).

i'll try to remember the warning about speaker break-in when i 1st fire her up-- don't wanna be raising bloody hell premature-like!