I was reading an article in which they toured the wilson audio factory tonight and i came across an interesting piece of information..

"The main criticism of Wilson Audio products is the "It's just an MDF box" argument. Wilson speakers are made from three different materials, and MDF is not one of them. M material looks like MDF, but when you run your hand over it, you'll quickly know it's not. M material is harder, more dense and less resonant than MDF. It also costs eight times what MDF does."

This got me thinking about fibreglass because a lot of people do use fibreglass in their cars. does anybody know how resonant fibreglass is compared to 3/4" MDF?

My next question is does anybody have any information on this "M" material they Wilson uses?

thanks.

 

It depends on how thick you make the fiberglass, box size, bracing, etc.

 

fibreglass = weight saving
get a professional to do it
and it won't resonate or anything
depends really on how its made

 

incorrect...every material will resonate at at certain frequency, but the construction will determine how much and at what frequency. Could you also please tell me what the difference would be if a professional made it and if I made it. do you know anything about what i'm capable of??

 

I would be interested to see a smpathetic vibration test between the two. Perhaps take a panel of fiberglass the thickness you plan on using and a panel of MDF the same size, fire a sub at it playing different test tones, and see where each gets the most sympathetic resonance.

 

[QUOTEI would be interested to see a smpathetic vibration test between the two. Perhaps take a panel of fiberglass the thickness you plan on using and a panel of MDF the same size, fire a sub at it playing different test tones, and see where each gets the most sympathetic resonance.[/QUOTE]

Thats exactly what i'm looking for.

 

We accidentally got HDF when I was working at Good Guys. I used that stuff for a box. That was a heavy a$$ box. That stuff is definitely better than MDF , but probably not worth the weight gain. There are also things you can do to fiberglass, such as the dynamat spray.

 

For my sub box i'm going to use the matrix style bracing on the inside to help reduce resonance but i was just thinking about my components that i'm putting in the front. Nothing sounds worse than a resonant midrange. I'm used to my home stereo with B&W speakers so i want similar quality out of my car.

 

Are you making pods for the front?

 

kickpanels?? yes.. i have to because i'm going with a 3 way setup

 

I have always made kickpanels and door panels out of fiberglass, just because it's easy. But I can tell you that I have made some crappy sounding ones. Like you said about the midrange. In my Montero, I was in a hurry and made some really quick one day. Those things resonated so bad, I took them off and threw them away and made some better ones when I had more time. If you take the time and brace them with MDF, spray the dynamat spray inside and Vinyl wrap them, they shouldn't resonate much.