Soft soffit mounting?

dymaxian · Post by **dymaxian** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 2:09 am

Ok, Barefoot, here's your chance to shoot down a wild theory. But let me know if this idea has any merit...

I'd like to soffit-mount my Mackie HR824s- even if it's just to reclaim a little floor area. Giles was able to do this, but I can't figure out how he keeps 'em from overheating- unless he's got a small circulation system set up for them (the thought has crossed my mind... my day job of architecture has presented greater design challenges). At one point, I had resigned myself to stand-mounting them and using a mid-field setup, but I'm not ready to give up on soffiting them just yet.

In reading another post where someone had built baffles for their speakers, I saw your notes about making the front face 4 or 5 times the size of the woofer, because of the way a hard surface would interact with the sound coming out of the speaker. It got me wondering if using a soft wall would be a viable alternative.

I was thinking of using a 12" deep wall (whether built out of 2x12s or just a pair of 2x4 stud walls with each stud cavity filled completely with fiberglass blankets, and then with 1" rigid fiberglass on the face of the wall. In this wall would be the speaker. Instead of a hard surface for low frequencies to have to work their way around before reaching the listening position, there would be a thick absorber for it to get thru. If this was placed in a corner, it'd double as a general bass trap. And the space behind this wall could be open above- in a high-ceiling room, the soffit-wall could go up 8' and leave the rest open.

I guess what I'm asking is this- would mounting the speakers like this cause more problems than they solved? Is this the kind of thing we'd have to build and test out? Would it be better to build a solid front face, and just leave enough space behind the wall for the speaker to breathe?

Thanks for the time and thought...

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 6:14 am

Kase, I finally overheated one of my monitors.

Wanna know how.

Sure yah do.

LOL

Well it was really simple.

for 4 hours I played music at 98db avg, peaking at about 107-108db SPL with no releif. Nad what do yah know, one of them over heated.

My room stays cold. I keep the AC running round the clock. this dogone mac puts out some immense heat.

Do your mackies still over heat?

Hit me back maybe we can brainstorm some solutions to resolve the problem.

have you ever used a Sound Level Meter to see where you are monitoring at?

if it's loud, that is bad and will reduce your life in this business.

Hearing wise that is

Just a couple of bold nickles to tossout at yah.

keep in mind I NEVER turn mine off, run them through a surge protectior and never monitor past 85dBA under my own use, unless the client wants to hear them cranked when i am done with a mix.

Bryan Giles

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 6:20 am

After I posted the previous msg I had an Idea.

Silenx makes some 120dBA fans that output about 11dBA of sound Level.

Perhaps you can get 4 of them (2 per speaker) Mount them on something simple and blow the air past them to help keep em cool??

Just a thought.

i really dig their fans as I put one in My G4 Dual and U feel the air but dont hear the fan.

Bryan Giles

Here is the link.....

http://www.silenx.com/productcart/pc/co ... product=75

dymaxian · Post by **dymaxian** » Sat Jul 03, 2004 6:43 am

My speakers overheat if I leave the fabric dust-covers on them while they're playing for too long. The fabric is pretty average, so while I'm sure some heat does get thru it, a lot of what makes them overheat is that the design seems to depend on open air convection. If we built the soffits in the corners, and had enough space behind them, and could vent them out the top (build the soffit up to 8' or so)they'd probably be just fine.

Having some small, quiet fans provide circulation would certainly help tho.

giles117 · Post by **giles117** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:54 am

Well that is basically what I did. I have a hole in the mounting board near the rear of the speaker for cold air to come in and the top of the soffit has an opening to allow air to leave.

If I ever over heat again, i will build the fan baffle board i was descirbing above.

Bryan giles