# fiberglass box



## jwhite8086 (Feb 4, 2007)

Is a fiberglass enclosure a good idea


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## Geoff St. Germain (Dec 18, 2006)

It depends on why you are using it. If it is because you want to use a shape that is impractical with wood then it is a good idea. If the shape can be easily made with wood then IMO it is a better idea to use wood.

I've been looking at doing a fiberglass console/subwoofer for my wife's Integra. I'm also interested in doing some fiberglass tractrix horns for some fullrange drivers in a similar fashion to the Oris horn.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=847269&stamp=1140127510


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## jwhite8086 (Feb 4, 2007)

Ive seen a lot of custom fiberglass car boxes and was wondering why no one has done this with home audio to make one of those no baffle speaker enclosures


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## avaserfi (Jul 5, 2007)

jwhite8086 said:


> Ive seen a lot of custom fiberglass car boxes and was wondering why no one has done this with home audio to make one of those no baffle speaker enclosures


Often times fiberglass is used in cars because of awkward shapes and sizes. Fiberglass is a rather resonant material this coupled with the fact that in home audio size restrictions are often not as odd it is far more efficient to use various forms of wood for speaker building.


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## mike c (Apr 25, 2006)

are you talking about the clear fiberglass (like that of a basketball court) or fiberglass that can be molded into any shape?


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## Geoff St. Germain (Dec 18, 2006)

I'd want to use some heavy damping material (lead/bitumen) and a lot of bracing in a fiberglass enclosure.


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## avaserfi (Jul 5, 2007)

mike c said:


> are you talking about the clear fiberglass (like that of a basketball court) or fiberglass that can be molded into any shape?


Car application fiberglass which the OP refers to is the latter of the two you described.



Geoff St. Germain said:


> I'd want to use some heavy damping material (lead/bitumen) and a lot of bracing in a fiberglass enclosure.


I would look into using 5-6 layers of peel-n-seal/dynamat on the inside along with a material such as asphalt that has a strong ability to convert energy to heat. This would substantially reduce resonance. This would still not remove resonance, but I guess some is better than nothing - wood is still the best choice for home audio.


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## mike c (Apr 25, 2006)

avaserfi said:


> Car application fiberglass which the OP refers to is the latter of the two you described.


actually, most of the car sub enclosures here are wood and clear fiberglass combos ... to show some lights and drivers


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## avaserfi (Jul 5, 2007)

mike c said:


> actually, most of the car sub enclosures here are wood and clear fiberglass combos ... to show some lights and drivers


I think you are referring to bandpass enclosures. I guess it does depend, since this was a question in the diy speaker forum I thought he was referring to fiberglass enclosures that are seen in many custom installations in the car audio world. I guess only the OP can tell us.


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## Geoff St. Germain (Dec 18, 2006)

Are we talking about Plexiglas or fiberglass? I've seen translucent fiberglass, but not actual clear stuff... the glass fiber cloth gets in the way. Like this:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/469903144_dc6a347cee_b.jpg


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## jwhite8086 (Feb 4, 2007)

I was thinking fiberglass cloth thats rolled on wet then hardens in whatever shape its in like they use for airplane wings and body or those colorfull casts the doctors put on broken arms and legs.

No offence but I think Mike c is confused floor wax and plexiglass are not fiber glass


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## jwhite8086 (Feb 4, 2007)

I think it can be sprayed or painted on to 

I was envisioning a sexy designer speaker enclosure with no baffle.
is this Idea too resonant I mean would it take to much dampening material 
maybe it could be shaped with paper or clay and then covered and dampend on the inside the finished project would look like cabon fiber

or maybe its to lite to work


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## mike c (Apr 25, 2006)

jwhite8086 said:


> No offence but I think Mike c is confused floor wax and plexiglass are not fiber glass


i see, guess you are talking about the custom made one ...

andrew, i don't think the enclosure design matters to the car audio guys here. they just want to show how beefy the rear of the driver is ... purely for looks.

re: plexiglass, fiberglass, hmmm, I'm not really sure ... but I've used both the fiberglass (opaque and translucent) in my fishpond and the clear one for some shelves I have ... there was once a time where a fiberglass (or maybe plexiglass) maker was leasing our property and I could get the stuff for free. :bigsmile:

edit: or maybe I was thinking about acrylic? the terms are loosely used here 

and yes, I'm very confused. :coocoo::dumbcrazy: please ignore my posts on this thread. :dizzy:


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## drf (Oct 22, 2006)

Maybe I can help and confuse you some more:

Fibreglass is a glass fibre matt/weave that is soaked in a polyester, vinylester or epoxy resin that hardens to create what is called a composite. This is used on surfboards, boats, planes and custom boxes/dashboards etc.

The wet stuff that is rolled over broken limbs is basically a bandage impregnated with plaster. It is basically plaster of paris.

the clear sheets of plastic is an acrylic based product that is called plexi-glass or perspex. It comes in sheets of various thickness and can be heated and bent.


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## mike c (Apr 25, 2006)

drf said:


> Maybe I can help and confuse you some more:
> 
> Fibreglass is a glass fibre matt/weave that is soaked in a polyester, vinylester or epoxy resin that hardens to create what is called a composite. This is used on surfboards, boats, planes and custom boxes/dashboards etc.
> 
> ...


thanks, it clears it up now 
now that you've explained it, I can now confirm that what I used in my fishpond filters is both fiberglass in translucent (because UV protection is unnecessary because it is submerged in water) and opaque form (opaque maybe for UV protection)

acrylic or plexiglass is what I used to make my basketball backboard 

which is a good source of panels if I want to build something like this:
http://www.avtalk.co.uk/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=13373&start=0&rid=14&SQ=1127556913

I blame it all on the loosely used terms here interchangeably :bigsmile:


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## mrstampe (Nov 13, 2007)

Here are a couple interesting fiberglass speaker enclosures:

Deathstar

Conch

If you know how to work with this stuff, I'm sure you can come up with some great designs.


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## jwhite8086 (Feb 4, 2007)

Thats exatly what I was thinking about , no one here has tried it?


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## Rodny Alvarez (Apr 25, 2006)

A lot of work!!:sweat:

You can use as much wood as you can and do the rest with fiberglass and Dynamat the inside of the box.:bigsmile:

Here some of the boxes that I built, and the front panels for my sub box.....








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## jwhite8086 (Feb 4, 2007)

thats a very good look


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Ah, there's Rodny! His installation was the best use of fiberglass I've seen in a home theatre so far, and that's where I'd start looking if I was going to do something similar. Actually, thinking about it now, a pair of towers with a baffle similar to the ones on his subs would look really cool, but I don't know how it would affect diffraction and BSC, etc. With subs you have more leniency to play around.


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