New Foam Tweeter Gaskets

jim 249

Hi All; I made new foam tweeter gaskets for my 2.3TL's. What a difference in bass response! The old original gaskets were never sealing like they should have. If you look at the gasket picture below, the outer edge shows no witness mark from the outer edge of the tweeter plate in various places. All the gaskets looked like this. I went to Joanne Fabrics and bought 2 mm thick foam material. A 12" X 18" sheet sells for 99 cents reg price and they were even on sale this last weekend for 40% off. I used a tweeter mounting plate with the tweeter removed to cut the outer shape of the gasket. Then I placed the gasket in the speaker cavity, then placed the tweeter plate in and lightly tamped on it with my fist to make witness marks. After seeing a sealed edge all the way around I used the round block to cut out the center. That is easy to because the imprint is there from the plate when you check the edge seal. This stuff cuts easily with an xacto knife. It took a few lost pieces to get the process down, but it was well worth it in the end! The round block was made from a 3" hole saw plug. As a side note, the midrange has opened up a lot! :biggrin:

dorokusai

A member on another forum suggested this for some old ADS loudspeakers, never really thought twice about it....great idea Jim.

Toolfan66

even though I find it hard to see you getting better bass response with the tweeter gaskets, I think this is great idea for sealing up your drivers as well. Do they come in bigger pieces??

Thanks!!

jim 249

even though I find it hard to see you getting better bass response with the tweeter gaskets

Any air leaks will reduce the bass response. Instead of the pressure from from the MW's going to the passive, any leaks in the cabinet will reduce that pressure and reduce the effectiveness of the passive to produce bass.

jim 249

Do they come in bigger pieces??

I just found this website. They show a 36" X 60" piece for $9.95, about 2/3 of the way down the page. Not sure if Joanne's carries it or if they can order it.


http://craftsuppliesforless.com/kidscraftsupplies_foamsheets.html

Jack A

Foamies 2mm 36"x60" @$9.95 per roll UPS $15.79:eek:

WGDB

Great idea Jim -

Joe08867

Very good idea.

jim 249

I found the Big Roll of Foamie craft material at a local craft store for $10.00. Haven't had time to make the new passive gaskets yet. I did make new gaskets for my MW's though. This foamie stuff works great! I took the old gasket and placed it on a 1/4" plywood piece, lightly spray painted the plywood making a shadow and then cut out my template to make my new gaskets with. I also saw this foamie material at Walmart in a twelve pack for $5.00. It is located in the crafts section of the store. Each sheet is 12"x18". The only drawback is that it is in bright colors, but for gaskets, who cares!:biggrin:

dkg999

I bought a roll of the same 2mm black foam at Michaels Crafts for I think $6.99. I used it to make new driver gaskets for my Polk Monitor 7's. Much better than the Mortite goo that others are using, doesn't damage the cases, and also doesn't disconnect the drivers from the front baffle. Highly recommended.

Schurkey

I made tweeter gaskets from discarded packing foam sheets. Doesn't get any less expensive than that; and the sheets of foam were H-U-G-E.

I don't remember what was being packed with that material; it was a bit thicker than the original gaskets. Cut nicely, seemed to work well.

I just laid the old gasket over the packing foam, and cut-to-match.

jim 249

I made tweeter gaskets from discarded packing foam sheets

Great idea! This foam sheet is used a lot on wrapping new furniture, so it should not be that hard to find at any new furniture store. Have to try this one out.:biggrin:

EndersShadow

I used the material NooshinJohn recommended and it worked great. Allows me to remove the 8" sub from my LSi 15's with no problem and seals super tight.

DollarDave

What did NooshingJohn recommend?

EndersShadow

DaveMuell wrote: »

What did NooshingJohn recommend?

Read up here: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115762

Kryten

Relevant Links under the "new" Polk address scheme forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/115762
and
forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/1573216