Mortite Speaker Seals For SDA's

schwarcw

Stew wrote: »

Has anyone tried Staput Ultra? (Info sheet is attached.) I've never seen this stuff in a store but it sounds like good stuff!

I was also thinking of a material such as this. After debating, the Mortite seemed easier to use. It does not tack easily, but with a little work and patience the end result is work it.

I also used Hushmat instead of Dynamat for the metal baskets. My local car installer had it. I talked to him about the Dynamat vs Hushmat, he said that he used Dynamat for years and liked it. But he had to thoroughly clean the surfaces to get the best adhesion. He said the Hushmat was just as effective but could stick to almost anything and stay stuck.

The end result of this tweak was more than subtle. I noticed the difference immediately. The soundstage depth was improved, more detailed or refined. I was impressed!:D For about $25 this tweak was very worthy of the money and effort.

skrol

I have also had issues getting the regular Dynamat to stay stuck in car applications where things are dirt (inside doors). Dynamat Extreme sticks much better than the cheaper stuff.

xj4094dg

DarqueKnight wrote: »

I'll let you know in a couple of years. If I forget, remind me.:)

Since this Mortite formulation seems to be very stable with regard to oil leaching, I expect that it will still be soft two years from now and beyond. The vice was an extreme test that flattened the Mortite cord to literal paper thinness, and yet only enough oil leached out to wet the surface of the paper. The flattened Mortite strip was still soft and flexible and the paper strips were easily pealed away from it.

Friendly reminder...How is the Mortite doing? Sorry in advance if I missed it in another thread.

dane_peterson

I actually just referenced this thread a couple weeks ago, as I was redoing my Mon10s. They sealed up nicely!

DarqueKnight

xj4094dg wrote: »

Friendly reminder...How is the Mortite doing? Sorry in advance if I missed it in another thread.

Can't wait? It's only been seven months since I posted that.

To answer your question, the Mortite is doing fine. The photo below was taken this afternoon and is the uppermost tweeter cutout for one of my 1.2TL's. After removing the four screws, I had to gently pry the tweeter loose with a screwdriver. The Mortite forms a fairly strong seal. Notice that some of the Mortite stuck to the MDF. Notice also that there is no oil seepage on the MDF. The Mortite residue in the lower left corner formed an "L" shape. I scraped off the lower part of the "L" and there was no oil stain under it.



The photo below is of the Mortite seal around the tweeter. The Mortite is still as soft and pliable as it was seven months ago. The curved indentation in the upper left corner was made by my fingernail. There was no need to replace this seal even though it was flattened out. I simply "plumped up" the Mortite ring by going all around pinching it between my fingernail and the tweeter rim.



While I had the tweeter out, I took a mirror and flashlight and peeked inside at the foam insulation on the baskets of the uppermost four drivers. I was looking for signs of the foam peeling off. No problems were seen.

Face

I did find a little seepage when used on bare MDF for a few months. The Mortite didn't lose any pliability and I was able to reuse it.

Ron Temple

I need to revive this thread...went on a journey to find Moretite in my area, HD, Lowes, OSH and Ace...no joy. I did find some Plummer's putty on a 54" roll that looked thin and was about 3/8" wide. I guess I'll have to order from the internet somewhere unless some of you folks can point me to the right vendor.

thsmith

Ron Temple wrote: »

I need to revive this thread...went on a journey to find Moretite in my area, HD, Lowes, OSH and Ace...no joy. I did find some Plummer's putty on a 54" roll that looked thin and was about 3/8" wide. I guess I'll have to order from the internet somewhere unless some of you folks can point me to the right vendor.

Ron, I would be glad to Karma you some. God knows I owe you.

Just shoot me you address,

inspiredsports

Ron Temple wrote: »

I need to revive this thread...went on a journey to find Moretite in my area, HD, Lowes, OSH and Ace...no joy. I did find some Plummer's putty on a 54" roll that looked thin and was about 3/8" wide. I guess I'll have to order from the internet somewhere unless some of you folks can point me to the right vendor.

The big box stores don't seem to carry it here either. I've found it llocally in one of those old fashion neighborhood hardware stores that is still hanging on by a thread in this tough economy.

Make sure you spell it "Mortite" when searching the Internet. I've found amazon.com to be cheapest (under $10 delivered) . . .

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BQNCY4/websitementcommu

PS. I've experimented with Plumber's Putty. It's easier working with installing (softer/more viscous) but it dries out overnight and is a DISASTER to remove after that. It flakes, powders, and sticks where the Mortite can be easily removed and re-used.

I always heat with a hair dryer and gently draw down the screws (use a crossing pattern like tightening lug nuts on a vehicle wheel) to avoid stripping, and then gently retighten after a day or so of using the speakers.

I have some drivers hat have been reinstalled with the same bead of Mortite perhaps 20 times.

Ron Temple

thsmith wrote: »

Ron, I would be glad to Karma you some. God knows I owe you.

Just shoot me you address,

Thanks Tracy, but I just hit up Amazon for a 90' roll. That should do me fine. Appreciate the offer though .

jimbo1421

Ron Temple wrote: »

I need to revive this thread...went on a journey to find Moretite in my area, HD, Lowes, OSH and Ace...no joy. I did find some Plummer's putty on a 54" roll that looked thin and was about 3/8" wide. I guess I'll have to order from the internet somewhere unless some of you folks can point me to the right vendor.

Hi Ron,

I bought and used an equivalent (I think) from Home Depot called MD Replaceable Cord Weatherstrip. It seems to be the same stuff and works the same way.

Jim

Ron Temple

inspiredsports wrote: »

The big box stores don't seem to carry it here either. I've found it llocally in one of those old fashion neighborhood hardware stores that is still hanging on by a thread in this tough economy.

Make sure you spell it "Mortite" when searching the Internet. I've found amazon.com to be cheapest (under $10 delivered) . . .

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BQNCY4/websitementcommu

PS. I've experimented with Plumber's Putty. It's easier working with installing (softer/more viscous) but it dries out overnight and is a DISASTER to remove after that. It flakes, powders, and sticks where the Mortite can be easily removed and re-used.

I always heat with a hair dryer and gently draw down the screws (use a crossing pattern like tightening lug nuts on a vehicle wheel) to avoid stripping, and then gently retighten after a day or so of using the speakers.

I have some drivers hat have been reinstalled with the same bead of Mortite perhaps 20 times.

Yeah, I went with Amazon. I didn't like the look of that plumber's putty and it was quite a bit more expensive. Hell, I paid more in shipping for the Mortite than for the product :rolleyes:. I'll get it next week, do my 1Cs and 2Bs and probably have a ton leftover. You guys are removing the rubber gaskets, right?

RT

thsmith

yes on removing the gaskets.

Bigbang

I was just about to apply the Frost King weather stripping to a pair of 1c's and thanks to your in depth research, I will now use it on my windows and buy some proper Mortite for my speakers.

Thanks again Ray!

David

Bigbang

Sorry, I don’t mean to hijack this thread but...

Does anyone have any experience using Black hole five (from Sonic Craft) as a replacement for the insulation and if you do what kind of results did you find? From my understanding it has to be applied in a very specific configuration...

Thanks,

David

Ron Temple

Well my 1Cs are now Mortited...it's somewhat embarrassing...I opened up my LF speaker first and noticed that I had 6510s on the inside...WTF???:eek:. It's been years since I've messed with the drivers and months since I've moved the speakers. I flipped it over and low and behold, it's the RF. I've been listening for who knows how long with the dimensional drivers on the inside...sounded pretty damned good too :rolleyes:. Anyway, all's well now. I did notice a difference right away, but it's like getting to know your system again. Especially, since I've had it fubared for so long.

Ron Temple

Another update...did the 2Bs today. It seems I should have opened these up when I first got them. The right speakers drivers were flipped upside down and wired out of phase. I couldn't tell in the surround location.

shadowofnight

Ron Temple wrote: »

Well my 1Cs are now Mortited...it's somewhat embarrassing...I opened up my LF speaker first and noticed that I had 6510s on the inside...WTF???:eek:. It's been years since I've messed with the drivers and months since I've moved the speakers. I flipped it over and low and behold, it's the RF. I've been listening for who knows how long with the dimensional drivers on the inside...sounded pretty damned good too :rolleyes:. Anyway, all's well now. I did notice a difference right away, but it's like getting to know your system again. Especially, since I've had it fubared for so long.

Ron Temple wrote: »

Another update...did the 2Bs today. It seems I should have opened these up when I first got them. The right speakers drivers were flipped upside down and wired out of phase. I couldn't tell in the surround location.

You might wanna just sell your polks and pick up some of those little black cube speakers...




















...;)

Ron Temple

shadowofnight wrote: »

You might wanna just sell your polks and pick up some of those little black cube speakers...




















...;)

Fyou John . That would make my wife very happy...or...I might want to start paying more attention to what I'm doing.

JohnLocke88

Great write up. I will be doing this asap to all my speakers.

hearingimpared

Ron Temple wrote: »

Well my 1Cs are now Mortited...it's somewhat embarrassing...I opened up my LF speaker first and noticed that I had 6510s on the inside...WTF???:eek:. It's been years since I've messed with the drivers and months since I've moved the speakers. I flipped it over and low and behold, it's the RF. I've been listening for who knows how long with the dimensional drivers on the inside...sounded pretty damned good too :rolleyes:. Anyway, all's well now. I did notice a difference right away, but it's like getting to know your system again. Especially, since I've had it fubared for so long.

. . . and you didn't notice any dizzyness, nausia, or ear ringing? LOL!

hearingimpared

JohnLocke88 wrote: »

Great write up. I will be doing this asap to all my speakers.

I love Raife's reviews and he is usually dead on with his reviews. I haven't tried the Mortite but I use Parts Express speaker sealer and its great. It's easy to work with molds around the joint and if you need to take your driver out is easy to pry off and doesn't leave any residue. Plus it's black so you don't have to worry about dealing with overflow.

I actually used it to seal a large seam that came apart in my 1.2TLs and it's held very well was easy to shove into the separation.

PolkMaster1

Just got me some Mortite from Home Depot. I picked up two packs just in case. Guess what I will be working on this weekend?

:D:D

DarqueKnight

I did a pair of 1.2TL's, a pair of SRS's and three pairs of CRS+'s and only used approximately 90% of one roll. A 19 oz. segmented roll of Mortite is approximately 11.25' long and yields 90 linear feet of caulking cord .

PolkMaster1

Getting the first 1.2TL speaker done. Tweeters remain. Boy this sure takes a while!!!

After I finish the 1.2TLs, I will work on the rear channels, which should take a lot less time!

I know I should be doing the Dynamats first, but I just cant wait! Shame on me!!!

Very busy weekend ahead for me. Damn you DarqueKnight!!! :rolleyes:

PolkMaster1

My GF says I should stop with all these mods. She says that one day I may do something I can't undo. I had a wise **** comment for that, but that would mean I couldn't undo that comment, if you know what I mean.

PolkMaster1

OK, I got my first speaker done. I can hear a difference so far with the little sample size so far - the sound favors the left side, which is the speaker that was done. It's past midnight so I cant really crank it up. I will do the right side tomorrow, which should make the sound balance again.

Thanks DarqueKnight for this mod.

PolkMaster1

DarqueKnight wrote: »

I did a pair of 1.2TL's, a pair of SRS's and three pairs of CRS+'s and only used approximately 90% of one roll. A 19 oz. segmented roll of Mortite is approximately 11.25' long and yields 90 linear feet of caulking cord .

So far, I used two complete strands out of 6 on just one speaker. Lets see how much I have left after I complete both speakers.

inspiredsports

PolkMaster1 wrote: »

Getting the first 1.2TL speaker done. Tweeters remain. Boy this sure takes a while!!!

After I finish the 1.2TLs, I will work on the rear channels, which should take a lot less time!

I know I should be doing the Dynamats first, but I just cant wait! Shame on me!!!

Very busy weekend ahead for me. Damn you DarqueKnight!!! :rolleyes:

There's actually a benefit to applying Mortite first as gently installing and removing the mids/passives a few times will more perfectly form the Mortite into a nice thin, flat effective gasket.

Make sure you are just gently tightening the fasteners down in a criss-cross pattern and do not over-tighten. Let them sit for a day or so and then come back and snug them down, again in a criss-cross pattern. In this way everything will become flat and tight without problems.

If you tighten things down too quickly, your risk bending the basket and deforming the whole mid/passive. I've shared before that I heat the rim of the basket after my thin ring of Mortite has been applied with a hair dryer before installing in the cabinet. I also initially work with the cabinet on its back to insure the driver stays centered in the cutout (I do day-after tightening in the upright position).

PolkMaster1

Thanks for the advice. I do perform a star pattern when tightening the screws as you mention, and I screw them in place leaving all not too tight so that everything is even. Then I tighten them down with another screw (again star pattern tightening). But in this case, I decided not to tighten them down since I am ordering the Dynamat Extreme. I however did not leave them sitting down for a day. I was too damn excited to hear the difference. Now the sound leans more to the left as it sounds a bit more heavier, but that will balance out once I Mortite the right speaker.

If I had both the Mortite and the Dynamats on hand, I would have thought differently - perform the Dynamating on the gasket, and then Mortite around the ring. That is just my thinking.