Car audio rescues the home audio architectural speaker.
The architectural speaker is engineered for an in-ceiling or in-wall custom installation..
Premium architectural speaker systems include premium prices.
Unfortunately, a typical drywall installation hijacks its premium audio fidelity.
Luckily, a 1970s car audio installation modification can rescue their premium sound.
Before I reveal how allow me to provide the background story.
Rocking 70s
I was a young music enthusiast who sought to improve the playback of my Buffalo Springfield, Byrds,
Flying Burrito Bros, Poco, CSNY, Dylan – I’ll stop there – vinyl LPs.
My enthusiasm evolved into an audio career.
Early on, many of my on-the-sales-floor compadres were initially there to buy gear at cost.
But this led to sharing our audio enthusiasm with our customers while making the car payment.
By the mid to late 1970s, car audio had annexed a fair share of the retail floor.
The typical car audio system included an in-dash AM/FM tape player and coax speakers.
Bass-blasting custom systems had not yet arrived on the street.
The Deck & Two
The Deck-and-Two ruled car audio sales and installations.
• The Deck – an in-dash AM/FM cassette player.
• The Two – a pair of 6-inch or 6 x 9-inch coaxial speakers.
The 6-inch coax speaker was installed in flat vinyl-covered cardboard door panels.
The 6 x 9-inch coax speaker fit nicely in rear window cardboard-covered decks.
Installing both sizes was a deck-and-four.
The Installation Fix
We took pride in improving Deck and Two results for our customers.
We reinforced car door panels and rear decks for a modest additional fee.
• We added a 5/8-inch MDF fiberboard panel under the rear deck.
• We installed 1/4-inch Masonite hardboard behind the cardboard door panels.
The result tightened bass, improved vocals, and increased decibel level.
Sometimes we added a 30-watt/channel amplifier and a 2nd pair of rear deck 6 x 9s.
We squeezed more from our young customer’s hard-earned cash than the chain store.
Our systems rocked.
Time Rolled On
The Deck & Two is a fading memory,
Except for its coax speaker.
It has established a new home in the form of an architectural speaker.
As previously stated, the architectural speaker is engineered for an in-ceiling or in-wall installation.
It’s a solution for rooms that cannot accommodate floor-standing or bookshelf speaker systems.
More often the floor-standing & bookshelf speaker was vetoed by desired room aesthetics.
The in-ceiling version is typically a 6-inch or 8-inch coaxial speaker.
The in-wall versions place the tweeter above the woofer.
As the car audio installation, both versions are compromised by the material composition of the installation surface. In this case, like the cardboard car door & rear deck panel, drywall surrenders, potential-audio-fidelity.
Drywall Issue
Drywall is made of paper, chalk, and glue.
It’s a poor substitute for the hardboard cabinet of a high-fidelity floor-standing or bookshelf speaker system. It’s nearly as poor as a cardboard door panel.
Drywall’s inherent mechanical/acoustical resonance generates muddy bass and harsh mid-range vocals and forfeits decibel level. Drywall sabotages the heart of your music and movie soundtracks.
Let’s Illustrate How
Walk up to a typical drywall-covered wall.
Locate the wall studs by tapping on the wall.
If you hear a thud, you have found a stud.
If you hear a drum-like sound, you’re between the studs.
That drum-like sound combines with your music and movie soundtracks.
Think of it as a distorting uninvited guest to the band.
In addition, the woofer’s back & forth motion generates slight opposing drywall motion.
The out-of-phase movement sucks low frequency and mid-range energy.
The Rescue
Minimize the compromise of the drywall speaker installation.
Begin with a trip to your local lumber yard.
Purchase a panel of MDF fiberboard.
Next, set up a table saw.
Measure and confirm the space between wall studs and ceiling joists.
Create a roughly 20-inch x 14-inch sub-baffle panel to fit between the studs or joists at each speaker location.
Next, pick up a router, hole saw, or jig saw.
Cut out the custom speaker-insert hole in the sub-baffle panel.
Note: measure/confirm maximum speaker clamp depth.
Next, attach the sub-baffle panel to the studs or joists or glue it to the rear of the drywall.
The installation is straightforward if you’re working on a new home construction or a room remodel.
If it isn’t, grab a latter and crawl into the attic.
If your wall location is drywall-covered, return to the table saw.
• Quarter the sub-baffle panel.
• Insert the 4-panel parts through the speaker cut-out hole.
• Glue them to the rear of the drywall.
• Finally, insert and secure the speaker.
As the reinforced car door/rear deck panel,
the MDF sub-baffle rescues the premium fidelity of the speaker system.
• The higher mass/weight of the baffle lowers the resonant frequency.
• The increased stiffness reduces out-of-phase motion.
The predictable result is tighter bass, warmer vocals, and increased decibel level.
Time, Materials, & Expense
The practical concern is the additional time, materials, and expense.
This concern can be reduced with a time-saving, minimum materials, low-cost alternative.
• Skip the trip to the lumber yard.
• Leave the router and saws in the garage.
• Purchase the $69.99 SandTrap.
The SandTrap is an ABS plastic-framed birch wood-backed speaker sub-baffle.
Each sub-baffle is quartered and shipped as four empty hollow hulls.
Each hull is sand-filled by the installer.
The sand offers more mass/weight than the MDF fiberboard.
The sand-filled hulls are inserted through the speaker cut-out.
An adhesive holds the hulls in place.
Finally, the inserted speaker clamps to the inner rim of the SandTrap.
The SandTrap patented Architectural Speaker Tuning System:
• Minimizes drywall distortion
• Maximizes the audio fidelity you paid for – tighter bass, warmer vocals, and increased decibel level.
Select this LINK for SandTrap specs and supporting graphs.
That’s it.
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