I've read a number of threads about enclosing speakers in cabinets and the effect on the sound. I'd love to hear your comments on my plan.
Building my first home theater and the wife had a few "musts" to which I am accommodating. She wanted the theater, when finished, to look clean, and to her that meant no speakers standing about on the floor or on stands. For the front of the room I decided I wanted to build a wood enclosure that would serve as a focal point of the room and house the two fronts, the center and one of my subwoofers.
I know a wood enclosure is probably just about the worse material to use, but I'm a woodworker and love wood. I'm using pine lumber to frame the structure and cherry to surface it (both cherry lumber and veneer).
Speakers: Martin-Logan Motion 60XT fronts, 50XT center, and Dynamo 1500X.
To mitigate the sound issues, my ideas are this:
- I currently have a bare cement floor. I won't build a floor in the cabinet, isolating the speakers from the cabinet. I'll put a rubber (or something similar) mat on the cement and stand the 60XTs on some other layer of something (suggestions?) with spikes. I was thinking of wall mounting the center speaker (50XT), using rubber between the brackets and the wall. Not sure what to put the subwoofer on--can't recall if subs come with spikes.
- The front of the cabinet, where the speakers are housed, will have fabric fronts and the speakers will be moved as far forward as possible.
- lining the entire inside of the cabinet with 2-inch acoustic foam (wedge shape).
- When I build the pine frame, I have 1/16 inch thick rubber to make gaskets to insert wherever wood touches wood. I'll also use the rubber between the cement floor and wood framing. I can't do this with the cherry to cherry contact points, but I'll use glue and screws to prevent vibration at seams. I can insert rubber between the pine frame and the cherry.
how to hide large speakers in living room
I attached a line drawing of what the cabinet will look like.
Well, that's what I'm thinking. Thoughts?