Sound Deadener Showdown?

[fish1234 10+ year member]

How much power do you have to push, to notice a difference in usin' deadener? In everyone's eye?

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

It'll always make a difference when installed right. Be it sealing up doors, or lowering the resonating frequency in panels. Deadener isn't meant to cut out rattles, though it is often used for that. CCF is a much more specific product for that.

But I was running like an 800w system, and when I deadened my trunk it brought a whole new life to my system.

AudioTechnix is a great product, with great customer service, and you can't get better for the money. That's what I use, I got major results, and the product is sticky like no other.

SoundDeadenerShowdown I've never used, and have heard nothing but great things from there. Great customer service, great install info, and great products. They are a bit pricier, he also has a wider range of products for specific needs. He might have thinker deadening material too, I'm not sure.

If you just need deadener, unless you've got a high-end SQ install, or you're a major SPL competitor, AudioTechnix will likely get the job done. But you can't go wrong with SDS either. Just up to how much you wanna spend, and what you wanna get out of it.

 

[fish1234 10+ year member]

It'll always make a difference when installed right. Be it sealing up doors, or lowering the resonating frequency in panels. Deadener isn't meant to cut out rattles, though it is often used for that. CCF is a much more specific product for that. But I was running like an 800w system, and when I deadened my trunk it brought a whole new life to my system.

AudioTechnix is a great product, with great customer service, and you can't get better for the money. That's what I use, I got major results, and the product is sticky like no other.

SoundDeadenerShowdown I've never used, and have heard nothing but great things from there. Great customer service, great install info, and great products. They are a bit pricier, he also has a wider range of products for specific needs. He might have thinker deadening material too, I'm not sure.

If you just need deadener, unless you've got a high-end SQ install, or you're a major SPL competitor, AudioTechnix will likely get the job done. But you can't go wrong with SDS either. Just up to how much you wanna spend, and what you wanna get out of it.

I'm a firm beliver in doing things right the first time and spend a little more to get get a great result. I just want to know why installers try to steer ya' away from deadening??? Too much extra time for them or what? I know they work on a time line for basic installs, but if they have a customer that is willing to pay for extra, why not do it?

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

whats the difference between this and at deadner?

Not even the same category. Don takes everything to the next level in customer service, way more knowledgeable, way better product.

 

[fish1234 10+ year member]

Not even the same category. Don takes everything to the next level in customer service, way more knowledgeable, way better product.

I agree,is this man a previous installer or what?

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

I'm a firm beliver in doing things right the first time and spend a little more to get get a great result. I just want to know why installers try to steer ya' away from deadening??? Too much extra time for them or what? I know they work on a time line for basic installs, but if they have a customer that is willing to pay for extra, why not do it?

Couldn't tell ya man. Some shops are willing to go above and beyond, I guess that's what sets them apart from others.

 

[fish1234 10+ year member]

I wanna go with Don, but this will be my 1st go at any kind of deadening. I just want to know if it's going to make a difference? I know Coleman has an awesome product and great CS, his AT has a tremendous following on this forum. I would like to use both of their products in the very near future hoprfully! Best of luck to both of them for producing a material in such a demanding hobby! Hats off to both of these fine businessmen for keeping our hobby sounding awesome! Thank You, Sirs.

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

Da**it, I agree! But it is it worth all the effort? Not to be lazy, but why if there is no need to?

I wouldn't care as much for SDS if Don hadn't shown such outstanding customer service for something that wasn't a direct sale, that's why //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

I've had certified installers tell me; if your doors slam tight w/o rattles, don't worry 'bout it. I think it is B.S.!

Certified Installers don't always know what their talking about, seen plenty of them tell you a capacitor is essential in a system, that proved to me they don't all know what their talking about. If you have rattles when the bass hits then you could use some deadener. If you compete then you'll definitely want deadener.

 

[Rudy 10+ year member]

Whether it's worth the cost and effort depends on what you're starting with and what you want to accomplish. If you're driving a Mercedes with factory sound it's not worth doing - may even make things worse. If you're driving a vehicle with bad tires, weather seals or motor mounts it's not worth doing until you fix those problems. Your vehicle may be a perfect candidate for treatment but if you plan to get rid of it in a year or two, it's probably not worth it.

There are two basic reasons to do a sound deadening project:

1. The vehicle is noisier than you'd like.
   
2. You want to improve the vehicle's capacity to host a sound system.
   

Vehicles can be unpleasantly loud inside by design - for economy or performance, the manufacturer chose to eliminate the cost or weight. You may have added performance mods that made the vehicle louder and you want to tame the noise.

It's not possible to make a bunch of steel hurtling down a highway propelled by exploding gasoline absolutely silent. It's easier to reduce noise levels during design and manufacturing than it is as an aftermarket project. Making a noisy vehicle quiet, or at least quieter, is a significant undertaking. It's complicated and time consuming. Anybody can do, but they have to be willing to make the effort. Expect 2-3 days to treat an entire vehicle by yourself. The results can be spectacular, but it isn't going to work for those who just want to throw some stuff down and be done with it.

The treatment for noise reduction - control structural vibration, block and absorb - is the same treatment you'd want for the accurate reproduction of music. Reduce the noise and you reduce the irrelevant information that's getting randomly mixed in with the music.

Think of it like this. You're watching a football game. Your girlfriend or wife is sitting next to you on the sofa talking about curtains. Your girlfriend is the noise, football is the music. If she decides to go take a nap, the football sounds much better //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Improving the vehicle's capacity to host a sound system is a little more complicated because itcan mean many things. To me it means driving in a quiet car playing my music quite loud and having it sound good. People have compared it to being in a club. I like that //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif I also like being able to play it loud without having to worry about anybody hearing it outside the car. The same thing that keeps noise from being heard from outside keeps music from being heard outside.

The final stop will be SPL competitors. Before I get there, I'll talk about "don't care about noise, just care about loud" - the just fix rattles guys. Don't care about noise penetration or how loud the sound system is to people outside the vehicle. Don't care a lot about the fidelity of the music being played - loud but not sounding like the vehicle is tearing itself apart.

Rattles are always two or more hard objects, one or more of which is vibrating, causing intermittent contact with the other hard body(ies). You can either stop the objects from moving or you can put something between them so they can't make contact. The latter is almost always the direct approach. The rear license plate on a sedan with a sub in the trunk is a very good example. They always rattle.

The indirect approach is to add a ton of vibration damper to the rear of the trunk, trunk lid, or whatever part of the car the license plate is attached to. The direct approach is to glue a layer of closed cell foam to the back of the license plate itself. 100% solution.

That isn't to say that applying vibration damper to the sheet metal won't limit the energy available to drive the rattles, it will. I am saying that vibration damper is an inefficient way to stop rattles. Vibration damper is best used to stop sheet metal vibration that transfers noise through the vehicle and creates another noise source - audible resonance.

Finally, if you are only interested in SPL, you're strictly chasing numbers, no sound deadening product is of any use to you.

 

[slim2fattycake 10+ year member]

AT has a following because its cheap. At one point, AT had to run to SDS to explain deadening to their customers. SDS is knowledge...

I see it all the time. When a forum member has a "rattle" and every nuthugger throws out the idea of just getting deadener for it. Yeah, let's add the useless extra weight instead of just placing CCF between the rattling panels. Use your money for the right products for the right reasons.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

I agree,is this man a previous installer or what?

Don was an enthusiast who took it upon himself to test the various sound deadeners on the market, and published those tests via sds.com. His tests, his website, and his conclusions set the auto deadener industry on its ear. At least one company was found to be... less than honest... about their product's material make-up, and the industry as a whole has (started to) veer in a direction of 'what really works', instead of 'more is always better'.

His testing and subsequent results made such an impact on the deadener market that his release of his own product (and methodology) made an instant splash. Before SDS, companies felt free to (literally) lie about their products, and exaggerate their necessity in terms of coverage. Don introduced a level of sceince, and verification, that the industry previously did not have, and in some cases actually avoided intentionally.

Ive found Don to be an honest man selling a legit product that was spawned by nothing more than an interest in the field. I wont get into the differences between actual products these days, but I will say that Don has earned my respect, over many years... and my respect is not easy to earn.

 

[slim2fattycake 10+ year member]

Don's a horrible salesman tho. One time, he actually told me I didn't need as much material as I wanted. ;p

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

Finally, if you are only interested in SPL, you're strictly chasing numbers, no sound deadening product is of any use to you.

Are you smoking crack today? Sound deadener is an important part of SPL and chasing every last tenth of a db. A real competitor would know this.

 

[Suicide Bobb 5,000+ posts]

Don's a horrible salesman tho. One time, he actually told me I didn't need as much material as I wanted. ;p

If being a "good salesman" is only a direct correlation with quantity, then yes, he is a horrible salesman.

But you would be wrong in that assumption. Quantity is only part of the equation. Quality plays just as great a role. Between his product and his customer service, the MAIN reason why I will buy his product is because of his customer service.