speaker baffles

[fossil99ca 10+ year member]

I don't have tones of experience here. My Maxima have very nice (deep) door speaker holders made from plastic. These are open to the inside of the door. I thought it would be a good idea to enclose with some fiberglass the back of the speaker holder to make a sealed enclosure. I am running Infinity 605cs and found that the woofer was somewhat stifled by the added air resistance. I ended opening up the back of the enclosure with a hole saw to allow them to breath again. I was not worried about water in my doors as they are very dry. I noticed about 5-10% more sound output but quality didn't change much.

My point is, most speakers this size are designed to run free air. I'm not familiar with these foam baffles, maybe they breath. I think most important, you need to seal the front of the speaker from "seeing" the rear of the speaker (prevent air movement from the front of the speaker seeing the back of the speaker). However this is done does not matter. If your doors have a lot of holes, it might be a good idea to use the baffle to accomplish this. If you can use the door as a baffle and it is dry, I dont think they are required. I think this is proven by the others who cut out the bottom of the baffle (as recomended). My 2 cents

 

[sq2man]

thanks i had to cut the back off the front baffles (not enough depth) sound better than the rears . I will now cut the backs off the rear baffles also. someone said they sound like a fart cannon w/baffles i would have to agree.

 

[PhatalOne 10+ year member]

I have all of my doors matted but I have baffles on all my door speakers because I'm more concerned about water getting on the speaker, plus it helps provide a good seal between the door cutouts and the speaker. What i did was cut out the bottom half of the baffle, leaving all of the top and back portion of the foam to protect the speaker. Overall its mainly protecting my investment but you really can't loose by having them.

 

[fossil99ca 10+ year member]

Another good point, is the use of baffles in the rear when you have a sub in the trunk. Most rear speakers are open to the inside of the trunk space. If you are running a sub(s) in the trunk, the air pressure will move the rear speakers from the inside, effecting sound quality. In this case, I would not cut the baffle in the rear, its actually good to have. I don't use my rears but I would even consider fiberglassing (instead of foam) enclosures as the foam is flexible and will move with the sound pressure. You might not notice the difference (baffle/no baffle) unless you are running your rears too loud but I would consider this, depending on your time, budget, skill and end goal. No sub, then ignore what I am saying.