surround material

[xluben 10+ year member]

what's the good and bad of different types of surround material?

i know there's foam and rubber.

i always thought that rubber was superior, mostly due to durability, but it seems that almost all high end car audio subs use foam surrounds.

are there other materials as well?

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[newusername 10+ year member]

Surround material is relatively unimportant beyond durability, whether it is durability against environment or durability against excursion. The spider is still the most critical part of the suspension, in my opinion. When it comes to manufacturing costs, a foam surround is slightly less expensive, but less durable than a rubber based surround. Will you notice this difference in either regard? Probably not....

From an engineering standpoint, foam is probably the best solution: it has exceptional damping qualities and is highly compliant. Rubber is less preferable in these two categories, but again, is it something you would directly notice? Not likely...

Neil

 

[sqhertz 5,000+ posts]

i was wondering the same thing....

down here in the south florida summers , it seems rubber surrounds would last longer than a foam in the extreame heat of a trunk. i put black magic on my rubber surrounds to help them keep their elasticity (sp?) and they seem fine. anything for foam?

hmm.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

In a driver's suspension, the surround does about 20% of the work while the spider hands the other 80%. Rubber surrounds are far stiffer than foam ones, and are really great for intentionally induced power compression. I've got this little problem with a certain rubber-surround woofer I own that I tried to get past xmax: the surround has become partially disconnected with the cone. The cone wouldn't give and the surround wouldn't give so the epoxy had to instead. =\

Acoustically, I've yet to hear any difference that I can directly relate to the surround material. I plan on re-doing the surround of the above woofer with a foam one, so I'll have two identical woofers with different surround materials to do a side-by-side comparison with.

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

how long will a foam surround last before it starts deteriorating?

couple years? 10 years?

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

In my experience Foam does not last well in hot climates. Here in AZ I have tended to like Nitrile-Butylene (NBR) surrounds. Santoprene surrounds are another good one to look for but I find that they oxidize over time.

Many will argue that today's treated foam will withstand anything you can throw at them weather-wise but I really just do not trust them here in AZ.

 

[JiggaD369 10+ year member]

Alot of companies are starting to use butyl. Where does that material stand in the discussion?

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

Alot of companies are starting to use butyl. Where does that material stand in the discussion?

Butyl is a type of rubber. The same generalizations listed above for rubber based surrounds hold true here.

Neil

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

I have tended to like Nitrile-Butylene (NBR) surrounds. QUOTE]
Same thing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif