R/E/P Community
R/E/P => R/E/P Archives => Acoustics in Motion => Topic started by: Brent Handy on August 24, 2009, 04:54:45 PM
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I have a pal that has a basement "studio". It is basically 19 x 14. The ceiling is cloth over mineral fiber between the floor joists. That's it. The front and right side walls are concrete. The left wall is half concrete and half 2x4 stud/drywall. The back wall is a single layer of gyp board on the 2x4 studs. He has his Mackies in the only position that they can be in, because of other mechanical and plumping obstacles. Having them in their ideal space eats up a bunch of floor space. We have thought about soffit mounting the Mackies. It isn't ideal, but that is what he has to work with.
My question is this. Has anyone ever soffit mounted these turds, and does it really matter what the hard baffle surface is made of? Does it have to be wood?
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Which Mackies?? 824?? They are a little small for in wall mounting. Also, don't think you're going to save a lot of space with in-wall mounting. It actually eats up quite a bit of space as you build in the wall from the front of the room.. although with itsy bitsey speakers it would be less of a concern..
Doesn't have to be wood, although this is fairly common. Make sure the entire wall is very rigid (once again, less of a concern with little monitors as they just don't create that much energy), but you don't want the wall to resonate AT ALL... Extra bracing.. several layers.. etc... the usual stuff.
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Many Mackie models have boundary compensation which is necessary for a balanced bass response.
If you do decide to sofit mount, little mistakes can kill you.
There is an excellent in depth tutorial on the subject on the Genelec web site.
Mike Chafee
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Mackie 624s and 824s have a rear port, so that might be a factor. I'd call Mackie and ask them for advice. They'll know if the rear port is an issue.
--Ethan
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They do not recommend it. Johnlsayers.com has a vented soffit design that has been said to work.
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Doesn't read like soffit mounting should be your main concern. Is this room symmetrical at all? Or did I miss something?
Tom Durso
First Bass Audio
Macomb, IL.
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The room's shape is symmetrical, the materials are not 100% At ear level they are.
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i flushmounted midfields and nearfields some times ago. I`d do this when the room needs flushmounting speaker, most in evil small rooms, in case of no place for proper walldistance.
I useed 2 layers of 38mm HDF and 12,5mm drywall on top with good results the last years.
Most of the time the mounted speakers had a low cutof because of the use of a sub or a sub array. so i have no realy experience in flushmounting a fullband used speaker.
I`m also not shure about the rear ports of the mackies, since the bassreflex port is part of the speakers freq response.
But from my personal experience i love also flushmounted nearfields.
maybee barefoot is a great person for you, to ask for your idea. he`s a friendly and helpfull person who loves to share his knowledge.
cheers
constantin
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I think this idea is dead.
Based on the John Sayers design, the soffit thing would have saved some space. Right now they are out about 4' from the front wall, and about 4' from the sides.
I am going to try to get him some new monitors that aren't as bloated on the low end, don't have a rear port/passive radiator, etc.
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Another issue with the Mackies is the fact they are active, the amp is mounted on the rear of the speaker and they do get quite hot.
I can remember being surprised how hot they were when I left a pair on for 14 hours.
Soffit mounting would increase heat build up and there is a chance you could forget to turn them off one night.
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Can the amplifier not be removed from the back and mounted elsewhere? There might be some kind of extension for the speaker cables or you could certainly build one...
MI