Ocellia speakers take the “less is more” philosophy to an extreme. Their cabinets are made from very thin wood and the interior surface of each panel has thin strips of solid wood glued on end to provide stiffening. The placement of the strips and the dimensions of each strip are important factors in the sound quality. There are some Ocellia reviews in 6Moons with photos that show the interior construction.
The Ocellia design is Too complicated for me but I do like the lively sound of thin-wall cabinets. My homemade cabinets all use Baltic Birch plywood with the metric equivalent of a little over 5/8” thick. I tried 1” Baltic Birch several times and it was too dead sounding.
Thin-wall cabinets can lose their liveliness if there is too much bracing or if the interior damping material is resting directly against a cabinet wall. At least that was my experience with the memory foam damping. Separating the foam from the panel with a couple thin strips of wood worked for me. The sound was still lively but with minimal boxiness.
When I get my Jensen/Altec speakers running again, I want to try some alternate materials for damping, and first up will be the kimpak recommended in this thread.
Hi Salectric,
I liked your post, thanks for sharing. The 825 VOTT ( early ) boxes I run are also only 5/8 ths thick. Dennis advised me NOT to re-make them using one inch Baltic Birch.
He specifically told me to do a single 2 by 2 inch pine internal brace, on each left and right side wall, covered with see-through Batting , NO cross bracing ( across - L. to R .) wanted in the speaker, and leave the thin stock ALTEC woofer horn flares totally stock.
He tells me that this mass loading I did carefully, incrementally by ear ( 400 pounds of patio pavers, on each 825 enclosure) will be
bettered..... by just doing the minimal bracing of the stock 825 enclosure. Dennis says, all the excess mass I added " takes the FUN " out of the presentation, deadens it too much.
He also was very specific, for me to get the 825 / VOTT box off the floor, either on industrial casters, or a speaker stand, or cheapo bricks, .... as this also sounds best to him. He said, I had to place the box on the floor, when I was mass loading, but once I remove the mass-loading weight, having the A7s " off the floor" will be the most lively and fun to hear.
There are similarities between what you report, and where I plan to go !! Interesting for to me to hear this, and not have to do all the experimental work.
These posts may help others.
Have a lovely day !!
Dowto1000