• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

GR Research No Res alternative?

turbowrx1

Member
Joined
May 27, 2021
Messages
8
Likes
7
I know No Res is usually touted as some of the best material to prevent ringing/vibration in a speaker but its also ungodly expensive. This stuff isn't exactly cheap either but I like the idea.

Doesn't seem there are many great alternatives out there that follow its 2-layer design. Then I came upon this stuff. Made for car audio but looks like it may very well work just as good or better.

Anyone ever tried this stuff out for speaker dampening?

Video of it:

Link:
 
Is it OK if I use my wife's old yoga mats and some glue instead?
 
they might be a little stinky but it might just work! :)
I wasn't kidding though... I've used her old mats in two projects now. Heavy neoprene should provide good dampening and costs very little (in my case - free).
 
Here is a test of a few different damping materials that a Allram made. I translated a little from Swedish via Google Translate. You see the graphs in that thread::)

"The tested materials are:
*Polyester - Common synthetic cushioning material available cheaply everywhere. Mine was called GAS Polyester, probably bought at BRL a number of years ago.

*Acoustic Wool - Bought recently at Hifikit. Is this what Öhmanites call down jacket lining??

*Wool - Washed, long-fibre sheep's wool, also bought at Hifikit.

*Glass wool- 45 mm in the kind used for wall insulation, among other things

*IKEA Foam mattress - 70 mm(?) honest foam mattress with open
cells. This type has a side that looks like an "egg carton".

*Teijin Twaron - A very expensive material consisting of extremely thin but strong fibers of aramid. The ones that are so thin and light that you go crazy. It flies everywhere and likes to settle in the nose and other troublesome places. Is so incredibly light that it feels funny to hold it. You hold a football-sized lump of damping material in your hand, but it weighs nothing! This material is actually used in woven form as a protective barrier in bullet-proof vests, needle-proof protective gloves, etc., but some audiophiles in the Netherlands tried using it as a damping material in speakers and are raving about the results. I simply had to try it out :)

An impedance sweep for each material had to show what it managed to achieve. I used a 4 Ohm 12" element in a much too small box, to get as much effect on the resonant frequency changes as possible. All charts have Wool in yellow as a reference.


Empty box: 60.9 Hz Q 1.06
Acoustic Wool: 59.4 Hz Q 0.92
Polyester: 55.8 Hz Q 0.87
Glass wool: 56.7 Hz Q 0.81
Twaron: 55.0 Hz Q 0.84
IKEA: 55.0 Hz Q 0.78
Wool: 55.0 Hz Q 0.78

What conclusions can be drawn from this measurement?

1) You need moff in the box :;)
2) Polyester is least effective in the midrange and second worst in the bass range.
3) Glass wool is among the best in the middle register but the worst in the bass range
4) IKEA mattress is not very efficient in any frequency range
5) Acoustic Wool has the best damping properties of all regardless of frequency
6) Twaron and Ull both provide very good damping at all frequencies"

 
Last edited:
If anybody hasn't handled it before NoRez is basically a high density closed-cell foam layer backed by an asphalt layer that has an adhesive on it for sticking to the walls of the enclosure. It's a nice product but super expensive, as noted. I believe in the past Danny has endorsed mass loaded vinyl either in sheets or tiles (some flooring apparently uses it and comes in peel & stick form) followed by a general acoustic absorber like mineral wool or some such thing as an alternative if a person didn't want to pay for NoRez. You could use Dynamat or similar damping liner for cars for the base layer as well, but that stuff is just as overpriced.
 
Sonic Barrier is very comparable to No-Rez and much more affordable…

 
Just brace the enclosure and this is not needed. Unless you are making your enclosure out of sheat metal....
 
  • Like
Reactions: MAB
No idea what no-res costs but maybe anti noise stuff used for vans is an alternative?
Still pretty expensive though.
noico.jpg
 
Anyone knows what no rez is materialwise? I doubt anyone makes it exclusively for gr research...
 
No idea what no-res costs but maybe anti noise stuff used for vans is an alternative?
Still pretty expensive though.
View attachment 229459

The Amazon version is butyl rubber and pretty reasonable…


There is no proof that No-Rez is any better than Sonic Barrier or other alternatives. If it were it would be patented and used by other manufacturers. Given any treatment adds weight and cost, best to optimize for the particular application. Am sure KEF and other serious speaker vendors only apply as needed.
 
Last edited:
Sonic Barrier is very comparable to No-Rez and much more affordable…
I've used that stuff for a few builds now. Very good stuff and easy to install. Available in different thicknesses as well. Surprisingly heavy.

Just brace the enclosure and this is not needed. Unless you are making your enclosure out of sheat metal....
I disagree. Bracing won't fix standing waves in the interior of the box related to the height, width and depth of the box. Those resonances will leak out of the port, sometimes loudly. While lining the walls is always good practice for lots of reasons, I've actually found fill in the middle of the box is dramatically more effective at reducing/eliminating these resonances from the measured port output. I never thought much about adding fill the the middle of a ported speaker until I started measuring port outputs.
 
I've used that stuff for a few builds now. Very good stuff and easy to install. Available in different thicknesses as well. Surprisingly heavy.


I disagree. Bracing won't fix standing waves in the interior of the box related to the height, width and depth of the box. Those resonances will leak out of the port, sometimes loudly. While lining the walls is always good practice for lots of reasons, I've actually found fill in the middle of the box is dramatically more effective at reducing/eliminating these resonances from the measured port output. I never thought much about adding fill the the middle of a ported speaker until I started measuring port outputs.
CLD will not fix any of those issues.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MAB
CLD will not fix any of those issues.
I should expand on this as it is not very helpful. Cld products are designed to absorb vibration in panels. They work for the most part but Resonix is by far the best in indepenant testing. Open cell foam can assorb some frequencies but is not good at low frequency. Products like Corning 703 and denim insolution are very good at asorbing sound. But they need to be at least an inch thick. These are often used in sound asorbing panels.

So adding CLD to the walls of an enclosure will not help standing waves, reflections, or port leakage. It will stop the walls from resonating. But the walls should be of a solid non resonate construction so this is not going to help. Adding filling to the enclosure will help thicker and more dense materails will be more effectinve and work at a lower frequency.
 
I'm not sure you noticed what was being talked about. While some posts were about CLD-only products, the thread was asking for a replacement to No Rez from its very title. No Rez is over 1" thick, including a layer of 1" thick open cell foam. The Sonic Barrier Rick mentioned which I quoted is available up to 1 1/4" thick: https://www.parts-express.com/Sonic-Barrier-1-1-4-3-Layer-Damping-Material-w-PSA-18-x-24-260-535 . Will it fix everything, particularly in a large cabinet? Of course not, as I explained above.
 
I'm not sure you noticed what was being talked about. While some posts were about CLD-only products, the thread was asking for a replacement to No Rez from its very title. No Rez is over 1" thick, including a layer of 1" thick open cell foam. The Sonic Barrier Rick mentioned which I quoted is available up to 1 1/4" thick: https://www.parts-express.com/Sonic-Barrier-1-1-4-3-Layer-Damping-Material-w-PSA-18-x-24-260-535 . Will it fix everything, particularly in a large cabinet? Of course not, as I explained above.
The point I am trying to make is that this would work the same as adding open cell foam to the sides of the enclosure. And that there are better products for the purpose of asorbing sound.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MAB
I’m into finding cheap but good alternatives for Hi-Fi and did some research on No-Res alternatives a couple of weeks ago and found a good discussion on this thread where Danny chimes in also. I decided to go with 1/8” floor tile and cotton/denim insulation.

IMG_4482.jpg
IMG_4474.jpg

The tiles are $1.23 a sq. foot at Home Depot (the girl at the register actually gave me these for free since she couldn’t figure out how to look them up) then I spent $9.64 for the insulation (48” x 16” x 1” thick) on Amazon. Then I bought some DAP contact adhesive at Wal-Mart for about $9. Altogether I spent less than $20.
 
I’m into finding cheap but good alternatives for Hi-Fi and did some research on No-Res alternatives a couple of weeks ago and found a good discussion on this thread where Danny chimes in also. I decided to go with 1/8” floor tile and cotton/denim insulation.

View attachment 229698View attachment 229699
The tiles are $1.23 a sq. foot at Home Depot (the girl at the register actually gave me these for free since she couldn’t figure out how to look them up) then I spent $9.64 for the insulation (48” x 16” x 1” thick) on Amazon. Then I bought some DAP contact adhesive at Wal-Mart for about $9. Altogether I spent less than $20.

The denim seems ok. Floor tiles may be cheap, but doubt they are anywhere near as effective as butyl rubber or other comparable treatments.

Would caution against DIY “it feels right” remedies. Am a big advocate of problem identification before problem solving. IME, unless you have the equipment, simpler targeted solutions usually get more effective results than applying damping materials liberally. Even bracing can sometimes raise resonances from low frequencies to higher, more audible ones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GPJ
Back
Top Bottom