Woofer, front or rear mount?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

I just bought a nice 15" driver for musical instrument use. It seems so
much more convenient to mount the driver on the front of the baffle, to
avoid having a removable lid. Yet drivers always have the gasket on the
front. What gives?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.tech (More info?)

<dpierce@cartchunk.org> wrote in message
news:1105411900.001415.175940@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> What gives is that the "gasket" is not there to force you to
> mount the speaker from the rear, it's there as part of the
> assembly procedure for glueing the surround edge to the basket.
> It's also there to prevent damage to the surround during
> manufacturing, packing, shipping and storage by separating
> the surround from whatever surface it's going to be resting
> against.
> Generally, on a lot of drivers, this "gasket" would make a very
> poor gasket, often being made with fairly thick, dense die-cut
> cardboard, which is not very pliable. Those qualities which make
> it a lousy gasket make it a good means of securing the surround
> until the adhesive properly sets and further strengthens that
> joint.

Yes that's about all it's good for, personally I think they could use a
better method though if they wanted. It seems to be just tradition as far as
I can see, because some drivers have no front "gasket" and are none the
worse for it.

> Basically, mount it any way you want and ignore what you think
> the gasket is telling you. Who's in charge of this project, you
> or the gasket? :-)

Very good advice Dick, but I still find it amazing how few drivers have a
good mounting surface at the rear. It's difficult enough with most stamped
chassis types, but even some cast chassis could be better designed IMO.

MrT.