Source for doughnut foam (directivity solution) in Canada?

J

joegold

Fractal Fanatic
I tried to order some 3/4" open-cell foam sheets (for Jay's DIY speaker directivity solution) from McMaster-Carr a few weeks ago and they said they only ship to Canada for old well-known customers.

Anybody know anyplace either in Canada (preferably Toronto) where I can grab some of this stuff, or someplace online that will ship a small order to Canada?

Is it classified as "acoustic" foam?
Or should I be looking at insulation/weatherstripping-type vendors?
 
Joey - I'd be interested in knowing what they tell you. There was a place in Mississauga that sold acoustical materials, that I had used a couple of times to source mass-loaded vinyl, they may also do foams. Not sure if I still have the contact info, but I'll have a look.

Alternatively, if you wind up ordering foam, and find yourself obligated to order more than you really want, I'd be interested in doing my 2 x 12, and would be happy to share costs. Although looking at the site Jay suggested, it doesn't seem like costly material.
 
Brian G said:
Joey - I'd be interested in knowing what they tell you. There was a place in Mississauga that sold acoustical materials, that I had used a couple of times to source mass-loaded vinyl, they may also do foams. Not sure if I still have the contact info, but I'll have a look.

Alternatively, if you wind up ordering foam, and find yourself obligated to order more than you really want, I'd be interested in doing my 2 x 12, and would be happy to share costs. Although looking at the site Jay suggested, it doesn't seem like costly material.
Click to expand...

I'll keep you posted.

If you remember the name of that place in Mississauga please let me know.
 
Hey guys, please share your findings here in this thread as well... several other folks in Canada interested in your discoveries.

Daniel
 
The company I was thinking about is Acoutherm, but it seems that they don't deal in foam (checked the website).

Joey, if you can restate for me the correct description of the material, as per Jay's original info, I'll see if I can come up with a local supplier. Worst that happens is I won't come up with anything.
 
Brian G said:
The company I was thinking about is Acoutherm, but it seems that they don't deal in foam (checked the website).

Joey, if you can restate for me the correct description of the material, as per Jay's original info, I'll see if I can come up with a local supplier. Worst that happens is I won't come up with anything.
Click to expand...

3/4" (or 1/2") open-cell polyurethane foam sheets.
That's all I know.

Jay's link, again, was;
http://www.thefoamfactory.com/opencellfoam/filter.html

They've emailed me back and said that they will sell a 1/2 sheet to me here in Canada.
It's a little bit pricey and they're also talking about charging me taxes and duties too, which is bulls....
I'm hoping they were just being unclear in their communication and they meant that Canada might charge me duties and taxes, not them.
I'm waiting to hear back from them about this before I make the order.

Of course if I could just walk into a local store here and pick some of this foam up I'd probably do that instead.
 
Well, there's no legitimate scenario where the manufacturer would be charging duties, that would be done by the carrier or a broker on behalf of Canada Customs. So they probably mean you'd be charged those as part of import.

If they manufacture the stuff in the US, they should ship with a Nafta certificate, to avoid duties being levied. But unless that's part of their standard procedure, they probably don't want to know about it.

If they use the US postal service, and a small declared value, it would probably go through with no taxes or duties. UPS, etc. there'll be everything including a brokerage fee, probably not worth it.

If you want to give me a day or two, let me see what I can come up with.

Also - that stuff seems pretty generic. Was that literally all Jay was specifying in his post? (There's only so much anyone can do with open-cell foam, I suppose.)
 
Brian G said:
Well, there's no legitimate scenario where the manufacturer would be charging duties, that would be done by the carrier or a broker on behalf of Canada Customs. So they probably mean you'd be charged those as part of import.
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Yeah, but *they* quoted me an actual price for "Duties and Taxes".

Still waiting to hear back from them for clarification.
 
joegold said:
Brian G said:
Well, there's no legitimate scenario where the manufacturer would be charging duties, that would be done by the carrier or a broker on behalf of Canada Customs. So they probably mean you'd be charged those as part of import.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but *they* quoted me an actual price for "Duties and Taxes".

Still waiting to hear back from them for clarification.
Click to expand...

Just got their reply:

"We charge the taxes and duties up front. It covers all fees and you will not be asked to pay anything more once you receive the foam."

Sounds like a cash grab to me.
It's only $6 they want to charge for duties and tax, but still.

I might hold off on this for a while anyway though because I just realized that the way Jay's laid it out, the foam should be making contact with the speaker's gasket (Jay, do I have that right?), and for some stupid reason (I forget why) I actually removed the gasket some time ago from the front of the EVM-12L I planned to do this with.
BTW This will be for a front loading cab.
 
joegold said:
I might hold off on this for a while anyway though because I just realized that the way Jay's laid it out, the foam should be making contact with the speaker's gasket
Click to expand...
No. No contact is required anywhere.
 
Jay Mitchell said:
joegold said:
I might hold off on this for a while anyway though because I just realized that the way Jay's laid it out, the foam should be making contact with the speaker's gasket
Click to expand...
No. No contact is required anywhere.
Click to expand...

Oh.
So if the foam sits a few centimetres in front of the speaker it'll still work as well?

Thanks.
 
joegold said:
So if the foam sits a few centimetres in front of the speaker it'll still work as well?
Click to expand...
A "few centimeters" is quite a lot. It is difficult for me to imagine a cabinet construction that would make that much spacing possible. If the transducer sits well back in some kind of large recess, then you could place the foam at the front of the cavity, as long as the foam extends all the way to its edges.
 
Jay Mitchell said:
A "few centimeters" is quite a lot.
Click to expand...

I might be exaggerating.
1 or 2 centimetres tops.

If I apply the foam to the back of the grille then there will be around 1 to 2 cms between the foam and the speaker.
 
joegold said:
If I apply the foam to the back of the grille then there will be around 1 to 2 cms between the foam and the speaker.
Click to expand...
That will work if you make the foam the same size as the grille, in a rectangular (your grille is rectangular, isn't it?), rather than round, shape. You want to see to it that there is no flanking path for sound to take around the outer edge of the foam.
 
I made a little illustration which might help to understand it, see the file attachment below.. :!:

Basically, the left cab has a front-grille mounted directly on the baffle, so the foam is placed directly inside the the speaker cutout in the baffleboard.
No sound can pass the foam on it's outer sides.

The right cab has a front grille attached to the cab itself and the baffleboard is slightly inset, so there is a smallish space between the baffleboard and the front grill. in that case, the foam needs to cover the whole baffleboard, as soundwaves are disposed in every direction from the speaker, so having a round piece of foam in front of the speaker would let all "non-directive" soundwaves pass on it's outer edges and therefor more or less defeat it's function..
[attachment=0:bypg34af]Foam_Placement.png[/attachment:bypg34af]
 

Attachments

  • Foam_Placement.png
    14.9 KB · Views: 70
Jay Mitchell said:
That will work if you make the foam the same size as the grille, in a rectangular (your grille is rectangular, isn't it?), rather than round, shape.
Click to expand...

Depends on the cabinet.
I've got one that's got a round cutout, on my Mesa and two that are rectangular.

Jay Mitchell said:
You want to see to it that there is no flanking path for sound to take around the outer edge of the foam.
Click to expand...

I think i understand. Thanks.
 
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