Review on 🔊 Design Engineering 050330 Boom Mat Speaker Baffles - 6.5" Round (Pack of 2) - Black: Enhance Sound Quality and Protect Your Speakers by Ross Bagby

I installed these with some Rockford Fosgate speakers that I have used in other cars in the past. I like the clear highs and lows of these speakers. I've never used baffles before so I decided to give it a try. After I installed them, the speakers were not only very quiet, they had almost no bass. So I cut a hole in the side of the divider. This immediately fixed the problem and now tight and deep bass comes out of these speakers. My guess is that because I installed the speakers directly onto the baffle, they formed an airtight seal with the baffle's high-density foam. So when the diaphragm tried to move, it was working under the pressure of fighting the neutral volume of air trapped behind the speaker. When the diaphragm wants to move outward, the trapped air pulls it back to the neutral position. Similarly, if the diaphragm tried to move inward, it would collide with this static volume of air and increase air pressure. This resulted in a loss of speaker efficiency. I had to turn the stereo almost all the way up so they could move enough to hear if they were giving me full range or if I had screwed up the polarity or something. I cut out a one inch square to relieve the pressure. Now the foam is still in place, so it handles reflections and improves acoustic properties. But thanks to the free movement of air behind the speaker, efficiency has improved and I no longer have to press hard on the speakers. They sound great even at low volume. Interesting idea. Use of deflectors in each door. I understand. But as we can see in subwoofer enclosure design, acoustic setups (where the enclosure is sealed behind the woofer) are rarely used. Instead, there is always a hole for air inlet and outlet. If you use a riser or adapter between the baffle and the speaker, you might get enough air movement that you don't have to drill a hole in the baffle. But I installed the speakers directly on the baffle to save on depth.