Sound dampening

[Ceezer 0]

I put some in the hatch area of my car (97 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport) today and down in the spare wheel area but that's about as far as I got because I was getting too hot and hungry. I'll work on the rear doors and back seat area next week, then work my way forward from there.

After I got cleaned up I drove down the road for some ice cream and maybe it's just the CD I put in (the new Big & Rich) but the subs kind of sounded... softer? But I also think they were a little cleaner sounding. Is that normal? Is that one of the properties of sound dampening? I guess I was expecting an opposite result, thinking it would focus more of the sound towards me. I primarilly put it in to eliminate rattles and because this car has one of the noisiest cabins I've ever experienced.

I was also wondering if there were any benefits to adding another layer on top of what I laid today. Are some areas more beneficial than others? Is it overkill?

I'm not trying to build a professional system necessarilly and I'm not wanting to blow a bunch of money in search of 'perfection', but if I have some left over and it will do me good then I might as well put it to use.

Thanks for all your help, fellas. Sorry to be such a nuisance...

[Big E 4]

I've never heard of "too much deadening".

[30hurtzaudio 0]

a quick and easy way to tell where it will help the most is to see where you have the most flex...i dont think you can reach overkill on sound dampening.

[ANeonRider 3]

I've never heard of "too much deadening".

Only when you can't get the interior panels back on

[X-OvrDistortion 0]

It could be because all your road noise is coming from the front now. Wait till you get it all done, then you will hear the difference.

[///M5 2,833]

I've never heard of "too much deadening".

Only when you can't get the interior panels back on

Mine are on, sort of.

[Ceezer 0]

Awesome. Thanks, y'all

[Rudeboy 152]

All good ideas. You can get to a point where additional vibration damper doesn't do anything because, well, the panel isn't vibrating anymore. It's not generally a good idea to just keep adding uniform layers - tap on the panel and listen for resonant areas. Build up the deadener in the areas that need it. The closer you get to a bend or weld, the less benefit you get from applying material.

Another possible explanation for the change you hear in your subs is that you used to hear harmonics in the resonating panels adding higher frequencies and directionality to the sub's output. Take that away and it will definitely sound different - better, but different.