Have you tried "doping" your speaker cones?


I recently "doped" my cones. I had read several discussions on it, on the Single Driver Website. It seems Damar varnish is the "dope" of choice. I couldn't find that brand so I used another. I thought it made a fantastic difference. The cones are much stiffer and there is better definition and smoother high end. Bass tightened up too. Had to make a slight adjustment in the "stuffing" in my transmission line tube to cut the bass back a little. They recommend two coats, so that's what I did. Anyone else tried it?
twl
Doping means applying any kind of liquid to the speaker cones to change their performance characteristics, not using airplane dope. Airplane dope is nitrocellulose dissolved in ether or other highly volatile solvent. It isn't stiff and the solvent would be hell on surrounds. Stay out of the hobby shop. Damar varnish is fir tree resin dissolved in turpentine. Very, very different from airplane dope, which was formerly used to coat fabric-covered wings and tail surfaces and, more recently, to coat fine silk for model airplanes. Dope-and-silk has been almost entirely replaced with heat-shrinkable plastic.

Will
Bishopwill is correct, and is obviously no "dope."

Seriously, his comments are absolutely correct, even in the description of the formulation of these products.
Just to add a little to this topic, I rearranged my room and moved my speakers out further to get closer to the "typical" placement formula, and wow! I don't know if the doping gave more coherent phase info or what, or maybe it was just the placement diff, but the soundstage now is incredible! I played Madonna(Immaculate Collection) and the soundstage now ranges from about 6ft behind the rear wall to about 4ft in front of the speakers in depth, and about 4ft outside each speaker in width! This is about 13ft depth and about 20ft width. And the imaging is rock solid, well to the outside of the speakers. With this kind of depth, who needs surround sound? I know I'm raving, but I am flabbergasted. Really, guys, this is the first time I have ever gotten soundstage and imaging like that from a speaker. Oh, sure, you get imaging, but alot of times it is centered and smallish. And, you get big soundstage, but the image focus is lacking, but the combination of both is a real mind bender. And, having the speakers disappear while providing solid imaging thet's well outside the left and right boudaries that is "palpable", is alot different than having the speakers disapper and provide nice imaging within the left/right boudaries.I suppose this is why people spend $30k-50k on a set of speakers.Pardon my lunatic rantings, but I am really enjoying this. I feel like after all the speakers I built, I finally hit the bullseye.