How Much Noise does your Speaker Put Out? Debunking Panel Resonance... Maybe

While the method I used wasn't perfect, it can put the "problem" of panel noise in perspective. The output from the panels will typically be so low that on their own they may be barely audible, but also completely swamped by the output from the speaker itself.
The issue I have with my test setup is that I don't have an accurate measure of the difference between the output of my accelerometer and my measurement microphone. Putting the accelerometer on the woofer cone and then on the panel gives a very rough approximation of the difference between how much each of these are vibrating, and the amount I can use to offset the panel measurements. But even the conservative estimate of 40db pushes the panel output down below audibility.
Obviously the panel output becomes more of a problem if the speaker has larger, thin unbraced panels that are undamped. So this isn't me saying that speaker construction can be slack. It's me saying that the single minded obsession with making a completely inert speaker cabinet is a waste of time and resources. Especially when you consider that the walls near the speaker will vibrate just as much (or more) as the speaker cabinet itself.
Now I should point out that when the accelerometer is attached to a panel, it's measuring how much the panel vibrates, and how much the entire speaker is vibrating. Unless the speaker is rigidly held so that it cannot move, there will always be some contribution from the cabinet vibrating as a whole.

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