Testing Logistics

We contacted Sarah from the ExCITe Center to schedule our final tests, and are waiting for a response. In the next few posts, we will describe our final test method in detail and provide reasoning for each part of it.

Isolation Materials Cut to Size

Today, the group focused on the first step of building the isolation unit, cutting the materials to size. During this, we ran into some trouble neatly cutting the material to size. The sponges proved to be difficult to cut evenly. Ultimately, they ended up being slightly uneven and rough on the edge they were cut from. However, this should have negligible effects, if any, on the performance of the stand. There was also a slight overhang in the foam, about a millimeter at most. This should have no affect of the quality of the stand, as the base is covered fully, and vibration at the base of the speaker will be absorbed just the same. These slight errors only caused cosmetic damage, which can be fixed later in our final isolation unit.

Week 7 Lab Activities

With the final report drafted, the reality of the quickly approaching end of the term has officially sunk in. That said, we have adhered relatively well to the timeline that we set out in the beginning of the term, and are still on schedule to finish the project comfortably within the deadline. It remains paramount that we give the project near-daily attention in order to make this a reality.

This week in lab, we worked on completing several critical tasks that remain in the project. This includes:

1. Review of Project Timeline: The timeline was once again reviewed among the group members in order to confirm our progress. This entailed a review of the remaining tasks at hand (isolation components, testing) and choosing appropriate date ranges when these will be able to take place. 

2. Discussion of Isolation Design: The primary remaining task is the compilation of the various isolation components (rubber, cork, foam, felt) into an effective system for hysteric damping. These components have already been purchased, and all that remains is their assembly. Within the next few days, final methods for this assembly will be finalized, and this progress will be posted  on the blog as necessary.

3. Discussion of Testing Logistics: The other critical task that remains is the objective data acquisition and the subjective listening tests, which will function as our barometer for how well the stands ultimately performed. Possible dates and procedures for doing so were discussed, and these activities will commence in the coming weeks.

4. Start of Project Presentation: The guidelines and rubric for the final presentation were consulted. This presentation was started today (adding the theory, timeline, budget, and other information that is not dependent on future work) in order to save us time and anxiety in the future, which can instead be directed on the actual delivery of the presentation itself.

Final Report Draft

The final report was drafted. It was a compilation of the term's ideas and progress. This allowed us to look upon our progress and determine what we could have done better over the past few weeks, which directly correlated to what we will do in the next few weeks. Primarily, we noticed the variations in our data, which we will deal with in the future by testing more carefully and running more trials to ensure the the trends we saw are valid. However, while reviewing our sources, we did notice several parallels between what we found through testing and what the documents said. This was an encouraging thing to see, as it shows that our results, and therefore our project and how we did it, are valid.