A question about sound dampening

[Rabscuttle]

So I figured it was time to buy an Ultrasaber.  My mystery box gave me a Dark Liberator (a hilt that looks a lot better in person than its page pictures indicate) with "lite" sound.  A note on the packaging said to pull the tab from the battery pack to start it up, and I gently did so, pausing about halfway through as a whoosh sounded and Sinistar's daughter bellowed "OBSIDIAN!" at a volume that made me reflexively clamp my hand over what (fortunately) turned out to be the speaker.  No one else was home at the time, but the walls of my apartment are thin.  From what I've read on these forums, there's no way to mute a non-Obsidian sound board, but is it possible to do so non-electronically? 

The pommel it has is an open ring, which not only does nothing to dampen the sound, but precludes my sticking something in there to quiet it that way.  I'm not much of an electrician, but I suspect obstruction may also damage the speaker.  Has anyone had the same problem and/or found a solution?

[scifidude79]

Soft cloth is your friend. Something hard (like a solid pommel) will bounce sound waves back at your speaker. Some say this will damage it, others say it won't. I personally haven't tried and don't plan to try it, so I don't know one way or the other. However, I have wadded up soft cloth (part of a sock) and put it in the pommel. That works quite well and it won't damage your speaker. Though, with the open ended pommel, you'll have to find a way to keep it in place. But, I'm sure you can figure that out on your own.

[chalion]

Cloth, thin corkboard, Styrofoam, something soft or spongy will work. Just make sure there's not pushing on the speaker membrane, since it's paper with a coating on it, or plastic. It's designed to move freely, interrupting that movement could cause damage.

I've done the solid pommel option and haven't had a problem, but I don't operate my sabers more than say 20 minutes at a time with the sound on.

I'm not down on the sound reverberation causing damage to the speaker, but I suppose it's possible.

NOTE: If you're not worried about voiding the warranty, you can have a resistor added in line between the sound card and speaker and that will dampen the volume. The higher the resistor value, the more it dampens the sound.

[MavRick]

A small piece of black/grey speaker foam works the best because it is designed for speakers so it won't harm the speaker. It still lets the sound thru but tones it down so not as loud.
You can glue it to the inside of the pommel if you want.