Ramblin's about wood
Solid wood sides on audio equipment is not necessarily impossible, but given the availability/unavailability of "proper" wood, any number of problems may become apparent, especially with respect to abrubt heating and cooling. other enviornmental also affect the behavior of wood, not the least of which is changing air pressure, changing humidity and changing temperature.
To understand this, one has to have a little understanding the nature of the wood.
First, wood is a product cut from a tree (a living thing). Growth happens as concentric circular rings which are added to the outside circumference yearly.
Secondly, (in most instances) the outermost layer is alive, the next set of layers conducts "sap" up and down to feed the tree, and the "heart is almost "dead wood". Due to compression from the outer layers and reduced sap conduction, the heart is mostly harder and denser (except in some species).
Third, enviornmental conditions affect ring thickness. Good years allow more growth (larger rings), lean years cause less growth (smaller rings). Small rings make for stronger denser wood.
Forth, different species of tree have different growth patterns. Some may even allow the heart to rot while the tree is still alive and healthy, while some will exhibit in the sapwood layers.
The next things that affect wood products is how they are sawn, and how the are dried.
The method most used is slab or plank sawing, which is essentially squaring the log and slicing slabs from the square. This yields the widest planks, but looked at from the end, it is apparent that the smallest rings are on one side of the board, largest rings on the other. The smallest side is sometimes called the right side, the other the wrong side. Generally, depending on the thickness of the wood, the "plank" will tend to be convex on the right side, concave on the wrong side. Related to plank sawn is flitch sawn wherein the log is not squared, but planks are sawn from the round log. Flitch is mostly used for boat planking. The preferred method cor cabinet and fine furniture wood is the quarter sawn method. The log is cut into quarters, then the quarters are cut so that the growth rings will be perpendicular to the wide faces of the plank. This method yields planks that are more narrow than the other 2 methods, but the end product is less prone to cupping and warping.
Drying is next part of the equation. Most lumber in common lumber yards (and even some specialty yards) is kiln dried. Cut wood is put in a kiln of a certain temperature, and the moisture may or may not be drawn from the kiln. This wood is mostly not suitable for cabinets in it's plank form for cabinet making, although sometimes suitable pieces may be picked from the lot. The other method is air drying which entails stacking the wood in sheds with spacers between each layer and gaps between each board to allow natural drying. Boat lumber and fine furniture woods tend to be dried this way. These woods are the least inclined to behave badly under changing conditions.
Last, and perhaps most importantly is the wood specie. Black walnut tends to be stable and beautiful, but American black walnut has become very expensive. Certain varieties are also desirable, but expensive.
Anyway, thats my ramblin's
