Speaker Wood
- Thread starter Plitron
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Definitely. All woods are not the same density. Yes they are all wood but some are more solid than other types. The denser the wood or material is; the better. The cabinet won't resonate as much as with lighter materials. Just makes the cabinet more "dead". Medium Desity Fiberboard (MDF) is really the overall best if you are making the cabinets from scratch. Using MDF will make the cabinets heavier than you'd think. It's a denser than your average plywood or whatever. That is, unless you have some really nice solid, heavy wood on hand. You'll still need some internal bracing to finish things off.
dnewma04
The Healer
MDF has a few things going for it:
1.) Uniform Density
2.) Dimensional stability
3.) Good damping properties
It's resonant frequency is pretty lower compared to hardwood and plywood which makes it well suited to midrange enclosures.
There is a school of thought that MDF is poor because it's high mass stores energy and that a lighter stiffer material may have a resonance issue within the frequencies it's reproducing, but it doesn't store much energy so the resonance becomes less of an issue.
I would build most speakers with one of two materials, MDF (or MDX which is a much less toxic variant) or high grade plywood like marine grade plywood.
Plywood has advantages in weight (it's lighter than MDF), it's significantly stiffer than MDF (great for subwoofers) and in the absence or proper clamping, will hold screws better than MDF will. Plywood is also more durable which combined with the weight makes it the ideal choice for PA speakers that regularly get moved and abused.
Avoid hardwood or any solid wood variant.
1.) Uniform Density
2.) Dimensional stability
3.) Good damping properties
It's resonant frequency is pretty lower compared to hardwood and plywood which makes it well suited to midrange enclosures.
There is a school of thought that MDF is poor because it's high mass stores energy and that a lighter stiffer material may have a resonance issue within the frequencies it's reproducing, but it doesn't store much energy so the resonance becomes less of an issue.
I would build most speakers with one of two materials, MDF (or MDX which is a much less toxic variant) or high grade plywood like marine grade plywood.
Plywood has advantages in weight (it's lighter than MDF), it's significantly stiffer than MDF (great for subwoofers) and in the absence or proper clamping, will hold screws better than MDF will. Plywood is also more durable which combined with the weight makes it the ideal choice for PA speakers that regularly get moved and abused.
Avoid hardwood or any solid wood variant.
epifanatic
acoustically suspended
From the title of this thread, I thought maybe you'd just heard the best sounding set of speakers EVER!!! 
I agree with Mopar, MDF, the denser the better.
I agree with Mopar, MDF, the denser the better.
From the title of this thread, I thought maybe you'd just heard the best sounding set of speakers EVER!!!
I agree with Mopar, MDF, the denser the better.
Well, I like things that are solid wood, not pressboard and such. How can wood actually affect a speaker's sound? Wood is a solid object right.
Signed, Confused:sigh:
epifanatic
acoustically suspended
Hard woods are great for musical instruments where you want resonance. In speaker cabs, you want just the opposite.
epifanatic
acoustically suspended
But isn't that what insulation is for?
Saint Johnny
Bon Ton Roule
Uhmm no! Nothing is 100% solid, including hardwoods.
dnewma04
The Healer
Real wood isn't dimensionally stable. It will move (sometimes significantly so) with changes in humidity. It doesn't have uniform density, and will be significantly more resonant than the other options. With very small cabinets and a lot of wood working skill, you can probably find some wood that would be acceptable (granadillo, ebony, lingum vitae, some rosewood variants, maybe cocobolo, IPE, and a few other "oily" hardwoods). Use proper materials and add veneer and hardwood trim to beautify. Get solid wood out of the thought process or regret it.
Saint Johnny
Bon Ton Roule
Start reading about types of hardwoods and you'll see what I mean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwood
dnewma04
The Healer
Generally, the insulation in cabinets is to reduce standing waves and/or make the enclosure "appear" larger to the woofer. It's not designed to reduce cabinet vibrations. Some inventive companies have used various constrained layer damping approaches using sand, lead, glues, etc to battle cabinet resonances. There are some that have simply added mass, bracing, or both to deal with the same issues.
dnewma04
The Healer
Yes. It will vibrate more and generally at a higher frequency where you are more likely to hear it.
I remember playing a marimba and it was like a wooden xylaphone but it had bamboo tubes for sounds to come from. I never thought that the wooden blocks were making any sound. But I know that a metal ring will make a high pitched sound. I am stunned that wood will do as you say and, "resonate",
but I believe you. It just sucks that I have to use some cheap ass material instead of the real thing like some 2 inch thick maple or something. :tears:
Saint Johnny
Bon Ton Roule
raymondleggs?
