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Speaker materials

66.115.175.48
Posted on February 23, 2021 at 05:27:45
stoltzjohn@yahoo.com
Audiophile

Posts: 9
Location: Atlanta
Joined: January 17, 2021
 Hello everyone, I decided to do some DIY. I want to build my 5.1 system and dwelled on the question of where to make a case for speakers and a subwoofer, in this article they recommend MDF from different types of wood for speakers, does this really affect the effect?

 

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RE: Speaker materials, posted on February 24, 2021 at 06:40:02
Ric
Audiophile

Posts: 364
Joined: October 14, 2001
 This is not my area, but in the realm of speaker box material, it depends how much you want to spend. I think Magico originally had stacked layers of birch plywood--meaning the plywood was horizontal from the ground up, stacked in layers. They have abandoned that method, not sure what they're using now, but also use solid aluminum carved out. Wilson Audio uses their type X, material. Crystal Cable I think uses glass, another uses recycled canon balls (cast iron).
Keep it simple, but the sky's the limit.

 

RE: Speaker materials, posted on February 24, 2021 at 20:39:17
hahax@verizon.net
Audiophile

Posts: 4310
Location: New Jersey
Joined: March 22, 2006
 MDF is the classic speaker cabinet material. I bet over 90% of speakers use it. There are better construction materials and methods but they are more complex and cost more. For a simple, small speaker MDF is fine. As aspirations and/or size go up more advance construction produces a 'quieter' cabinet.

 

RE: Speaker materials, posted on February 25, 2021 at 09:52:02
madisonears
Audiophile

Posts: 1587
Location: midwest
Joined: September 6, 2006
 MDF is cheap but messy and the dust is unhealthy. It is not very durable. It offers no advantage over plywood in any mechanical parameter concerning loudspeaker enclosures.

Plywood is somewhat more expensive, easier to use, very solid.

If you are putting all the effort into building your own enclosures (it's a lot of work to do it properly), why not use the best material?

Peace,
Tom E
berate is 8 and benign is 9

 

RE: Speaker materials, posted on February 25, 2021 at 09:55:29
madisonears
Audiophile

Posts: 1587
Location: midwest
Joined: September 6, 2006
 I doubt that it's anywhere near 90%, unless you focus on cheap Chinese crap. Most respectable commercial offerings and DIY'ers use plywood or even more exotic materials.

Peace,
Tom E
berate is 8 and benign is 9

 

RE: Speaker materials, posted on February 25, 2021 at 20:26:00
hahax@verizon.net
Audiophile

Posts: 4310
Location: New Jersey
Joined: March 22, 2006
 not true, MDF is the go to cabinet material. cheaper speakers use vinyl finish. as the price goes up , real veneer is used.

 

Basic anti-resonance principles: damping and bracing, posted on February 26, 2021 at 14:02:30
Brian H P
Audiophile

Posts: 1291
Location: Oregon
Joined: December 18, 2012
 Regardless of materials used (and there are MANY choices, everyone has their favorite), if you want an enclosure to not "sing along," you need to:

1) Damp the larger panels. A constrained layer approach, where boards of different densities (such as MDF and plywood) are laminated with a flexible adhesive, can muffle the bad vibes significantly.

2) Brace opposing large panels center-to-center. Even damped laminate panels as described above will flex most at their centers. Cross-bracing them will eliminate this flex.

 

RE: Basic anti-resonance principles: damping and bracing, posted on February 26, 2021 at 20:29:14
hahax@verizon.net
Audiophile

Posts: 4310
Location: New Jersey
Joined: March 22, 2006
 when bracing panels you are looking to stiffen them, raise the resonant frequency. If the bracing forms a rectangle on the braced panel, it is the shorter dimension that sets the stiffness. So as an example if the rectangle is say 24" by 4" the critical dimension is 4 ".

 

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