Cabinet Wood questions

rodneyat

This is more of a curious question more than anything...I have always wondered why even the high end speaker makers use veneers even for their highest end models. It makes sense that a speaker that lists for less than $1000 a pair may still use veneers but even some of these outrageous speakers that are $10,000 to $20,000 a pair still use veneers rather than solid wood. Being an acoustic guitar player, all of the better guitars out there always use solid woods rather than laminates. Laminates to do resonate as near as well as solid woods do. So, I would assume the same thing would carry over to speaker cabinet design as well. Of course, maybe that is the issue, the manufacturers do not want the cabinet wood to "color" the speaker sound. It seems that using hardwood laminates would make make the cabinet wood a "non-issue" I would think the cabinet wood in that case would probably not cause the tone of the speaker to change. On the other hand, you could use the tonal qualities of solid woods to enhance the speaker sound and come up with some great wood and speaker combinations...

Anyway, just thinking a little too much today!

hoosier21

it is thought that real wood is too unstable to make cabinets. The twisting, shinking, expanding and such would not make a good fit and finish for the "air tight" joints. The particle board is aso a tone cheaper.

Aaron

Not only is MDF cheaper than real wood, it's also denser and more acoustically innert. I've never heard the "twisting, shinking, and expanding" bit, but it makes sense that MDF wouldn't be as susceptible to those problems.

Aaron

rodneyat

Yes, it is quite obvious that MDF or laminates are chaeper but if you are spending $10,000 for a pair of speakers, the manufacturer could spend an extra $50 or less on some wood. Now the stability thing does make sense...MDF and laminates are much more stable and less susceptible to movement. I was actually coming at the solid woods from the tone aspect though. If there were some way to stablize the wood a little more, wouldn't the upside of an opportunity for better tone be good???

Aaron

You don't want any excess resonance in a speaker, especially from it's cabinet. That's the main reason they use MDF (to my knowledge). Look at the Krell LAT-1 and LAT-2 speakers. They use an aluminum cabinet to eliminate vibrations. The point is to reduce coloration to a minimum.

Aaron

goingganzo

real wood is also much less stif than mdfb and much less dence and you want to keep all the sound from the back of the speaker from geting out have you ever held a speaker in your hand and let it play then if you put it back in its cabinet it sounds good but in your hand it sounds terible

F1nut

I restore antique furniture for a living, so I believe I can offer some experienced insight to this question. Wood is unstable, it moves approx. 1/8" thru different seasons, mainly winter(dry) & summer(humid). Even if a maker did use solid wood, each piece would have a different density, a less than ideal way to construct a speaker cabinet. Veneers are used for many reasons. It's difficult to find & expensive to use wide boards. Veneer allows one to create beautiful grain patterns that could not be achieved any other way. One misconception about something that is veneered is that it is cheap. Actually some of the finest furniture in the world is veneered and has been so since the early Egyptians. There are different grades of veneer and furniture grades can be very expensive. You can stablize solid wood to a degree by finishing it on all sides, but in speakers construction that's not really practical.The use of stable materials(MDF) in speaker cabinets only makes sense, the veneer just makes them look nice.

RuSsMaN

MDF is pretty damn cool, just keep it dry...

Some exotics I have seen have used Granite, and solid Marble (nOrh)... I think it would be impossible to elimate cab effects totally on speaker, but I prefer manufacturers who at the least try to minimize it. Even a double-thick mdf 'sandwich' on the front baffle can be an ear-opening difference.

Cheers,
Russ

joe logston

i work with granite & marble i could make speaker enclosures out of stone, or marble. it would be the best acoustically innert material there is. take a hammer and hit a piece slab of metal and hear how loud it will be. then hit a slab of rock or marble, its a lot more quiet. but one thing it will weigh a ton. it will look great, and sound awesome.

Aaron

In my previous post I that mentioned the Krell LAT speaker use an aluminum enclosure. The originally wanted to use some kind of stone or concrete but decided it was too impractical to move and ship. They chose aluminum as the compromise.

Aaron