Using solid wood's vs. MDF/veneer's

[tylerdurden]

I am new to HTguide so first off I would like to introduce myself. My name is Bob but you can call me Bobby, all my freinds do. I am a retired contractor who's specialty is custom cabinetry. I am a lover of vintage audio equipment and have a modest collection. But recently have, much to my wifes shagrin, takin the dive into high def A/V. I recently bought the Dayton SUB120 at PE and that is how I found this forum. Since then I have been spending alot of time at PE's web sight, as well as lerking here. Been Google'ing alot on speaker building and have found sites like Madisound, Selah, and GR research. As well as John Krutke's Zaph audio. I am convinced that I want to try my hand at Loudspeaker building. I thought that a kit (like the BR-1, "the encore" or the Triune) would be the place to start that way I could disect and learn, along with some good books, as I go along.
My first question I would like to ask is Has anyone ever used a solid hardwood to build there cab's. Would there be any advantages/ dissadvantages to using say a solid oak. I have worked with MDF, HDF, PLY's, Laminates, and the like and while I see a cost advantage to them and veneers, I for the life of me cant see any acoustical property's to any "manufactured" material. Using a solid 3/4 or 1" thick peice of hardwood may not be cost efective but I happen to have a stock pile of oak, cherry, some walnut, and cottonwood. Most of it is reclaimed from some old homes that I have worked on over the years. I can mill it myself so there is no cost there but I dont want to do this if my speakers are going to sound bad. Some might say its a waste to do that and maybe it is. But If it will enhance the quality then maybe I will try it. What do you guy's think. Thank you lady's and gents in advance.

[jquin]

I seem to remember some other similar threads on this site. So a search would be a good idea.
Basically if there is an advantage to solid wood the "spare no expense" designs here would use it, and they dont!!.
You could probably get good results from solid wood if the enclosure is braced correctly but from a pure sound prespective MDF would be equal or better for much less work and cost.

[dlneubec]

I am new to HTguide so first off I would like to introduce myself. My name is Bob but you can call me Bobby, all my freinds do. I am a retired contractor who's specialty is custom cabinetry. I am a lover of vintage audio equipment and have a modest collection. But recently have, much to my wifes shagrin, takin the dive into high def A/V. I recently bought the Dayton SUB120 at PE and that is how I found this forum. Since then I have been spending alot of time at PE's web sight, as well as lerking here. Been Google'ing alot on speaker building and have found sites like Madisound, Selah, and GR research. As well as John Krutke's Zaph audio. I am convinced that I want to try my hand at Loudspeaker building. I thought that a kit (like the BR-1, "the encore" or the Triune) would be the place to start that way I could disect and learn, along with some good books, as I go along.
My first question I would like to ask is Has anyone ever used a solid hardwood to build there cab's. Would there be any advantages/ dissadvantages to using say a solid oak. I have worked with MDF, HDF, PLY's, Laminates, and the like and while I see a cost advantage to them and veneers, I for the life of me cant see any acoustical property's to any "manufactured" material. Using a solid 3/4 or 1" thick peice of hardwood may not be cost efective but I happen to have a stock pile of oak, cherry, some walnut, and cottonwood. Most of it is reclaimed from some old homes that I have worked on over the years. I can mill it myself so there is no cost there but I dont want to do this if my speakers are going to sound bad. Some might say its a waste to do that and maybe it is. But If it will enhance the quality then maybe I will try it. What do you guy's think. Thank you lady's and gents in advance.

You will typically see most folks saying you can't use solid wood, but I'm not convinced. Two weeks ago at the Indiana DIY event, Jeff Bagby showed a pair of small two-way's and he used all solid maple. These were one of the very best small speakers I have ever heard. I'm sure he was carefull to brace them well and time will tell if he has any issues with the wood splitting, but my bet is that he won't. If the wood is sealed on all sides and is kept in a humidy controlled home, I'm just not convinced it is a probel with a small speaker. I'd say that the bigger you make a speaker, the more likely you are to have problems.

Just my opinion, but I have built a number of speakers that used solid hardwood with 1/4" HDF or 3/4" mdf backing for the baffles and not had any problems so far.

[nickmckinney]

If you have the capabilities and the wood is dirt cheap I would consider it. Only real problems I ever saw with solid was growth/shrinkage as the climate changed.

I used to have a Japanese customer that only wanted speaker cabinets made from soft pine plywood - few to no knots - as per the older Western Electric specs. For a couple years I thought he was crazy (he bought quite a few of them). One time I had a chance to build some pro cabinets for a church and built myself a couple the exact same with the soft pine and compared against the Baltic Birch of the church cabinets. The difference in the vocal region was immediate. You could hear it by just speaking into the cabinet and listening to the echo. The pine was "cleaner" I have built all my personal cabinets this way since. After adding foam and such the difference is much less, but still every little bit helps if you ask me.

[seeker]

hardwood speakers

http://www.daedalusaudio.com/home.html I listened to these at RMAF. Nice looking, complete with dovetails.

[ThomasW]

Panels of solid wood have an asymmetrical grain structure. To combat the issues inherent in this situation things like violins, guitars, etc, have book-matched tops and bottoms. Since no two pieces of wood have the same grain structure, no two instruments sound exactly the same. This isn't a problem for musical instruments since the general idea is to have the sound-box 'color' the sound.

IMO.....with loudspeaker enclosures we're trying to reproduce what's on the original recording. This means we're not making musical instruments, and we don't want the 'box' coloring the sound....or at least I don't, so I chose for the most inert materials with the most consistent/symetrical 'grain' structure available, and that's not 'solid' wood......

[tylerdurden]

Thank you gentlemen. Lots of good info here. I am sorry I should have used the forum search for this. I think I will do a little experimenting on my own. I have the material and the time. Probably try out the Encore kit from PE. build one pair out of MDF or HDF and the other Pair out of solid Walnut. See witch sounds best and go with it. Thomas you bring up an interesting point that I hadnt thought of.
I will keep you posted on the results. Thanks again guys.
Bobby

[owdi]

I've been down this road myself. After reading tons of threads on htguide and diyaudio, and doing some woodworking myself, I found that compared to MDF...

Pros of solid wood
-easier to finish than MDF
-smells better when sanding
-looks great
-did I mention easier to finish?
-unless using exotics, the sawdust is not poison

Cons of solid wood
-changes shape with moisture content, so it can crack
-requires dampening to control panel vibrations
-risk of strange rattles and buzzing

Since you have lots of carpentry experience, you have a pretty good chance of dealing with the cons.

Dan