best wood for speaker cabinets ? oak,cherry, balti

I cannot comment on any audible difference between solid woods vs ply type. Tho, with the same effort expended either way, and given you have a source to nice woods... a solid wood construction would be my choice without any doubt!! I recently listened to and enjoyed (to say the least)!!, OMA speakers with Jonathan Weiss, builder. Solid wood construction. The absolute way to go, IMO! Your's will be gorgeous! Which wood....? Difficult decision. Please keep us posted.

Lou Hinkley of Daedalus Audio undoubtedly possesses one of the best combinations of knowledge about woodworking and speaker building around. His speaker cabinets are made from renewable solid hardwoods, except (I believe) for the front and rear baffles, which I believe are birch ply covered with solid wood.

The wood choices he offers are shown here. As a Daedalus owner, I have never encountered any indication that the selection among those choices is sonically significant.

Lou emphasizes the importance of heavy internal bracing, btw.

Good luck!

-- Al

Most speaker cabinets are made from particle board. Usually a medium to high density particle board. You should not make speakers with a real hardwood cabinet. Real wood has a resonate frequency depending on type of breed of wood that can adversely color the sound. I have only heard one speakers made with real wood that sounded good to my ears. It was the Magico Mini II. It is made out of stacked marine grade Baltic Burch plywood. Plywood has lots of glue, resins and is very dense like medium to high density particle board. Even some of the most expensive speakers use particle board with extreme bracing and usually with very expensive veneer work.