best wood for speaker cabinets ? oak,cherry, balti

I've been researching the same thing for the last year, as I'm looking to make some speakers myself. It boiled down to this...MDF is acoustically inert and doesn't warp easily....which is the main reason it is used commercially by most high-end builders. I'm not interested in using it for health reasons, and Baltic Birch Plywood (BBPW) is the second choice, as seen above.

Magico and Penn Audio both use a technique of layered horizontal layers of BBPW, and that is what I'm going to do. It looks beautiful, is rigid as all hell, and easy enough to work with. I built some speaker stands with this method last year, and love it. I'm leaning towards the PenAudio Charisma style for simplicity.

Let us know what you decide,
Mot

I'm an amateur woodworker also but I build horns. Still the basic idea of eliminating resonances holds true. If the box is properly braced it should not matter much what it is made of. I would only be concerned about dimensional stability with the use of hardwoods alone. This is especially important for the baffle that the drivers mount to. Most chose to build the cabinet frame using void free plywood, or MDF, and then laminate the hardwood on top. Not only does it give a beautiful finish but if you go 1/4" or thicker it adds stiffness. I'm not saying it can't be done with all hardwood, but I know I sleep better knowing my seams and surfaces are going to stay tight.

Good luck with the build.

Dan, you are NO amateur woodworker as your speakers and matching rack will tell. Exquisite!! Your choice of components, etc, agree in accordance.
Amateur comedian.....? :)

Manoterror, our studio constructed a number of sculptures from baltic birch plywood using a two-axis cnc machine to cut the basic shapes before lamination and finishing. It is very time consuming to work with this construction technique from a finishing standpoint if you are seeking a high end look like Penn and Magico. The best baltic birch we could source locally here in Tampa was riddled with small voids in the plies. Be prepared for a lot of filling (and color matching the filler) and sanding to get them ready for a finish. I also would think very carefully about how you'll be able create enough compression force to properly laminate the many, many layers of plywood you'll use. All of the plywood I've ever used is ever so slightly non-plane across any cross section of the size you'll use to make a speaker. We were only working in twelve inch deep sections with about sixteen layers and that was a challenge to glue up and get clamped before the glue started to set. I'd imagine Penn and Magico have multi person teams working the laminate glue ups that then go into a hydraulic clamping system.

Mattzack2, you have received a lot of advice from guys who don't seem to understand Audio Note's speaker design technology. As you undoubtedly know, Audio Note speakers are upgraded versions of Peter Snell's original designs. Snell built his K, J and E speakers out of fibreboard (not MDF) for cost reasons and also because that the current vogue in speaker design.

After offering what were virtually copies of the Snell designs for years, Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK decided that the speakers sound better using resonant plywood cabinets. Audio Note eventually settled on a particular thickness and grade of Baltic birchwood that they believe sounds best.

I have helped a few friends build Audio Note kit speakers, some using factory cabinets and some using home made boxes. I can tell you from experience that the home made cabinets did not sound the same as the factory cabinets. Not worse, not better, just different. My unsolicited advise is if you want your speaker to sound like Audio Note speakers, either order the cabinets pre-made from Brian or get the plans and build them as closely as possible to the specs.

If it were me, I would not bother experimenting with MDF or any other wood product. It might sound better, but (again in my experience) probably not.