best wood for speaker cabinets ? oak,cherry, balti

"why not guitar wood? THe electric guitar world (some of it anyway) is obsessed with tone sustain. Strum a chord or a note and it just keeps ringing one forever."

My understanding that is in line with why AN uses Baltic Birch cut to their specs these days to help deliver the unique appeal of their speakers, but I could be wrong.

There might be different reasons why manufacturers use birch. One of them is perception of quality - hardwood vs. MDF. People often choose kitchen cabinets with plywood shelves not knowing that MDF works much better (less sagging). The other reason might be ease of working with (cutting, sanding, drilling) and finally weight. I have small bass cabinet made by Carvin built of light hardwood advertized as very light. Weight is important for people who play out and have to carry it. As for light bracing - I'm not an expert on speaker construction but it is definitely not a violin. Resonating walls add coloration to sound and 99% percent of manufacturers do anything possible to reduce it. Revel uses laser reflectometr to design for minimum vibration, Dali uses layers etc. Do you really believe that kit speaker was designed to have sound of it's own especially when before same box was called to be made of MDF?

Mapman - not every guitar is designed for long sustain. Flamenco guitar for instance isn't. Guitar has presence, projection, sustain, separation and tone. Some guitars have great presence but poor projection. Flamenco guitar has huge projection but poor presence and sustain, but good separation. If you design speaker cabinet to interact with guitar then how much of presence, projection, sustain, separation and tone it should have? Would it be the same if you listen to Flamenco?

"Do you really believe that kit speaker was designed to have sound of it's own especially when before same box was called to be made of MDF?"

That is my understanding, but I could be wrong, though this is a common theme I have heard regarding Audionotes.

Tonian is another brand that follows this admittedly minority design approach using baltic birch, I believe as well. That is where I heard of it first.

From wikipedia article on birch wood:

"Tonewood

Baltic Birch is among the most sought after wood in the manufacture of speaker cabinets. Birch has a natural resonance that peaks in the high and low frequencies, which are also the hardest for speakers to reproduce. This resonance compensates for the roll-off of low and high frequencies in the speakers, and evens the tone. Birch is known for having "natural EQ."

Drums are often made from Birch. Prior to the 1970s, Birch was one of the most popular drum woods. Because of the need for greater volume and midrange clarity, drums were made almost entirely from maple until recently, when advancements in live sound reinforcement and drum microphones have allowed the use of Birch in high volume situations. Birch drums have a natural boost in the high and low frequencies, which allow the drums to sound fuller.

Birch wood is sometimes used as a tonewood for semi-acoustic and acoustic guitar bodies and occasionally used for solid-body guitar bodies. Birch wood is also a common material used in mallets for keyboard percussion."

A Jazz drummer friend has an old pair of Sonor drums I believe, solid rosewood! Were very expensive at the time. Anyway, back to speakers.

As I recall, Audio Note speakers evolved from MDF to Baltic Birch for a reason. The drivers and the minimally-braced Baltic Birch cabinet are designed to work as a unit. The interaction has been likened to the way a stringed instrument projects its sound. While it might be fun to experiment with different cabinet materials, it is not how (and why) the speaker was designed to produce its characteristic sound.

That is correct. I have a pair of older Audio Note AN/J speakers with the MDF and particleboard construction that are at least 15 years old. I haven't heard the newer baltic birch versions but they are reputed to sound better with the change in cabinet material alone. Go with the recommended birch.