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Which material sounds better for speakers construction? Wood, Ply or MDF?

Im guessing they use mdf these days because its cheaper.

vinny55
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Plywood is superior to solid wood and MDF. It has superior resistance to bending forces and a better strength-to-weight ratio. That is why it was used for aircraft during the "wooden plane" era! My vintage JBL C35 and C38 cabinets used plywood, along with my Altec Valencia's, Klipsch Heresy's and Rogers LS3/5A's.
amg56's avatar
amg56
887 posts
 

It would appear to depend on how many layers of ply is used. The B&W 800 D3 frame uses 8-13 layers of ply, let alone the glue to put it together. Tonally it may be superior to MDF but then that depends on the speaker drivers you use. MDF will deaden the box tone flat but rely on the drivers.

With ply, you can use it to flex and create better reflections and refractions within the speaker box. I have never done a DIY speaker but I caveat all I have written with, "what I have read in the HiFi and DIY mags".

I'll be interested to see how this thread goes because it is interesting.

lak's avatar
lak
4,751 posts
 
Possibily marine grade plywood?
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,271 posts
 
Amongst hardcore DIY speaker builders, "Baltic Birch" is considered the best plywood. It is void-free, 13-layer 3/4", often in 5' x 5' sheets, though sometimes 4' x 8'. A great enclosure can be made of an inner box of Baltic Birch (with cross-braces also made of BB), surrounded by an outer layer of MDF, with a thin layer of constrained layer damping material (such as E-A-R Isodamp) between them.
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