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


Im guessing they use mdf these days because its cheaper.

vinny55
Wood...my Totem Cherry Forest Signatures Sound like a Stradivarius !  Fine musical instruments are made of wood.  Can you imagine a plywood, MDF or aluminum violin 🎻. Yikes!!!
@dave_b - speakers aren't the same.  Musical instruments are designed to resonate.  That's how they get their distinctive sounds.  Speakers, on the other hand, are designed not to resonate.  The less they resonate, the less of their own sound they have and the better they can reproduce the distinctive sounds of musical instruments.  
I’ve had the inert kind....sorry, but they do not sound organic and alive like real music.
Dave, have you heard all of them? I highly doubt it. Not sure what price ranges you are talking about, but I'd love to hear your conversation with Richard Vandersteen or Alon Wolf about this, lol.  Sorry, but you can't make that statement unless you have heard all of them.  I promise you my Vandy Quatrro's are plenty organic adn alive like real music in my room.  Plenty of speakers I've heard are outstanding and sound like live music and they are made of all different types of materials.

Totem are also nice speakers and I've enjoyed most of them at a local dealer as well as a dealer in NYC.  There is no best.  It's all design and implementation.
Ctsooner, I wasn’t implying any particular speaker was “the best” silly.  I am saying that most of the speakers that I have owned tended to deliver a more natural sound when made of wood.  The worst were the Wilson’s.  Magico’s were overly deadened to my ears.  Anyway, just saying I hear a dramatically improved sound with a well done wood speaker.  Harbeth uses this approach as well I believe.