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Why are there so many wooden speakers?

I have noticed a problem within the speaker industry. 99% of speakers that come onto the marketplace are wooden, i.e MDF.
 
This is true of old speakers and new speakers. This is true of Dynaudio, B&W, Elac, Kef, revel, PMC, Focal, ATC the list goes on and on. This is a longstanding problem that has been deceiving audiophiles for decades and it requires a solution. 

The problem with a wooden box is that no matter what crossover or drivers you use, it will still sound like a wooden box. 
There is a limit to the sound you can get out of a wooden box so it is not possible to improve the sound just by using different drivers. Despite this, every year or two, the aforementioned companies put new speakers on the market claiming that they sound even better than what came before. In conclusion, we are being misled. 

I have no problem with MDF boxes per se. MDF is a good material to use. But if you want to make an even better speaker then you obviously need to use a better material. You cant use the same material and say you have made a better speaker. Thats false. 

Let's take the B&W 600 series for example. This is a series that has been going on for decades. 

Here is the latest speaker from their current series

https://www.bowerswilkins.com/home-audio/607

There is no mention of what wood is used but I'm pretty sure its MDF. All they talk about is their continuum woofer and dome tweeter that goes up to 38khz. No mention of even improvements to the crossover let alone the cabinet.

I believe that this has gone on for long enough and audiophiles deserve better treatment. I don't know if a class action lawsuit is the answer but something needs to change.
kenjit
desktopguy
383 posts
 
Answer to O.P.: Because there are so many trees on earth. 

There's nothing inherently inferior about wood as a material for enclosures. There are certainly man-made materials with different damping/energy storage properties, but these often come with weight & cost issues associated. Moreover, there is no one man-made material I'm aware of that consistently makes a superior speaker enclosure, no matter who designs & makes the speaker.

Arguing the merits of different enclosure materials is somewhat like claiming that this or that digital chip makes a superior DAC: a helluva lot else goes into making a DAC, just as it does into making a loudspeaker.
invalid
1,223 posts
 
My speaker cabinets are made out of doped paper and my drivers are made out of MDF.
jon_5912
605 posts
 
@timlub, have you ever considered using tiles to enforce a box?  I'm just a hobbyist who likes tinkering and I wondered if including a ceramic or porcelain tile in the wall would make a big improvement without costing much since they're mass produced and available for low cost per unit.  Say 3 layers of 1/4" mdf where there's a big square cut out of the middle layer that is filled with a  super stiff ceramic floor tile.  It'd add some time to construction but not much to materials and I'd think it eliminate almost all box flex in the low frequencies.  
danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
Thiel used thick pieces of real wood; at least that is what I have been told.  Most of their users seem to be really happy with them.
mboldda1's avatar
mboldda1
575 posts
 
@kenjit, my speakers use hdf and aluminum, if you don't like mdf then only buy from manufacturers that use other materials.  if enough people do that then the others will switch to new materials or go out of business.
magico and yg acoustics will be glad to take your business. 
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