"plywood wouldn't work, its not strong enough. I beleive MDF is cheaper as well."
plywood is absoutely strong enough! The only down fall is that it resonates and tends to flex a little more then MDF. I have heard many ply wood boxws and some of them have sounded very good.
plywood by itself is a crap ghetto install and even with heavy bracing is not ideal. I would stay with MDF or look into baltic birch. Baltic birch is kinda expensive and will require some bracing across long surface areas just like MDF but weighs less than MDF. Any box could use bracing and will help out with flexing.
well plywood also absorbs sound so much that it wouldnt be effecient always go with really think mdf so it doesnt flex at all go with an inch its worth it you can get like an 8ft by like something sheet for like 20 bucks at menards
"plywood is absoutely strong enough! The only down fall is that it resonates and tends to flex a little more then MDF. I have heard many ply wood boxws and some of them have sounded very good. "
Thats exactly what i had meant to say, just after working all day and being around subs all day you're brain starts to go to mush by the end of the night.
My TCAB box isn't MDF or particle, looks like chipped stuff @ 3/4" and it hits, also is MUCH lighter than other boxes. The whole inside has been coated in resin and the corner closest to the ports has been filled, glassed and rounded to aid in airflow but that is it. Polo..
luckily u coated it with resin cause if water hits that wood it swells up & u gotta toss its @ss out
that wood is def not my choice even if i got it 4 free i would think twice about using it 2 build sub boxes ........
I bought this box from a reputable box builder, local for me. This box with a 15" R and 1500wrms was running better than a 151 db on the TL. The wood is made by Georgia Pacific and have to say he got it from Home Depot, 3 blks from his house. When the bass hits the sides resonate very little even without bracing. I would like to try building the same box over with MDF, just curious. Polo..
no its still not that good and the only thing keeping it half way decent is the resin soaking in there and sealing it up. It is light weight though but I would use actual fiberglass first before I used that kind of wood.
Plywood is stronger than MDF could ever dream of being. For that reason, it's more resonant, but this resonance will occur at a higher frequency and that resonance is rather irrelevant with a subwoofer enclosure.
As far as the "best" for sub boxes, plywood is the best for strength, MDF is pretty strong and well damped. Ideally you should brace any enclosure. I'd go with MDF or Marine grade Birch plywood.
there was some plywood one of my foremen brought in on a job once not sure where its from but it was sick it was like 13 ply 3/4" plywood crazy strong too and was laminated with some sort of plastic.. it was only 55 bucks a sheet, ive never seen it in any hardware stores though we got it from a warehous we just did that shipped the stuff.. bet it would work good for boxes though
I have seen some that had a laminate of cherry on it, ran $148, and was used for cabinetry and when stained was fricken awesome, kinda hard to work with though. I would use that stuff for home speaker system. Polo
