Case Building
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New member Username: Music_manPost Number: 10 Registered: May-05 | Hello all, Just wondering what your thoughts about building a speaker case would be (any speaker [woofer-full range] would do). Like; whats the best type of wood, or any other material. The best setup, basically how to position the wood (some people say have a slanted back to push the sound forward, sounds logical) And thing in that criteria Thanks in advance |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 3904 Registered: May-04 | http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=500-034&DID=7 |
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Silver Member Username: Stealth_cDublin, CA USA Post Number: 223 Registered: Jan-05 | AFAIK MDF is the most commonly used material in speaker cabinets; generally thickness is no less than 1/2" with plenty of internal bracing. |
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Gold Member Username: Paul_ohstbucksPost Number: 1023 Registered: Jan-05 | building boxes to hide speakers is a stupid concept. If you are too ashamed of having speakers out in the open for people to see........ ........just skip them altogether and listen to movies in 2 channel stereo on your TV speakers. A home theater isnt for you. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 3905 Registered: May-04 | Paul - What did you read in this question that I didn't? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 194 Registered: Dec-03 | I'm with you Jan. I don't understand that response at all. Eric- I assume you're referring to speaker cabinets. Yes, MDF is the most common material because it's inexpensive and easy to work with, however, it's not the best. To get the best out of MDF you need proper internal bracing and it's a good idea to seal them inside and out, either with paint or veneer, if you want them to last and not be affected by moisture. The best wood to make cabinets out of is a high quality plywood, typically "baltic birch" or "appleply". They will have a minumum of 9 layers of material, no air gaps and 3/4" thickness. If you are considering pro-sound applications, your only logical choice is plywood due to the high pressure levels created inside the cabinet and the fact that pro-sound equipment must be strong enough to take abuse. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 195 Registered: Dec-03 | BTW, this statement: "have a slanted back to push the sound forward" is complete nonsense and if you want to be successful do not take advice from those people. |
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Silver Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 666 Registered: Feb-04 | Timn8ter wrote: The best wood to make cabinets out of is a high quality plywood, typically "baltic birch" or "appleply". They will have a minumum of 9 layers of material, no air gaps and 3/4" thickness. I agree. That is pretty much exactly what is used for the Klipsch heritage line. Plus MDF won't hold a screw so and eats saw blades for breakfast, so plywood is easier to work with. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 196 Registered: Dec-03 | Take it a step further. The TAD Model One is made from CNC router cut layers of baltic birch plywood. This may provide an indication of what the "best" is, and why speakers in lower price ranges are made from MDF. http://www.tadhomeaudio.com/pdf/Model-1AbsoluteSound.pdf |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 197 Registered: Dec-03 | I guess I can't get my thoughts into one post. A sheet of "baltic birch" plywood is about 4 times the cost of a sheet of MDF which may also explain why so many speaker cabinets are made from MDF, including my own. ;-) |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 198 Registered: Dec-03 | Oh for crying out loud. Here I go again. Commercial speaker cabinets are not joined with screws so that is not really a consideration. |
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Silver Member Username: DiabloFylde Coast, England Post Number: 107 Registered: Dec-04 | MDF is probably the best material for DIY speaker cabinets. Baltic birch is sometimes considered to be better for making bracing spars. http://www.lungster.com/l/speakers/mdffaq/mdf.html There are lots of things to take into account when building a speaker cabinet, especially a big one. Some are discussed in this link - http://www.speakerbuilding.com/content/1011/page_9.php There are a few designs with sloping backs - e.g. http://home1.stofanet.dk/troels.gravesen/ These will help to lessen the effects of standing waves within the speaker. There will still be standing waves, with lower intensity - but more dificult to calculate where they are. Though, after re-reading the original question, I'm not sure if Eric was after this sort of info - or just some furniture to put the speakers into. |
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Bronze Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 79 Registered: Dec-04 | MDF is the most useful material, this is what it is made for. Plywood is easier to use, but must be 3/4" to accept screws. Always counter-sink screws into plywood, and if you are carpenter enough, use threaded inserts in the corners, backed up with re-fill corners. and make them with love. (they sound better) Peace |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 3918 Registered: May-04 | "Oh for crying out loud. Here I go again. Commercial speaker cabinets are not joined with screws so that is not really a consideration." Peter has been drinking the Klipsch KoolAid. This was such a bogus selling point Klipsch used for years. All because Paul Klipsch managed to design the original Cornwall out of one sheet of 4x8 ply with no scraps to cut into profit margins. But when you tell a customer considering Klipsch that bit of information, they all shake their heads like they have been given the secrets to national defense. The way many commercial speakers are constructed is to take a veneer or vinyl clad sheet of MDF and cut through the material to the veneer at opposing 45 degree angles. This leaves the veneer holding the pieces together as a sheet. The pieces are then glued and folded upon one another to form the four sides and possibly the front or rear baffle of the speaker. They are clamped until the glue dries. This process minimizes waste and ensures proper fit on the corners. Screws are typically used only to hold the drivers and the binding post cups in place. It is true that MDF will strip before ply if a gorilla tries to tighten the screw too tight. But whether you are using MDF or ply, it is a good idea to occasionally take a screwdriver or nut driver to tighten the drivers in your cabinets. Just don't overdo this process. If the screws have worked loose, you should get a cheap upgrade to your sound quality. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 199 Registered: Dec-03 | And in my case, I use a semi-adhesive sealant on the driver frames so the screws are doing very little work holding the drivers on the cabinet. It also helps keep the screws from backing out. |
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Silver Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 678 Registered: Feb-04 | Jan wrote: Peter has been drinking the Klipsch KoolAid. Oh get over yourself. He's asking about DIY, and you want him to cut through MDF up to the veneer? Get real. If this forum had kill files, I'd use them... |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 3954 Registered: May-04 | Oh, Peter, where did I suggest that is the way to make a DIY speaker? I was commenting on how "commercial" speakers are cut and the pure fallacy of the Klipsch claims. Please read the posts carefully and try not to get your knickers in a knot before wishing kill files on someone. Now go ahead and have some more KoolAid, you'll feel better. And next time you're in a stereo shop, look for the screws in all the speakers. |
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Silver Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 680 Registered: Feb-04 | where did I suggest that is the way to make a DIY speaker? Plywood was suggested. I noted that Klipsch uses it. You went on about some fallacy and how MDF is cut. How does your intervention help the initial poster in his DIY project? And what fallacy is that? That 3/4" void-free birch plywood is a good material for speakers? That Klipsch uses it? What? If your claim that the Cornwall is made from a single sheet is true, then so what? It's a marketplace where a price point is met to make sales. Surely you must understand that, right? I'd use a kill file not because of what you say but rather how you say it. You like to annoy people don't you? |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 3959 Registered: May-04 | Sometimes; don't we all? But what does that have to do with my post? The comment had been made commercial speakers are not put together with screws. I made a post which gave an example of how most commercial speakers are cut and assembled without screws. You seem to be annoyed that I said something negative about Klipsch's sales pitch. I wasn't saying anything negative about your speakers. You know I've stated my preference for the LaScalla among the Klipsch Heritage line. But even Klipsch doesn't make the majority of their speakers out of ply any longer. Hardly anyone does. And when they use ply today it is not in the same fashion as Klipsch did when the original speakers were designed. There are advantages and disadvantages to every material, and which the DIY'er prefers is a matter of taste as much as anything else. How do you know this person hasn't worked with MDF before and has blades that will deal with it? Maybe Eric knows MDF cuts with a straighter edge and finishes more evenly than plywood, birch or oak. There is every likelyhood he has read MDF is a denser material that is less prone to resonance. The use of plywood as a cabinet material requires very diffrent bracing/damping techniques than MDF. There is the possibility he doesn't want to deal with this and therefore asked the question about alternatives. Possibly he wants to build out of a material such as Sonotube or concrete. The original question was on what materials could be used. So all we know is the question asked for some alternatives and some information. Sorry if I offended you for some reason, it was not intentional. I didn't think the KoolAid remark would get this type of response. |
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Silver Member Username: PetergalbraithRimouski, Quebec Canada Post Number: 683 Registered: Feb-04 | Yes Jan, the KoolAid remark was too much. I'm still not sure what the fallacy was... I also wonder why you quoted someone else before saying that about me: "Oh for crying out loud. Here I go again. Commercial speaker cabinets are not joined with screws so that is not really a consideration." In any case, the La Scala is most certainly joined with screws. I'd take pictures but my digital camera is broken. Anyway, we've drifted off topic... again. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 3960 Registered: May-04 | So has Eric, our original poster. Not a word from him since the first post. This happens a lot. Do people post and then forget where they been? |
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Gold Member Username: Paul_ohstbucksPost Number: 1075 Registered: Jan-05 | Yes, probably until they get used to navigating the various sections. |
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Silver Member Username: DiabloFylde Coast, England Post Number: 111 Registered: Dec-04 | We will probably never know what he actually wanted. I suspect that Paul was right with his original comments.  Come on Eric Z. Prove me wrong!  |
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Bronze Member Username: Music_manPost Number: 11 Registered: May-05 | haha, you people really know how to kill a perfectly good post Thank You ^_^ |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 3988 Registered: May-04 | Glad we could entertain, Eric. |
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Bronze Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 86 Registered: Dec-04 | Oh for goodness sakes, the guy wants to build an enclosure. Ive made hundreds of speakers(2 of them actually good). Use the screws, use the glues, turn it up and use the booze. Then hawk 'em and try again |
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