Moderators dtel Posted July 20, 2007 Moderators Share Posted July 20, 2007 As far a sound quality is it not good to use solid wood for a speaker cabinet ? I have some really nice Mahogany !" thick, probably end up 3/4 after planing. Also have some 1" thick by 14" wide Cypress but I don't know if it would make a nice cabinet, someone told me the Cypress expands and contracts to much just with humidity for furniture ? Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 As far a sound quality is it not good to use solid wood for a speaker cabinet ? I have some really nice Mahogany !" thick, probably end up 3/4 after planing. Also have some 1" thick by 14" wide Cypress but I don't know if it would make a nice cabinet, someone told me the Cypress expands and contracts to much just with humidity for furniture ? Just a thought. I've heard that it's not a good idea to use solid hardwood for speaker enclosures. But I think it depends on the species of the wood and the design of the cabinet. This single driver speaker I built from 1'' solid padauk sounds great. It's a small enclosure though. I think if you tried to make side panels for say a LaScala out of solid wood you might have problems. What kind of speakers are thinking about building? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted July 20, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted July 20, 2007 I thought about Heresy's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Solid wood is not as dimensionally stable as plywood or mdf. You will also get more resonances which can tend to color the sound more. That padauk is beautiful ,though, and probably works due to the smaller cabinet size. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Mahogany is a beautiful........may I have your scraps?[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk49 Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Like Bruce said the solid woods are too unstable especially in larger cabinet sizes. The padauk is beautiful wood, having it's own natural oils. Can be toxic if proper mask with filter is not used in the machining process. Nice job on the speakers. True mahogany is one of the most stable, that's why it was a favorite of fine furniture makers. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted July 20, 2007 Author Moderators Share Posted July 20, 2007 Thats funny Speedball, I have about 15 boards 1" to 1 1/4 thick and 6" to 8" wide and about 8' to 10' long. I have been saving them for something nice, just don't know what yet ? I did use some about 7 years ago to build a cradle for my first Grandson. I was very happy the way it turned out, it was the first quality piece I built. I got the wood from a guy who knew the importer, they unload it about 10 miles out of New Orleans on the riverfront docks in Arabi. They have boatloads of it sitting in a huge fenced yard. The huge metal banded stacks are all marked Africa on the side of them. It made me sick to see all this beautiful wood and I couldn't even buy any. I went to meet the man to try and buy some and he told me I would have to have a special license to buy it and I would have to buy LARGE amounts. I ended up building a Buggy as in Horse and buggy out of mahogany for a friend of his and these boards were left over. I did it for free (wanted practice) so I guess they were pay ? The buggy came out really nice, never took any pic's of it, sorry now. I never did the wheels, just the carriage part, he had an old one called a " Doctors Buggy" and I just copied it in Mahogany. Every time I look at the wood I get the erge to build something ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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