Like SCD I have built several speakers from solid wood. Even though it colours the sound, different woods will add different colouring, I have found western red cedar to be my favourite so far. Working on a yellow cedar enclosure at the moment.
To add and repeat a few more things from Scott's list.
- From what I've learned open pored woods like oak and elm have poor acoustic properties.
-Quarter sawn/edge grain wood has less movement then face grain and is more stable.
-Use rough cut not pre sanded, so you can flatten it with a jointer, Store bought woods won't allow for this unless you buy thicker then you need which is a lot more expensive.
-Find some local with a portable saw mill who also dries the wood. My view is that local woods are already geared to your climate and also helps support your local economy instead big chain stores.
-Dealing with a miller you can also pick wood that came from one tree and the same part of the tree (DO NOT USE BRANCHES THEY WILL TWIST)guaranteeing each piece is consistent with the next.
-When milling try to remove the same amount from both sides of the board, keeping tension consistent within the board.
-Do you biscuits, spline. Although not adding tonnes of strength they will help in restricting some of the movement.
-Enclosure design can also make a difference, I like Planet10's enclosures for this because the port spacer help restrict the movement. They also sound very good.
-Finishing the inside is a must and can not be skipped, cupping will occur wrecking all your hard work.
-Keep individual pieces narrow, I don't go more then 3 1/2" (89mm), the narrower the pieces the less expansion.
Being that your living in the UK I would recommend checking into Yew wood, a beautiful wood to work with, smells great and has good acoustic properties. Down side, harder to get good long pieces and wide board without checks but narrow pieces are preferred any ways.
If you have your heart set on that beautiful she-aoak think about a BB plywood and skin the finished enclosure in 1/4"(6mm) pieces, should make for a very beautiful speaker and can give you some more experience working with solid wood putting you a step closer to make one out of solid wood.
Enjoy your build and I hope you the best success, a musical speaker.
Bernie
To add and repeat a few more things from Scott's list.
- From what I've learned open pored woods like oak and elm have poor acoustic properties.
-Quarter sawn/edge grain wood has less movement then face grain and is more stable.
-Use rough cut not pre sanded, so you can flatten it with a jointer, Store bought woods won't allow for this unless you buy thicker then you need which is a lot more expensive.
-Find some local with a portable saw mill who also dries the wood. My view is that local woods are already geared to your climate and also helps support your local economy instead big chain stores.
-Dealing with a miller you can also pick wood that came from one tree and the same part of the tree (DO NOT USE BRANCHES THEY WILL TWIST)guaranteeing each piece is consistent with the next.
-When milling try to remove the same amount from both sides of the board, keeping tension consistent within the board.
-Do you biscuits, spline. Although not adding tonnes of strength they will help in restricting some of the movement.
-Enclosure design can also make a difference, I like Planet10's enclosures for this because the port spacer help restrict the movement. They also sound very good.
-Finishing the inside is a must and can not be skipped, cupping will occur wrecking all your hard work.
-Keep individual pieces narrow, I don't go more then 3 1/2" (89mm), the narrower the pieces the less expansion.
Being that your living in the UK I would recommend checking into Yew wood, a beautiful wood to work with, smells great and has good acoustic properties. Down side, harder to get good long pieces and wide board without checks but narrow pieces are preferred any ways.
If you have your heart set on that beautiful she-aoak think about a BB plywood and skin the finished enclosure in 1/4"(6mm) pieces, should make for a very beautiful speaker and can give you some more experience working with solid wood putting you a step closer to make one out of solid wood.
Enjoy your build and I hope you the best success, a musical speaker.
Bernie
To further muddy the waters, here is a link to Australian Rose Sheoak:
http://www.percussion.com.au/home/QPPBrochure.pdf
Cheers
Doug
http://www.percussion.com.au/home/QPPBrochure.pdf
Cheers
Doug
A picture of the yew uFonkenSET Bernie did for me next to a standard uFonken. No drivers done for these yet, an experiment last night does show that the grey FFxx5wk cones can be colourized (got a gourgeous maroon on one, and a black one that looks to be channeling the F120A) -- i'm thinking a dusty orange.
I know Scott has used yew as a highlite at least
The plan (so far) is to use this technique on the statement eeSTee FAST i'm working on designing. We won't be using BB -- we have found a North American made hardwood ply that is better and not that much more expensive (we have a lift on order, and FH3 flat-paks are being transitioned to this stuff) I expect that the solid will need to "float" on the ply, so we'll have a constrained layer construction.
dave
Really muddy things, as discussion on StereoNET Oz have established that trees in Oz with common names like Oak are rarely related to the trees they are named after. According to Wikipeadia this one is a sort of fruit tree, no relation to oak, but it also points to an indication that the sheoak in question is likely an import from Oz.
It also (indirectly) suggests that it could be a good species for speakers
Allocasuarina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
dave
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