Cherry Wood Loudspeaker?

[Dennis5587]

Hi,

I'm looking into making 2-way speakers using Focal drivers, (TC120TD5 and 6W4311B) using this design http://zalytron.com/Orca%206in%20Sys...0Bookshelf.pdf and it says to use MDF, but I was wondering if I could use Cherry Wood instead? I'd assume I could, however I have not been able to find many speakers made of Cherry Wood.

I want to use Cherry because I like the look, but not at the cost of sound. So any suggestions or eperience?

[hermanv]

Cherry Wood should be just fine.

If you use 3/4 thick Cherry Wood the cabinet is small enough that the walls won't flex much.

For thinner Cherry Wood, say 1/4", laminate it to 1/2" MDF. Laminates are usually deader than a cabinet made wholly from one material.

If the Cherry Wood is thicker than 1/4", but not 3/4" laminate it to 1/2" MDF and increase the outer dimensions to keep the same internal volume. I would increase the sides, top and bottom, but keep the front the same because that may effect either diffraction or the baffle step.

You could laminate a second layer of Cherry Wood, in this case align the grain at 90 degrees for the two layers.

Most of this advice is probably overkill, but it can't hurt.

[Dennis5587]

Extra information never hurts, I plan on using 3/4" Cherry, even if I need to get 1" and plane it down evenly to 3/4".

[hermanv]

Originally posted by Dennis5587
Extra information never hurts, I plan on using 3/4" Cherry, even if I need to get 1" and plane it down evenly to 3/4".

1" Cherry Wood? You obviously have too much money, email me for my address, I have considerable experience in solving that problem.

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by Dennis5587
Extra information never hurts, I plan on using 3/4" Cherry, even if I need to get 1" and plane it down evenly to 3/4".

Extra info here.

Solid wood isn't the best choice for speakers for a number of reasons, all of which are covered in the above linked thread.

[John L]

Originally posted by Dennis5587
Extra information never hurts, I plan on using 3/4" Cherry, even if I need to get 1" and plane it down evenly to 3/4".

Something like this might look nicer.






You can do all sorts of wonderful things with MDF and nice cherry veneer, as shown above.

[JeremyB]

You also might find it VERY hard to find a piece of solid cherry 11 inches wide for the front.. let alone a 14" wide peice for the sides. You would have to glue up for width, then plane down, cut to size, etc..

I would make the box out of PLY, then veneer it.. or Cherry Veneered MDF. And then do some sort of decorative work on the front with some solid cherry.

Thats just my $ .02

jeremy

[R-Carpenter]

If you want to save on labor and materials, you could purchase MDF with cherry veneer already glued on to it. You would have to get a 4x8 sheet but if you consider the absence of all machining of the solid lumber, it’s a clear winner. MDF is a better core to for a speaker cabinet anyway. The other potential problem that you will eliminate is a possibility of your speaker drying out and cracking or warping in a years to come.
Most of the hi end speakers out there are veneered MDF. Cheap staff is vinyl over particleboard.

[Dennis5587]

Originally posted by hermanv


1" Cherry Wood? You obviously have too much money, email me for my address, I have considerable experience in solving that problem.

Not that I have a tremendous amount of money lying around... it's just that I figured if I was going to spend so much time, effort, and money on the speakers... why not make them out of a nice hardwood.

Originally posted by MJL21193



Extra info here.

Solid wood isn't the best choice for speakers for a number of reasons, all of which are covered in the above linked thread.

Thanks I'll have to give that a good read.

Originally posted by JeremyB
You also might find it VERY hard to find a piece of solid cherry 11 inches wide for the front.. let alone a 14" wide peice for the sides. You would have to glue up for width, then plane down, cut to size, etc..

I would make the box out of PLY, then veneer it.. or Cherry Veneered MDF. And then do some sort of decorative work on the front with some solid cherry.

Thats just my $ .02

jeremy

I thought I would be very hard to find as well, but I've been finding some lumber yards online that are not too far from me that sell Cherry wood extra wide at thickness's of 3/4,4/4,5/4,and 8/4. The wood goes up to about 17 or 18" wide, however this is basically to the bark, you have to cut in to a usable width, so 14" seemed possible (not easiest, but possible). This is exactly why I figured I'd go on here and check how it would even sound before going through the tremendous amount of extra hassle.

Originally posted by R-Carpenter
If you want to save on labor and materials, you could purchase MDF with cherry veneer already glued on to it. You would have to get a 4x8 sheet but if you consider the absence of all machining of the solid lumber, it’s a clear winner. MDF is a better core to for a speaker cabinet anyway. The other potential problem that you will eliminate is a possibility of your speaker drying out and cracking or warping in a years to come.
Most of the hi end speakers out there are veneered MDF. Cheap staff is vinyl over particleboard.

True "high end" does use MDF with veneer, however this could be simply because it is easier and cheaper, I was thinking that it could be another one of the "well, everyone else is using it, so why bother going the more expensive root" type of mentality's.




Thank you for all the advice, and quick replies. I'm going to go read up on the site that MJL21193 suggested, and probably just stick with MDF.

[John L]

Dennis, why go that route, looking all over for cherry veneer? You can do the thing over the internet on E-Bay. There are some very reputable vendors there, and you cannot go wrong with them.

Just go to E-Bay, and in the search window, type in Veneer. Naturally you will get all sorts of other products, but there is a wealth of veneers for you to choose. Lepkowski/Veneer 1 has many batches of cherry, and other veneers, for sale. He is a little more expensive than some others, but he has a great reputation and what you see is what you get.

If you need other references, feel free to ask me, and I will give you some more who I KNOW to be very reputable and you can count on them not to give you a bad deal.