OSB vs Plywood

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I recently noticed in the tapped horn thread that someone made their tapped horns out of a material that I had not seen before. The material used was OSB or Oriented Strand Board. I did a quick google search and found out that it is just as strong as plywood and it is inherently is void free. In many cases it can be stronger than plywood since you wont ever have bad spots lining up and weakening the material. It supposedly feels firmer when walked on in a house. Obviously it doesn't look pretty and a finish will be required, but does anybody have any experience with this material in regards to speaker or subwoofer construction? It is varying sizes of strands of wood that are meshed together and oriented together to achieve maximum strength. Based on the heterogeneity of this compound, I would venture a guess that resonances will be spread out a little better than mdf or plywood. Any thoughts?
 
Last time I checked it out there was a lot of air in it. Not necessarily a bad thing if used as part of a composite construction. An MDF/rubber/OSB composite could be interesting.

I think it would just be more consistent rather than better than ply. Depends how important the glue is, I guess.

Has anyone built with this stuff? I'd be interested too.
 
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I have on a few occasions.
First, it does have small voids. Second, it it's stiffer than ordinary sheathing, but not as stiff as baltic birch.
Third, it can be troublesome to join - it glues well with regular yellow glue but will not like screws at all, especially in the end grain.
Finishing can be quite attractive. The pic below is of a sub I did a few years ago. Not a great shot, but it's all I have (the sub was not for me).
This I sanded, painted black and sanded again to expose raw wood as the black went into the crevices. I then put on several coats of stain and topped those with clear polyurethane.
It looked pretty unique.
 

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doorman said:
OSB [oriented strand board] is ok for sheathing, but one can do far better for speakers, IMO
It also"off-gasses" some really obnoxious stuff.
Don

There are always better options.

I prefer OSB stink to MDF stink. Winner, hands down, for pleasant odour in sheet material is spruce sheathing. Love it! :)

Juergen Knoop said:
my tmls are made of osb, I have used red glaze on the osb, that raw look is quite nice.

Do not be ashamed brother. Good sound comes from good drivers, crossovers and design, not from the wood used.
 
doogyscoot said:



Show me the evidence, I demand it!!! :smash:

The discussion of cabinet/enclosure materials is one of those contentious issues that ALWAYS generates a lot of debate!
My advice, FWIW [probably very little!] is to build a couple of boxes out of different materials, no need to get fancy till you decide, and let you ears be your guide. IMHO, there are very real diffs. But hey, try your own experiment!
Don
 
FWIW, here in Canada, OSB is marketed primarily as a sheathing material for residential/commercial construction, enabling producers to utilize chips, waste etc. Typically, it has 1 smooth side, and 1 rough side, the rough side allowing carpenters etc. to use it for roof sheathing without the "walking on ice" sensation!
Don
 
I have used it in a subwoofer combined with plywood to build up a 1.5 inch thick wall. It seems to work pretty good in this application.

My sense is that it would not be as good sounding for full range speakers but in subs it seems to work OK.

Just a speculation but I think that because of it's construction it would have a different speed of sound transmission than plywood. Combining the two might create an acoustic impedance that could attenuate resonances to some degree.
 
Chris8sirhC said:
why is that?


Just a preference really. OSB seems like it has less structural integrity, and so will be harder to join and easier to break. It looks bad (IMHO), but with some work, some people make good looking cabinets. I doubt there are any sonic benefits to using it alone, although for building up subwoofer walls it could be good. I don't think it is particularly cheaper either. So why use it?:xeye:
 
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doogyscoot said:



Show me the evidence, I demand it!!! :smash:

Starting here, I did some tests. I didn't try OSB, but I don't think it would have fared worse.


GM said:

One of my favourite sites, but his box construction skills are lacking. Needs more real bracing.
The contribution from the panel needs to be minimized then it will make no difference at all, therefore it matters not what it's made from.


A little experimental I threw together:
 

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Not really, he was making a point and goes on to how best to deal with it, but it doesn't change the fact that different materials require different solutions and it's these solutions that affect the speaker's performance, so while I can make a speaker cab out of cardboard, it's in my best interests to make it out of a very rigid material that requires minimal bracing to keep labor, weight to a minimum. This assumes using drivers with a < ~0.7 Qts, so for higher Q drivers the cab's material/construction Q ideally needs to increase along with the driver's to damp it.

Cute mini-PA speaker, reminds me of some of the 'make-do' systems I've built.

GM
 
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