Maple needs special considerations if used for cabinets.
MDF is cheap, some like it, some dont - I dont, so I say good quality plywood.
MDF is cheap, some like it, some dont - I dont, so I say good quality plywood.
MDF weighs more but dont know about 'hardness', as comparing a 'composite' to real wood is a bit like comparing me to you 😀😀
The downside of hard wood is it can ring at a high pitch. You want to brace it so there is no ringing. The advantage can be apperance and the ability to not chip like plywood.
Also choose a glue that works well with hardwoods. Some construction glues will not work as well with maple.
Also choose a glue that works well with hardwoods. Some construction glues will not work as well with maple.
It (hardwood/softwood) can also split due to moisture variances if not correctly treated.
1+1= geater than 2
A woofer enclosure built with double walls: one layer 3/4" mdf plus one layer of 3/4 inch
Baltic birch ply, or the best ply you can afford yields the best results. If you wish to go all out assault, use a layer of 30 lb roofing felt in between, and then brace thoroughly. It's a huge amount of work, so patience is required to build a superior woofer enclosure, not a "box".
A woofer enclosure built with double walls: one layer 3/4" mdf plus one layer of 3/4 inch
Baltic birch ply, or the best ply you can afford yields the best results. If you wish to go all out assault, use a layer of 30 lb roofing felt in between, and then brace thoroughly. It's a huge amount of work, so patience is required to build a superior woofer enclosure, not a "box".
MDF is soft, softer than pine.
The problem with maple (or any solid wood) is it has its own acoustics - this is what gives violins and cello's their wonderful 'colored' sound. But for speakers, we normally don't want to impart the wood's coloring into the sound. That is why MDF is so popular, as it is acoustically dead.
Some people prefer maple or birch plywood - it feels like a much higher quality material, and doesn't impart that much to the sound. Some people do a veneer layer over MDF, to get the nice look of solid wood without the sound.
If you only care how it sounds, and you want heavy and strong (not hard) use MDF - just use thicker.
The problem with maple (or any solid wood) is it has its own acoustics - this is what gives violins and cello's their wonderful 'colored' sound. But for speakers, we normally don't want to impart the wood's coloring into the sound. That is why MDF is so popular, as it is acoustically dead.
Some people prefer maple or birch plywood - it feels like a much higher quality material, and doesn't impart that much to the sound. Some people do a veneer layer over MDF, to get the nice look of solid wood without the sound.
If you only care how it sounds, and you want heavy and strong (not hard) use MDF - just use thicker.
what do you mean with "heavy and strong", i don't understand ?
i care how it sounds, sure, so i would know which sounds better between both
For a speaker to sound good you want to build the box out of something that doesn't sound at all.
With this in mind and given the choices provided an MDF speaker should 'sound' better than a Maple one.
With this in mind and given the choices provided an MDF speaker should 'sound' better than a Maple one.
Why? Heavy is a detriment, hard is immaterial from a sonics POV. Light & stiff are assets you shouldlook for.
Quality plywood is your best bet for this application. And it can be thinner than you would need for either of the other 2.
dave
Which Maple? There's six different ones I'm aware of, with 'sugar' being the heaviest at ~44 lbs/ft^3 once dried.
MDF's weight can vary a bit also, 48.5 - 49 lbs/ft^3, so MDF is heaviest.
By 'hardness', I assume you mean how resistant it is to bending, i.e. Young's Modulus of elasticity, with MDF averaging ~513,323 psi Vs Sugar Maple's ~449,616 psi, so MDF is the 'harder' of the two.
For speaker building then, neither has a significant advantage over the other.
GM
The modulus of elasticity for Sugar Maple (Hard Rock Maple) is much greater at about 1,800,000 psi. So Sugar Maple is around 3.6 times stiffer than MDF.
Hard Maple | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods)
Interesting, this doesn't jive with my decades old G-P chart nor does it list 'sugar' as 'hard', ditto another chart on-line that listed just densities, though found no other site that listed Maple's MoE.
That said, I typed it in wrong: ~849,616 psi [no '1' before it, so need to check with them if it's a typo], making it enough stiffer to make a minor difference.
If it's 1.8 m though, this is 19 mm BB, Apple, marine ply's average and only slightly < the Southern Oak I prefer, enough difference to make it the obvious choice of the two for me.
Anyway, thanks for the 'heads-up'.
GM
A short list of material stiffness, modulus of elasticity (psi)
Hickory............................2,200,000
Oak.................................1,900,000
Hard Maple.......................1,800,000
Douglas Fir.......................1,800,000
Phenolic X Grade...............1,800,000
Ash.................................1,700,000
Beech..............................1,700,000
Bamboo...........................1,500,000
Corian.............................1,400,000
Pine................................1,300,000
Fiberglass Comp, Woven....1,200,000 - 1,700,000
Baltic Birch Plywood...........1,100,000
Fiberglass Comp, Mat...........700,000
HDF...................................700,000
Epoxy Resin........................450,000
Particle Board......................450,000
MDF...................................350,000 - 450,000
Polycarbonate......................260,000 - 380,000
Plexiglass............................250,000 - 450,000
The vibration testing of loudspeaker baffles using cumulative spectral decay (CSD) vibration analysis posted on the internet have shown only a slight difference between MDF and Baltic Birch Plywood. Though Baltic Birch is over twice the stiffness of MDF, the frequencies, amplitudes, and decay vibration signatures of the CSD's are fairly similar.
The link below is from the Netherlands. One can figure out some of the information. Once on the site, go to the "Projecten" area,
then select "Kast Materialenonderzoek". Translator software does work on the site.
http://www.hsi-luidsprekers.nl/Kastmaterialenonderzoek.htm
Hickory............................2,200,000
Oak.................................1,900,000
Hard Maple.......................1,800,000
Douglas Fir.......................1,800,000
Phenolic X Grade...............1,800,000
Ash.................................1,700,000
Beech..............................1,700,000
Bamboo...........................1,500,000
Corian.............................1,400,000
Pine................................1,300,000
Fiberglass Comp, Woven....1,200,000 - 1,700,000
Baltic Birch Plywood...........1,100,000
Fiberglass Comp, Mat...........700,000
HDF...................................700,000
Epoxy Resin........................450,000
Particle Board......................450,000
MDF...................................350,000 - 450,000
Polycarbonate......................260,000 - 380,000
Plexiglass............................250,000 - 450,000
The vibration testing of loudspeaker baffles using cumulative spectral decay (CSD) vibration analysis posted on the internet have shown only a slight difference between MDF and Baltic Birch Plywood. Though Baltic Birch is over twice the stiffness of MDF, the frequencies, amplitudes, and decay vibration signatures of the CSD's are fairly similar.
The link below is from the Netherlands. One can figure out some of the information. Once on the site, go to the "Projecten" area,
then select "Kast Materialenonderzoek". Translator software does work on the site.
http://www.hsi-luidsprekers.nl/Kastmaterialenonderzoek.htm
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