Hybrid Ply / MDF ?

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I was purchasing lumber stock in board feet the other day to build a cabinet for my stereo system and ran across something I had never seen previously. They told me it was Plywood / MDF both! It had a thin venier on both sides then a layer of MDF material the thickness of a standard plywood layer, under those there was multiple layers of plywood. Looked like about 9 or so layers total.
I am about to build a set of good speakers (fat Thors) and am considering using this material in lieu of standard MDF. Any one else ever see this or use this for speaker construction?
BTW it was cherry venier, just what I was looking for!!!

I am looking for suggestions on high quality speaker kits, parts only, I will build the boxes. So far I am leaning towards the Seas Thor fat varient devised by the evil do-gooders on this forum. ;)

Thanks to all,
Ron
 
Renron said:
I was purchasing lumber stock in board feet the other day to build a cabinet for my stereo system and ran across something I had never seen previously. They told me it was Plywood / MDF both! It had a thin venier on both sides then a layer of MDF material the thickness of a standard plywood layer, under those there was multiple layers of plywood. Looked like about 9 or so layers total.

Was it a wood veneer, paper or photo-gravure melamine veneer?

You can lash-up a very dead panel by laminating 1/2" sheetrock with one layer of 1/4" plywood --
 
Hi Ron,

welcome to the forums also from this side of the pond. :)

A sandwich of different materials is not exactly neccessary for the Thor, although it can't hurt.
OTOH, I have good experience with combiations of (birch) plywood and MDF.

I'm using the SEAS 171REX-XP and the NoFerro 900 in such a sandwich with very good results. ;)

It's of course also a matter of cost, but more important in my opinion: the cut surfaces. A sandwich cross section visible at the speaker front would be difficult to hide with the regular Thor construction. But if you don't use the hybrid material for the side panels (stands), then it won't be a huge sound improvement to only use it in the front baffle and top/bottom/rear panels anyway (as they are angled, chamfered and not that large, thus need no special material).

In lieu of standard MDF, such a hybrid is always a step forward, though. The original Thor was designed to be multiplex if I'm not mistaken. But I would stack it up with something to add mass (as Jack mentions) or something to damp resonances anyway :D

Cheers,
Sebastian.
 
Jack,
It was a true wood veneer, this happened to be cherry on top. Ha, Ha ......Cherry on top..... Sorry:eek: I have no preferance in using plywood or MDF in the construction, whichever would sound best. Are you still enjoying your modified Thors? I'm still trying to figure out your avitar photo.:xeye: Smile

Sebastian,
Thanks for the welcome(s)
For this speaker build it is not a matter of cost, they are about the same ~$75 USD per 3/4" 4x8 sheet. I am planning on using 3/4" material for the front baffle and then adding 3/4" solid cherry the full width of the box on top with a rounded edge profile. Flush mount the drivers of course.

Pit,
I am a very experienced home builder but I have never laminated anything other than women. Oops, did I say that outloud. I was not looking forward to that sticky process. I will most likely buy cherry veneer MDF for the speaker boxes.

Thanks all,
Ron
 
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