Hey guys!
This may be a trivial question, yet there's no information on it anywhere I can find.
Is there really any reason that 3/4 inch thickness MDF is what everyone uses for cabinet construction? (I know why MDF is best, just not the 3/4 inch bit.) I mean, if I were to use 1 inch thick MDF, would that do anything bad sonically speaking (I don't mind the extra weight), such as create worse cabinet resonances or anything? I can't really see how it would, but better safe than sorry!
Thanx,
Craig.
This may be a trivial question, yet there's no information on it anywhere I can find.
Is there really any reason that 3/4 inch thickness MDF is what everyone uses for cabinet construction? (I know why MDF is best, just not the 3/4 inch bit.) I mean, if I were to use 1 inch thick MDF, would that do anything bad sonically speaking (I don't mind the extra weight), such as create worse cabinet resonances or anything? I can't really see how it would, but better safe than sorry!
Thanx,
Craig.
Hi Craig
1" MDF should be ok as long as you scale the box dimensions to match the new panel thickness.
If you do a search on cabinet construction, you will find many references to this debate, with many different opinions, some people like thin walled boxes with maximal bracing to shift resonance frequencies higher, and some like big heavy overdamped boxes that absorb any troublesome frequencies. I personally go for a bit of both, depending on the speaker, and on which construction technique I fancy this week!😉
1" MDF should be ok as long as you scale the box dimensions to match the new panel thickness.
If you do a search on cabinet construction, you will find many references to this debate, with many different opinions, some people like thin walled boxes with maximal bracing to shift resonance frequencies higher, and some like big heavy overdamped boxes that absorb any troublesome frequencies. I personally go for a bit of both, depending on the speaker, and on which construction technique I fancy this week!😉
i guess cost is one thing. 1" MDF is often (big word alert)disproportionately expensive compared to 3/4" MDF and there's not that much to choose between them sonically if you brace the cabinets right. so, most people just go for the cheap option.
3/4" ply is generally considered better than 3/4" MDF, especially for subs. mostly to do with better damping and higher durability i believe.
3/4" ply is generally considered better than 3/4" MDF, especially for subs. mostly to do with better damping and higher durability i believe.
This is a tradition man 🙂 Don't break the tradition.
3/4'' is a good compromise based on price, weight, damping, stiffness, easy to use, etc.
3/4'' is a good compromise based on price, weight, damping, stiffness, easy to use, etc.
Then there's the dissimilar materials thing. North-creek recommends (and lots of people do this) that front and back baffles be 3/4" mdf with a 3/4" layer of baltic birch plywood laminated to the MDF. This makes for a super stiff and dead baffle.
However baltic birch plywood is about 3 times as expensive as MDF. A nice and inexpensive compromise is to do two 3/4" MDF pieces laminated together on the front and back baffles.
That said, with lots of internal bracing, I'd say the differences would be miniscule.
Internal bracing will do more for you than thicker material ever can.
Sheldon
However baltic birch plywood is about 3 times as expensive as MDF. A nice and inexpensive compromise is to do two 3/4" MDF pieces laminated together on the front and back baffles.
That said, with lots of internal bracing, I'd say the differences would be miniscule.
Internal bracing will do more for you than thicker material ever can.
Sheldon
stokessd said:
I can't believe I'm asking a dog this question, but here goes: What's the reason to do the back baffle with 2 pieces? I did the front and back baffles with 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF, but just because I was going to angle cut the corners in the back (which I never did because of a rectangular port in the back). There must be some other reason, right?
Also the "big word alert" was very thoughtful Redeye. I wish everybody did that it prevents me from going into shock
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