stacked mdf speaker box

Status
Not open for further replies.
I want to build something like this. im a machinest and have access to a cnc mill. I have a pair of GRS 8FR-8 from PE on hand id like to use. I wanted to make something along the lines of a folded horn, tqwt, or some transmision line useing stacks of mdf profiles. Ive built many slotted port boxes with success but these would be my first full range single driver build. My main issue is how does someone figure out the parameters of a box like this?
 

Attachments

  • FJS72NGH0OJ0X0F_LARGE.jpg
    FJS72NGH0OJ0X0F_LARGE.jpg
    52.9 KB · Views: 662
Your example is marketed as a horn, but is really a weak TL.

A proper TL for the suggested driver will be large.

Translam is capable of some compelling shapes (your example is not one of them) but is not very efficient in the use of material.

dave

PS: MDF isnot the best stuff to build speakers out of.
 
Translam, is that what you call it?
And ya I just thought it was a cool concept.
Either way I'd like to make a nice sounding box and was hopeing someone could help.
I'm almost done with my chip amp and would like some homemade speakers to go along with it.
 
PS: MDF isnot the best stuff to build speakers out of.

Except that most people have built speakers with it and have been very happy with the outcome, including me. It is cheap, easy to machine, dimensionally stable, and very suited to CNC. Don't be put off. I've just built a laminated, box with vertically stacked 18mm MDF and am happy with how it is going.

Some advice can be quite gratuitous and can seem overly negative, if only because of their "personal" preferences. Others can have covert commercial interests, so be prudent in your consideration of some advice. Present company excepted, of course. 🙂

Abs
 
The subject stirs up a lot of controversy
It only stirs up "controversy" when people make statements like this
Suitable if it is all you can get, or if cheap is critical. We could get almost all the MDF we would need,nut choose to spend $80 a sheet forquality ply.
while forgetting that many people do not have either a bottomless pit of money or want to try something without making a huge commitment, while having an fairly easily workable material. At the same time, making a negative statement about the use of MDF can put some one off who would otherwise have tried an audio project.

Abs
 
MDF is better than nothing but has a status among many it does not deserve.
Meaning what exactly? Making an ambiguous statement, without any qualification, is useless and pointless, and I repeat (though I should not need to)
while having an fairly easily workable material. At the same time, making a negative statement about the use of MDF can put some one off who would otherwise have tried an audio project.

If you want to try something without making a huge commitment use particle board. Cheaper & somically(sic) better than MDF.
Particle board? Now I know you can't be serious. If this is what we in Australia call chip board, surely you can't be serious? It flakes easily, can be difficult to drill, screw, and get a good enough edge without a lot of filling. Even then, knocks will cause more damage than they would to MDF.
As to "somically" better, are you seriously suggesting anyone can tell the difference? I shake my head at this type of unproductive, vague, and unsupportable suggestion.

This person wants to build some speakers, not the Louvre.
 
Last edited:
Oh man... the mdf debate again. FWIW I would only use MDF again if the baffle was re-enforced with composite construction or if it was a low cost build.

I think MDF is fine as a low cost DIY solution, but it deffinately isn't high fidelity, it simply doesn't have the damping properties required for top-end audio.
 
Hi,

FWIW the driver simply is not worth that complexity of construction.

Cluttering every thread that dares to mention MDF with a blanket
personally biased condemnation is now just getting very tedious.

Why don't you just state that you prefer using plywood and
leave it at that, rather than making out MDF is a mistake.

rgds, sreten.
 
I want to build something like this. im a machinest and have access to a cnc mill. I have a pair of GRS 8FR-8 from PE on hand id like to use. I wanted to make something along the lines of a folded horn, tqwt, or some transmision line useing stacks of mdf profiles. Ive built many slotted port boxes with success but these would be my first full range single driver build. My main issue is how does someone figure out the parameters of a box like this?

I also had a pair of old speaker drivers and an itch to have a go at a speaker.

Turntable Forum • What a beautiful noise.

I'm no Audio Engineer (Sreten 😉 ) but I do like to have a go just to see what can happen. MDF sounds ok to me and as a cheap build I was more than happy with the result. If you want to go top end Hifi then go top quality materials, drivers, etc.

Whichever way you go enjoy the build, experiment, learn the basics and use the project to get an insight into a very complex area of the hobby
 
I have used MDF for every one of my builds.......about a Dozen pairs now. I honestly can't imagine how much more difficult it would have been using multi-ply. Perhaps the crappy void type ply outnumbers the void-free by ten to one...
Just finding the void-free doesn't seem worth the effort.the "sonic signature" of ply is "superior"...blah, blah, blah. Neither am I going to pay five times as much.
Now, this "trans-ply" CNC route has enormous potential but really works right with MDF for its consistency. With one inch MDF small FR drivers keep the layer count within reason. It is the FR crowd that needs "help" with the lower extension, hence the back-loaded horns, et.al.
With the CNC route with MDF for "full-size" drivers opens up all sorts of possibilities........can you imagine building a back-loaded horn for a 15" driver?
The precision of such a horn is so very near to "perfection"...none of this trying to align separate boards....a nightmare scenario.
Now, Build your perfectly aligned back-horn with the 15" driver, cut out a series of lightening "holes", artful ellipses of course, have an access hole for each cavity & use sand to "stabilize" the structure..........the possibilities are endless.

_________________________________________________Rick.......
 
So anyways. Along the lines of standard box building. I'm going to try a tqwt box. If its any better than playing them without a box I'd be happy. (I think they sound good) All I have is a spreadsheet that comes up with the demensions. I want to go ahead and build them but I also don't want it to be a waste if they turn out wrong.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.