Will 3/4" oak work well for an enclosure?

[highfigh]

MDF is easy to paint, but time consuming. The stuff drinks paint. It takes a lot of coats for it to look nice.

It's really easy to seal. Any clear coat will do. Shoot the edges first and make sure it's flat, wait for it to dry and shoot the whole thing to make absorption even. I used shellac when I did mine and have used that in the past. It works best if it's sprayed on. For outdoor cabinets, I use polyester resin on all surfaces, sand it flat and paint it as needed,

 

[lsiberian]

What do people use to cover the MDF with once they get the cabinet done. Considering MDF is pretty ugly besides paint. Also you refer to Resonance could you explain what that means or what it does to sound.

Resonance is what happens when you blow across the top of a bottle.

Basically it vibration.

 

[lsiberian]

The thing about light weight materials and deep bass is that the whole "For every action, there's an equal, and opposite reaction" thing. A light material will allow the cabinet to vibrate where it's sitting and if it's made to be as heavy and dense as possible, the cabinet will be more inert. If a weight is added to the finished cabinet, it should accomplish the same thing. Granite or solid surface material should work, it would look good and it can double as a table or plant stand.

How do you conceal the joints and corners? Plywood isn't exactly the best looking material from the edge, IMO.

Besides, if it's heavy, a second person isn't usually that hard to find and hand trucks are pretty cheap these days. I really don't see that as a problem.

The have veneers for that.

Precut and preglued. All you have to do is iron it on the seam.

You can also make 45 degree cuts and join the wood that way.

 

[avaserfi]

Resonance is also an issue. It is possible to make a hardwood speaker. If you dampen it with 8lb rockwool and make it a sealed design.

There are two primary causes of cabinet resonance:

1) The driver transferring energy directly to the cabinet

2) Back waves from the driver physically exciting the cabinet

Rockwool can deal with the second cause, the first requires different methods. Fortunatly, simple bracing techniques are sufficient for subwoofers.

The have veneers for that.

Precut and preglued. All you have to do is iron it on the seam.

You can also make 45 degree cuts and join the wood that way.

I wouldn't recommend that material. It does not last well without bubbling or peeling off. Just get whatever veneer you like and use a high quality contact cement like DAP and a veneer roller. This method will last a life time if done properly.

If I am attempting to hide a seem and want to do it the easy way I ensure I lay the veneer such that the seem is not visible i.e., I will veneer the top, bottom and sides of a square cabinet then the front. From a front view there are no seams visible, from the sides and top a small seam, but it is barely noticeable. Otherwise miter cuts can be made, but that is much more work.

 

[Loren42]

I second, or third, the MDF + veneer recommendation.

You can buy paper backed veneer or solid wood veneer. Both are about 1/43" thick.

Paper backed veneer can be glued with a high quality contact cement. Solid wood veneer can not and requires another means to glue it.

I have solid wood and the plan is to coat both the MDF and veneer surfaces with Titebond wood glue, allow to dry or nearly dry, then use an iron to heat/melt the two surfaces together.

Veneers come in all types of wood. For the well heeled you can get some amazing exotic woods, but it can be expensive if you screw up.

Look around the web. I got a killer deal on some koa that will knock your socks off. I'll post pictures when it is done.

 

[Mike82]

Here is a link to a DIY page about this topic if you scroll down a little there are some test results about different material.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=130857

 

[lsiberian]

Here is a link to a DIY page about this topic if you scroll down a little there are some test results about different material.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=130857

I'm not sure how to interpret the graphs.

What is the best graph possible?