Are carbon fiber speaker cabinets inherently better than wood or metal ones


There seems to be a pretty big jump in speaker prices when moving to carbon fiber cabinetry when all else is equal (or what seems like equal). Is this because it is able to be molded into more acoustically correct shapes or simple the characteristics of the material?

sokogear

Showing 3 responses by sokogear

Nobody has addressed the more important question I raised. Does the malleability of carbon fiber which enables it to be molded into round or rounded cabinets improve the sound of speakers? Of course room acoustics make a huge difference in achievable SQ, much of that due to the shape/dimensions of the room. I would bet a oval shaped room would sound best, or perhaps horseshoe shaped. Is the same true of speaker cabinets? Can it give more of an open baffle sound without the negatives of open baffles?

@tweak1 - to me the only negative of the open baffle design are their looks. If they are for a dedicated listening room (or man cave/basement) where a physics lab type look is not a big deal they're fine, versus in a den (where my system is) where you don't want them to look out of place or as a curiosity .

I had open baffle speakers for 25 years and liked them. Alons, but only the tweeter and midrange were open - but they were hidden behind a well designed grill so unless you walked up to them you wouldn't know they were open behind the drivers on top behind the front and side grill.

After all that time I had an opportunity to get a closeout bargain on a pair of KEF R500s that are thin piano black rectangles which are a more dynamic and detailed with better bass response. Alons were more relaxed. KEFs are improved tremendously by multi layer platforms I put them on (Symposium acoustics Stealth Segues) that both isolate them from the suspended floor and drain distortion from inside the cabinets. Much better than the spike/disc combos that KEF supplies. I wonder if the new R5 Metas are worth the huge price increase  (over 20% over the R5s which were a 10% bump above the R500s). KEF is now closing out the R5s which are a bargain. Big companies inventory miscalculations are a benefit to audiophiles, versus small ones who can manufacture very closely to demand.

I am still curious to hear from anyone who thinks the unusual potential shapes of carbon fiber speakers' cabinets adds to their SQ with all else being equal, or is it just a matter of the overall design.