@kokakolia
Ive build a bunch of various horn loaded speakers, ranging from 6’ tall, 300ltr double horns w 8” drivers to small 3” Baby Labs along with some voigt pipes. Yes, I like full range drivers also :)
Rigidity is kind of key in ensuring that cabinet resonances are kept to a minimum.
3/4” Baltic birch has been my material of choice as it is lighter than MDF and provides an equal, if not better, resonance control than MDF. The big horns I build weigh about 120lbs. Don’t want to think about what they would weigh if I had built them out of MDF.
I built both my kids Baby Labs for their rooms. One pair was built out of cheap ply, and the other out of MDF which was thicker than the ply. I also added some bracing to that enclosure. The stiffer, thicker MDF speakers sounds better than cheap plywood. Better clarity and bass control.
A speaker is not like a musical instrument in that you want the box to provide any sound - in most cases… The speaker driver itself is the instrument, and it needs to be put in an enclosure so it gets to do what it’s supposed to. It’s my opinion, that the enclosure is there to aid the driver in doing it’s job. It should help to move the sound waves without imparting any additional tone which could smear the sound from the driver
Wood is comparatively inexpensive, and easy to work with. Materials like slate, cast iron, aluminium, concrete or fibreglass, all require very specialised tools and processes.
Currently, I’m working in a pair of coax speakers that I am researching having enclosures that are made of gray cast iron. But, expensive to have done if one doesn’t have connections to help with that.
Would be such an interesting experiment to have identical enclosures of significantly different materials so first hand A/B comparisons could be done.
