2. speakers
  3. 159021-17271

Why are there so many wooden speakers?

I have noticed a problem within the speaker industry. 99% of speakers that come onto the marketplace are wooden, i.e MDF.
 
This is true of old speakers and new speakers. This is true of Dynaudio, B&W, Elac, Kef, revel, PMC, Focal, ATC the list goes on and on. This is a longstanding problem that has been deceiving audiophiles for decades and it requires a solution. 

The problem with a wooden box is that no matter what crossover or drivers you use, it will still sound like a wooden box. 
There is a limit to the sound you can get out of a wooden box so it is not possible to improve the sound just by using different drivers. Despite this, every year or two, the aforementioned companies put new speakers on the market claiming that they sound even better than what came before. In conclusion, we are being misled. 

I have no problem with MDF boxes per se. MDF is a good material to use. But if you want to make an even better speaker then you obviously need to use a better material. You cant use the same material and say you have made a better speaker. Thats false. 

Let's take the B&W 600 series for example. This is a series that has been going on for decades. 

Here is the latest speaker from their current series

https://www.bowerswilkins.com/home-audio/607

There is no mention of what wood is used but I'm pretty sure its MDF. All they talk about is their continuum woofer and dome tweeter that goes up to 38khz. No mention of even improvements to the crossover let alone the cabinet.

I believe that this has gone on for long enough and audiophiles deserve better treatment. I don't know if a class action lawsuit is the answer but something needs to change.
kenjit
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
Likewise, utterly unreasonable that most stringed instruments have bodies made of wood.  Outrageous!
If only Stradivarius had followed the model of the charango, things would be a lot better...
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,443 posts
 
MDF....what the hell is that? My speakers are made bespoke birch plywood cabinetry.  The timeless beauty of the oiled walnut, hand selected burr walnut inlays....not to mention well engineered Variable Distributed Port system allowing low-frequency output to be tuned to suit any room dimensions -:)
ssblnt99
16 posts
 
Here is what Focal says about using MDF cabinets. It makes sense to me.

Because the surface area of a loudspeaker cabinet is many times greater than that of the drive unit diaphragms, it is all too easy for the enclosure to radiate sound at a level similar to that of the drivers, sound that is coloured by resonances within the cabinet structure. This muddies the speaker’s sound and blurs the stereo image. To prevent this, it is vital that the loudspeaker cabinet be as inert as possible. At Focal, we use MDF (medium-density fibreboard) to achieve this. It may seem a "low-tech" solution compared to some cabinet materials employed today but MDF has inherent advantages that we believe make it the optimum material from which to construct a loudspeaker.

First, it is dense enough and stiff enough – when used in a thick, heavy front baffle – to resist the magnet reaction force from the drive units. As the driver diaphragm is forced forwards by the voice coil, an equal force acts in the opposite direction on the drive unit chassis. This is one of the major inputs of vibrational energy to the cabinet and it must be resisted. This requires not just a thick baffle but also meticulously placed internal bracing. Too stiff a cabinet, though, can be as bad as one which is not stiff enough because it pushes structural resonances up in frequency to a part of the spectrum where the ear is more sensitive.


Second, MDF has something resembling a sandwich structure, in which the faces on each side of the board are denser than its core. As well as contributing to stiffness, this endows MDF with good internal damping to help suppress vibrations when they occur. Sopra and Utopia front baffles use MDF plates thick laminated to multiply the sandwich effect (69mm thick for Sopra). Third, MDF can easily formed into curved cabinet forms. These are good both acoustically, because they allow the radiated sound to diffract smoothly around the cabinet without secondary radiation from sharp cabinet edges, and structurally because curved panels are stiffer than conventional flat ones. This combination of a thick front baffle, extensive internal bracing and curved panel forms (all constructed using MDF) we call Focal’s Gamma Structure. It is as important to the sound of our top loudspeakers as the drive units themselves.


https://www.focal.com/en/focal-teach/gamma-structure




kenjit OP
1,771 posts
 
And what are these better materials that we consumers have all been denied?

Magico Wilson and others use materials like aluminium or concrete or composite materials. 

If you are going to put out a new speaker everything needs to be fully upgraded. The drivers, crossovers and cabinet. 
Speaker companies do not do this. They deserve to be blamed for this. 

At the end of the day it’s up to you the consumer to decide if it’s good enough for your particular needs.

It's up to the speaker companies to stop making MDF speakers that all sound like MDF boxes. Do you really think audiophiles want that? 
Audiophiles want more transparent sound quality not less. MDF does not provide that.
kenjit OP
1,771 posts
 
My speakers are made of bespoke birch plywood cabinetry.
The B&W 607 are not. Neither are most speakers made by Dynaudio, B&W, Elac, Kef, revel, PMC, Focal, ATC. 

Audiophiles want better sound and you cant achieve that with MDF. Why do speaker companies keep producing newer models when in reality they use the same cabinets which adds the same coloration? How do you justify this?  Do you want to hear the music on your cd or the coloration of the speaker cabinet? 
More to discover