What is your favorite material for loudspeakers?

Wilson benesch has some interesting information on their website wilso-bensch.com If you go to their newsroom and scroll down they show a list of materials and the speed which sound travels through them. Ideally you would want sound waves to travel quickly so the energy is not stored and released slowly. Their speakers are made with carbon fiber which dissipates the waves off the back of the driver much faster than other materials. In addition carbon fiber is very ridged so the cabinet itself does not move around and vibrate. If you play the violin or cello you should really look at the website of louis and clark. They make these instruments from carbon fiber. I believe they are very very good sounding. Most orchestras do not allow them because they want those instruments to have the wood look. As a dealer for wilson benesch I can vouch for benefits of that material, speed lack of coloration, and they disappear.

If you have a dealer near you take a listen.

Not to belabor the point, but I was looking at an photo from the CES show a couple of years ago and found a photo of Vanderstein 5's. This was a special pair that Richard built using carbon fiber. Apparently the sounded great but I am sure production was very expensive. I think the Marten speakers are made from carbon fiber as well. My guess is that working with that material takes alot of research and would be tough to do in a garage. So we have three major companies that use/have used carbon fiber successfully. My guess is when you design with carbon fiber you probably would need an entirely different crossover and drivers. Not as easy as one would think.

I miss spelled the name of the violin company. There website is http://luisandclark.com/ . I doubt they sound as good as a Strat but when a 5K violin can sound as good as a 100K violin that tells me something.

Rodman

Tung Oil is good stuff. Hand rubbed to put a little love into those speakers. The music gods are smiling on you.

You are correct. The best cabinet would be no cabinet. That is clearly why planar speakers over the years have had an edge over box speakers. Of course there are problems with that as well. di-pole sound brings the back waves into the picture and encourages you to bring those speakers out from the rear wall more than you might prefer, then there is the issue of controlling the woofer. I think I was just reading a review of a speaker that does that with electronics. That makes my eyes glaze over...and my head to explode...

We will see where all this technology takes us.

John
I have had some speakers in house made from birch plywood. What a relief over MDF. Much better tonal quality. I think the big difference is that MDF has so much glue in it. Much more mass and that acts like a solar heat sink holding in the resonance.. I think most speaker manufactures know that. But it does take a different and more expensive approach. You buy veneered plywood and build from that. With MDF you can build the speaker first and then if it is OK just cover with veneer. Not the degree of difficulty that working with expensive plywood has.
By the way what is french polish???

JohnK

Are you a speaker manufacture or just a "crazy" audiophile like the rest of us?
That sounds like fun but a lot of work as well. Just curious how much the Birch ply costs per sheet and how hard is it to work with, doing the corners and miters etc. You purchase it with a finish veneer I suppose, walnut, cherry or what ever you want.

Quido

Wow. That is so much more than mdf. The Finnish stuff I understand is the best. I would love to hear what some of the more expensive speakers would sound like if they were made from this stuff. That would be a project wouldn't it. Take a vanderstein and remake it in plywood. I am just a terrible woodworker so no chance here.

John

You take speaker building to a conscientious high.
So what is the brand name on your speakers? or do you just make them on a custom basis?