Your choice of the most "inert" cabinets ?


I think the Rockport Lyra unique cabinet design "trumps" them.
ptss
Max Townshend molds his speaker cabinets from Plaster-of-Paris I believe. That's one reason they are not available in the U.S.A.---too heavy to ship from the U.K.!
Well I have Norh marble synthetic very heavy..I like them a lot..the Andra are also granite....
brf, nice 'note'; you're making me b'a'rf ..  tee hee

granny, I'd love to see my speakers 'move and breathe' but I think I'd need some of your LSD to assist my 'vision' tee hee

kalali, concrete is interesting and I'm going to look into it, thanks

Those of us who've been in this hobby long enough know that 'resonance' is not a bad word when it to comes to speakers. Am listening to Govt Mule Live now, and my Spendor's resonances sound good as %$#&.
The best I have heard move and breathe like an instrument. Harbeth and Audio Note come to mind. 
Hmmm, cast concrete sounds intriguing. Wondering why no one is using this approach. Obviously weight is not as much of a concern seeing loudspeakers already out there weighing hundreds of pounds...
MDF is good and practical. Not sure that there is a best. Amusing to see proponents of inert cabinets also supportive of rigid metallic or ceramic drivers. Gee gosh golly - speaker cabinets need to be inert but I guess it is ok for the diaphragms on the drivers to ring like a bell? Slight disconnect or what...
I agree with bdp24 the best cabinet is none, others can include Bent and Formed Laminations, I have seen fabricated steel used, Celestion used Aerolam , an aluminium honeycombed laminated material. Cast concrete is fun and not to mention an easy favourite , Lead Lined . The sand filled cavity has been used in the UK for transmission line cabinets for years, I love this hobby, all roads can lead to Rome.

No cabinet is the best cabinet. But that's only one reason why I prefer planars---ESL's, magnetic-planars, ribbons. All but one pair of speaker "cabinets" I do have are actually open baffle frames; the fact that they aren't sealed and are heavily braced reduces the ability of the walls to resonate.

The one pair of sealed cabinets I do have contain subwoofer drivers. I made the enclosure as a box-within-a-box, with a 1/2 space between the two, the cavity filled with no.60 Silica sand. The interior box is cross-braced every 5", and that plus the damping sand results in very "quiet" enclosures.

I will make a bet that your own measuring tools are not your ears but your eyes.

Maybe the speakers are just as good or better, but only testing will show why.  i.e. it may not be the cabinet
Von Schweikert cabinets in their new lines are so silent and non-reactive you can see the precision of drum strikes with no blurring on an occiliscope
ebm3,743 posts01-14-2017 5:37amTry Magico Q3,M3,S5 very inert plus they sound great not cheap though.
+ 1. JA just reviewed the S5 Mk2's and had to place a stethoscope up to the cabinet to detect any cabinet 'excitement', and even then it was barely audible. The 1/2" thick curved aluminium cabinet and top plate are very effective at breaking up internal standing waves.
If I had money for that kind of measuring equipment, I'd just buy Rockports, Magicos, or the like. I use my own measuring tools, and that of friends that can afford those ultra-high-end speakers, our ears, who agree with me regarding the quality of music reproduction provided by my custom built speakers.

I am not criticizing owners of very high-end speaker brands, I'm happy for them, and I'd be tempted to purchase such quality transducers, were I able to do so. All I know for sure though, is I am able to listen for many hours daily with no listening fatigue, and nothing but enjoyment. That's all that matters.

Regards,
Dan

Those who can spend tens of thousands on those massively inert cabinets, I say more power to them. I, however, don't have those resources. For my final loudspeakers in this life, I had enclosures made of two layers of MDF, 3/4" laminated to 1 1/8", for a net of 1 7/8", each enclosure weighs 192lbs; less drivers and crossovers.

My cost, including shipping from coast to coast, was less than $5000. Their performance is nearly on par with the best on offer anywhere, as far as I can tell (I haven't heard many of the high priced spread for a few years), but I'm fairly confident in my assertion.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Regards,
Dan
Why is having a speaker cabinet that is not chemically reactive important??