Yeah, that was not true, to put it mildly.
But the subject of resonance is an interesting one. We do want to tune our listening rooms, don't we ? Speakers/room can be thought of as a unit.
Are exotic speaker cabinet materials overrated?
Seems a lot of speaker companies are coming out with new non resonant cabinet materials all the time. Wilson especially seems to be inventing a new M X V material every year. Other top speaker companies seem to be staying with MDF even when their speakers match the above mentioned speaker company prices. Do these exotic materials really contribute to a better sound or do they add an unnatural quality to the sound.
The drivers produce most of the sound (brass, wood, metal). The cabinet, like subwoofers, adds to some of the color and feel that’s lost in the recording. It’s like playing music at low volume and leaving the cabinet out of the equation. It does not feel realistic. Open baffle has a weakness in bass. It relies on the room to produce the bass, which is not the same as me playing bass in the living room and generating it from a localized area.
btw wood is not perfect either. If I push the bass, the bass guitar for example can sound woody on thick boards and hollow on thin boards. You can argue aluminum or concrete is a better fit for that type music.
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I left wood back in the 80s and have no regrets. I simply found other speakers to my liking that didn't incorporate it. I'll add that I thought the best sounding speakers at last April's Axpona were the Acoras and I almost bought a pair of Giya G2 S2, which is a wood-fiberglass hybrid. I also like Wilson Benesch's elegant solution to resonance using fiber composites. |
If we take a look at all live venues we listen to music at none of them use any speakers that incorporate these exotic materials. Even orchestra halls where nothing is amplified the surrounding walls are mostly wood with other acoustical properties. I think the most natural resonance is some type of wood incorporated into an enclosure with some sort of dampening material. All materials have resonance but what ones are the most natural sounding and to me dead sounding speakers aren’t natural. |
@hiendmmoe wood is probably the most accepted for critical music but it's got me thinking of modern music, rock or synthetic and wood might not be like the best fit. |