Speaker Components

Speaker Overview

• Types of drivers
• Interpretation of Catalog Specification
• Enclosures
• Enclosure Materials
• Assembly of Enclosures

Enclosure Materials

Among the many types of materials available even for general consumers, plywood will be the best choice in terms of price, processability and acoustic characteristics. Typical easy-to-obtain plywood types are presented below while many more are available.

(1) LAUAN PLYWOOD

This plywood is one of the most widely available plywood. Plywood of lauan, which is a tropical wood, is commercially available in various thicknesses. Its appropriate level of rigidity makes this material one of acoustically excellent candidates. Only solid plywood should be chosen for enclosure production purposes.

(2) LINDEN PLYWOOD

Linden plywood is generally lauan plywood laminated with a linden veneer. With a surface smoother than that of lauan, and with very acceptable appearance, this type of plywood is a good choice for aesthetic acoustic applications. Plywood made only of linden is too soft for acoustic applications.

(3) OREGON PINE PLYWOOD

This soft plywood made from North American trees is characterized by reproduction capability of high quality sound. No materials other than this may be appropriate for enclosures where advantages of enclosure vibration is positively intended to be taken.

(4) LUMBER CORE MATERIALS

This material is composed of glued-up square-cut wood, and used as the base material, with a surface material sandwiching the base material. Often laminated with linden material, this plywood is rather soft and, occasionally, has a hollow structure. This structure makes these materials acoustically unsuitable. If its use is still chosen, candidate materials should be closely inspected whether to have a suitably high density structure.

(5) PARTICLEBOARD

This product is made of glued and pressed wood chips to form sheets. Bonded chips using adhesive are extremely hard and heavy. The use of large sized chips makes these boards unfit for screwing or nailing. Also, an attempt to glue these boards together will result in difficulties. In this respect, it is not very adequate for the general public to process, compared to most other materials.

(6) MDF (Medium density fiberboard)

Like particleboard, these products are also glued and compressed under heat. What makes this material differ from particleboard is that this MDF is made from very fine wood powder. This construction permits use of wood screws for ease of processing.

(7) LAMINATED WOOD BOARD

These are boards made up of glued square-cut pieces of wood. Nowadays, use of many types of choice woods is possible, and subsequently, excellent sound, thanks to the availability of such choice natural woods, can be enjoyed. However, the physical property inherent in such natural woods, such as its likelihood to warp, remains present even after they have been made to form enclosure components, resulting in occasional distortion or cracks in enclosures.