sub woofer box - materials to use ?

**SAScooby** · 10-28-2004, 03:04 AM

Hi All

I am in the process of performing a reinstall (going on for the 4th time now)

And i need to know what materials to use for the sub woofer box, most people I see use MDF / chipboard or a material made from lots of little chips of wood, and glue, is there a specific reason for this other than the availability of big pieces of board unaffected by wood knots etc or is there a more telling underlying reason ?

Reason I ask, in my part of the world the thickest mdf avail is 16mm whereas I can get timber (pine) in 20mm or 25mm thickness.

Now I would think that the thicker wood, would be more beneficial to a sub box construction ? am I on the right track or not ? and if I make the box out of say pine in 20mm thickness will it sound odd ? i am sure pine is not as dense as mdf ?

A search has revealed only mdf as the material, but why ?
Help !

**gospeed.racer** · 10-28-2004, 03:06 AM

From what I was told, it is due to the density of the wood. A wood with grain versus a highly compressed material like MDF will make dramatic differences in sound quality. The thinner MDF will probably be better in sound than the thicker pine. May just need to laminate the mdf to make it 2x thick.

There is a cool tutorial here that rates the different materials. Kind of humorous actually.

**SAScooby** · 10-28-2004, 11:41 AM

thanks for the info, some of those are silly, espescially "when an aircraft crashes...."

I am going to make it out of pine and layer fibreglass over it to create the stiffness and also allow me the flexibility to smooth out the edges to fit the contours of the boot

**WhiteRabbit** · 10-29-2004, 02:27 AM

another substitute for MDF is oak or baltic birch, furniture grade ply.

the advantage of mediterranean birch ply is that its much lighter than MDF but just as stiff.

**justICE** · 10-29-2004, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by SAScooby

thanks for the info, some of those are silly, espescially "when an aircraft crashes...."

I am going to make it out of pine and layer fibreglass over it to create the stiffness and also allow me the flexibility to smooth out the edges to fit the contours of the boot

Just use fiberglass=). It is not as difficult as you think to get a professional looking (and definitely mechanically sound) box. Cost will be about ~75-100 bucks for the material. PM me if you need any help.

also, you did not mention what type of speaker you are using but 5/8 (16mm) MDF is acceptable for making enclosures. ( see page 3 ).

If you really want to limit the amount of fiberglass you use then make the non-mounting surface out of 16mm mdf and the mounting surface out of fiberglass=).

**SAScooby** · 10-30-2004, 01:16 AM

Hi

thanks for the replies, I am using 2 x 12 inch Pionner 4ohm 150watt rms subs in this box, I am going to finish it up in pine, then use "bondo" to seal all the joins and then I am going to coat the box in one or two layers of 'glass, and then smooth the edges to fit the boot contours, hope it isnt too much work to make it look pro, the vision in the head is filled with plexiglass with a subaru logo etched on it and some subtle blue neons....lets hope the end result is halfway as good as the vision !