[jtwrace]

I've been thinking of building new cabinets for my custom 3-way I built.  My question is what's the best enclosure material?  I would prefer something that can be CNC'd in my router / large mill.  I thought I had the ideal material until I did some investigating. 

aluminum like my subs?   

The speakers are now 2" MDF.

[NagysAudio]

3/8" T6061 aluminum. Not too expensive and easy to work with. Great material for speaker enclosures. Make sure it has some sort of a bracing system inside. Aluminum can also be anodized and etched and look extremely professional.

Plus it doesn't age with time and different panels and speaker drivers can be changed many times without the worry of striping out the threads.

If you ever decide to upgrade to a different set of drivers in the future, only the front baffle needs to be recut/machined.

[NagysAudio]

Oh and if you're building a 3-way, I would recommend building it in modules. Tweeter + midrange module. Bass 1 module. Bass 2 module, etc.

[jtwrace]

3/8" T6061 aluminum. Not too expensive and easy to work with. Great material for speaker enclosures. Make sure it has some sort of a bracing system inside. Aluminum can also be anodized and etched and look extremely professional.

Plus it doesn't age with time and different panels and speaker drivers can be changed many times without the worry of striping out the threads.

If you ever decide to upgrade to a different set of drivers in the future, only the front baffle needs to be recut/machined.

Take a look at my galler and see my sub that I built.  It's .500" 6061.

I've been a bit worried on the high frequencies.  You don't think it's an issue?


Here is the speaker in its current form.

[NagysAudio]

Not an issue if you brace it properly. There are many ways to evacuate vibrations from a speaker cabinet. This is a completely separate and complicated science. But one trick is to use different metal for the bottom plate. Like brass. And leave the rest of the box aluminum. Just use a sufficient bracing system.

Line the inside walls with 1/2" self adhesive gray foam, like the one you can buy from partsexpress.com and stuff the rest of the box with bubble wrap.

If you're doing a ported design, I strongly recommend making the port holes on the front baffle.

For bass modules, I would recommend doing a ported isobaric design. Also with the port holes on the front baffle.

I've designed a ton of speakers and used just about all materials available and all configurations.

[jtwrace]

The speaker that you see above is sealed.  If you have looked at my sub, it's very strong.  When I did the FEA on it I was very surprised with the torsional stiffness.  You would think I was going to drive it.     Go figure!

I also did a simulation for frequency...you can't see the bottom of the sub in the photos for a reason.   

[NagysAudio]

Well it looks like it's already a module type of design, so just make it out of aluminum. For a sealed enclosure, the damping material should be fiberfill, not foam/bubble wrap as I explained before.

Personally, I'm against sealed cabinet designs. Strongly against.

[jtwrace]

Personally, I'm against sealed cabinet designs. Strongly against.

Why is that?

[NagysAudio]

Because I want more bass from a smaller enclosure, that's how smart engineers design equipment. I don't want my speakers to have an f3 at 90Hz. Or a speaker with an extremely large cabinet.

[jtwrace]

Because I want more bass from a smaller enclosure, that's how smart engineers design equipment. I don't want my speakers to have an f3 at 90Hz. Or a speaker with an extremely large cabinet.

Well, since you are smarter, when can I listen to your speakers, amp, preamp, source................................. ....................................... .................. that YOU designed?

[NagysAudio]

Start with Nagys cables...

[jtwrace]

Start with Nagys cables...

How about the Nagy Challenge?  You come to RMAF this year and we do a true blind test with some members.  You pick the system. 

If you get more then 50% I'll say YOU ARE THE MAN (or whatever gender you claim to be). 

[jtwrace]

and even better we can make it the first annual one.  This way you have one year to perfect all your gear.

I like the way this is going.   

[NagysAudio]

No thanks. Unless you pay for my round trip ticke and all other expenses during my stay.

I've done more blind tests, acoustic tests, electrical tests, than most of the people put together. I have nothing to prove to myself.

[sts9fan]

No shilling in The Lab. Also please keep your cabe comparo crap to the cable circle.
If you are as smart as you say I am sorry you took the low fruit of cables. Maybe you should use your smarts to design something novel or difficult.
My boys wicked smat.

[jtwrace]

No thanks. Unless you pay for my round trip ticke and all other expenses during my stay.

I've done more blind tests, acoustic tests, electrical tests, than most of the people put together. I have nothing to prove to myself.

That's exactly what I thought.  It's not about you it's about the customer. 

No shilling in The Lab. Also please keep your cabe comparo crap to the cable circle.
If you are as smart as you say I am sorry you took the low fruit of cables. Maybe you should use your smarts to design something novel or difficult.
My boys wicked smat.

Not me I hope.   

[NagysAudio]

sts9fan - All my posts were 100% on topic. I was not the one who went off topic first. If you're going to accuse me of something, at least accuse me of something I'm guilty of.

[sts9fan]

The world is not black and white. Based on this you are generally wrong.

[jtwrace]

The world is not black and white. Based on this you are generally wrong.

 

[TONEPUB]

Well, since you are smarter, when can I listen to your speakers, amp, preamp, source................................. ....................................... .................. that YOU designed?

Good one.  Haven't met any high end audio amp or speaker designers yet, that threw away their success in that area to concentrate on cables.  Hmmm.