Fiberglass vs. MDF
50 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 146
Originally posted by geolemon:
The benefit of MDF is that it is has both good rigidity, and good damping characteristics... tough to find in other materials.
Grade A birch plywood is often used as a high-end alternative to MDF, but you are looking in that case at a material that simply has slightly better rigidity than MDF, and at the expense of having slightly inferior damping characteristics than MDF.
...however, car guys might appreciate the lighter weight of birch compared to MDF.
However, that's a tad off the topic at hand...
Again, if highly reflective materials such as fiberglass did have even the slightest acoustical advantage over MDF, you'd see those materials used in high end applications.
There are no steel-lined cabinets in high-end audio. And for that matter, things like plastic enclosures only exist on the low-end of the market, safely away from audiophiles.
The benefit of MDF is that it is has both good rigidity, and good damping characteristics... tough to find in other materials.
Grade A birch plywood is often used as a high-end alternative to MDF, but you are looking in that case at a material that simply has slightly better rigidity than MDF, and at the expense of having slightly inferior damping characteristics than MDF.
...however, car guys might appreciate the lighter weight of birch compared to MDF.
However, that's a tad off the topic at hand...
Again, if highly reflective materials such as fiberglass did have even the slightest acoustical advantage over MDF, you'd see those materials used in high end applications.
There are no steel-lined cabinets in high-end audio. And for that matter, things like plastic enclosures only exist on the low-end of the market, safely away from audiophiles.
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MDF is used as it is perfect in almost any way, the only real drawbacks it has in regards to enclosure construction is that it is heavy, doesn't conform to complicated shapes, and contains toxic substances (which may explainthe way SPL freaks are regarded [img]tongue.gif[/img] ). It's advantages are it's relatively cheap, is very dense and uniform, is very easy to cut and machine. Fiberglass's advantages are, it's easy to form to complicated shapes, is lightweight, and gets you high when it's curing. It's disadvantages are it's more expensive and harder to machine and cut, and you have to lay it perfect for maximum strength (which it seems alot of people around here don't do). Also it takes way longer to create an enclosure than MDF.
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Jul 25, 2007 07:47 PM
