First, the speaker cabinet looks extremely well designed and well built, regardless of what challenges you encountered! It is nicely reinforced, with good utilization of gussets. The paint job appears to be well done too. You should be proud. Well done.

MDF vs. Natural Wood

MDF — is typically the choice wood for speaker cabinets for several reasons. First, cost of course. Second, it is a very dense and does not resonate as easily as natural wood. This means less acoustic energy would be lost to the cabinet and utilized by the drivers vs. a natural wood product. You want the drivers, not the cabinet, to do the resonating. Thirdly, MDF has minimal but consistent expansion in all directions. It is considered dimensionally stable over most interior environments. Natural wood is notorious for expansion in varying humid environments. This is why woodworkers building furniture are extremely vigilant on how they design furniture; because if wood grain is not oriented in the right direction the furniture and joints will self-destruct. That being said, I do build speakers out of natural wood, however, they are always relatively small speakers (and I live in the low humidity environment of Phoenix, AZ).

As far as the MDF dust issue. Yep, MDF can be extremely messy. Working with MDF demands you have sufficient dust extraction in your shop/environment to protect your lungs. This stuff is nasty on your lungs because of the small wood fibers and the chemical bonding agents used to make the darn stuff. Natural wood can be pretty nasty too, especially some of the exotic woods of Africa and South America that are clearly toxic. I have a dust extraction system in my shop to minimize health risks. As an alternative to professional dust extraction you can use a large industrial fan to strategically direct dust away from you while working outside as weather permits. Additionally you should be wearing a NIOSH-approved P96 filtering mask with silicon seal and replaceable filters such as the 3M Paint Project Respirator Mask (models 8271, 8576, 8577). Save your lungs. According to a fellow woodworker friend of mine, older woodworkers are known for higher incidence of lung disease.

Natural Wood – is much prettier, and is more easily finished (in my humble option) than MDF which usually requires a lot of filling and sanding cycles just to get a decent smooth paintable finish. Natural wood on the other hand can be finished many different ways with poly, lacquer, dyes, stains, toasting, texturing, etc. each yielding uniquely different finishes. So wood scores high in ease and beauty of finishing.

One hybrid option I use successfully is to build the speaker cabinet out of MDF but finish the exterior with veneer. If you have a band saw and jointer you can make your own quite cost effectively. Contrary to way some think, veneer is not a “cheap” alternative. Furniture built in the 1700s and 1800s frequently used veneer on fine furniture to conceal the less expensive, but more workable and more stable wood, and with amazing results that still stand the test of time. Finally, I recently built some bookshelf speakers using MDF, but the front baffle was made of solid Curupay from Argentina. I did not however attach it to the enclosure with wood glue or screws. Instead, I used a silicon latex caulking adhesive to allow for some expansion, yet provide a perfect seal for the enclosure, which is not so critical for a ported system. Give that a try if you have some special species of wood you want to show off.

Again, well done. Keep up the good work.

All my best,
David Hall
Phoenix Sound Design