okay i found the reason why people dont use birch for boxes

[bbaudi382]

its so hard to work with! birch plywood is inconsistant and you have to fill holes before screwing or the wood will split.

lets hope the results are better than the process =P

i've finished building 1 8" box and the sub fits!!! awesome =) it better sound good after all this work i'm putting into it.

[wombatt_0]

depending on the grade of plywood you use it will usually have lots of voids between the laminations. apple ply or fin ply is void free between the laminations. the main reason for mdf for speaker boxed is based on the stability of the material composition. it won't shrink or warp over time.

[saejin]

When I first read your other post about using birch for the sub box, I thought you meant solid birch. I see now that you're using plywood and I'm guessing it has a birch veneer or something!!!

First of all plywood would probably make a terrible sub box and I mean any type of plywood. You want the material for a sub box to be as dense as possible. MDF is used because it's cheap and dense. As far as solid woods are concerned oak is a good choice and probably maple or birch.

[ungucpho]

most of the time birch is used for the face of the enclosure. something about the ability to hold screws better. i forgot how it goes though

[hyperspeed]

i thought u got solid birch? not plywood?

[RippleChip]

Plywood, yikes.
Lets see some updates of this process.

[JBM]

ouch that hurts. for my friends fiberglass we used mdf skeleton and mdf for the rings, than clothed it than covered it than sanded gelled and painted. pain in the ass to get the rings aright and the cones looking good but it did happen.

[bbaudi382]

well it seemms pretty strong to me. its definately going to be interesting once i get an amp to see how it sounds. if its no good ill try again with mdf.

[sweettalker]

ASS! I told you birch sucks...might as well use concrete...

[Jeff]

I've actually built some home theater boxes with birch ply in the past, and it is actually much more stronger than MDF. It is just a BITCH to work with, and cannot be filled or shaped like you can with MDF. You will also need a stronger blade. MDF may be more solid, but plywood overall is much stronger. The best technique is plywood with LOTS of bracing, which will be much stronger than an MDF box. (I dropped my ply box 3 stories down and it held up!) Besides being hard to work with, Plywood cuts much cleaner (I mean a LOT), while MDF flakes and gets dust everywhere (that stuff is bad for you through time, which is probably why I'm retarded!..haha) MDF is 1/2" the price though, which is why I prefer it over plywood when making sub enclosures. I work with so much MDF, I usually get left over with so much dust, I can glue them to form another whole 4x8' board! This is what I do btw: www.justplaingaming.com