MDF or birch

[pimpedout97x 4]

i prefer birch and will use it for all and any builds of mine.

i hate mdf.

[mattison187 0]

i went with birch and im happy as hell with it. much lighter, less apt 2 strip on ya, and stained n polyed it looks beautiful(as gay as that sounds lol)

pic of my baffle^

[dem beats 1,223]

doesn't sound gay sir, it sounds like you car about what you have crafted. Looks good mang!

[DD99Z 0]

I like MDF but there is a big difference where you get it from, friends of mine have done load tests on different sheets from different places and Menards sheets were the worst. But anyway I've found that the weak MDF sucks up resin pretty well (roughly .25-.375 inch) so we made an enclosure for a DD 3500 15" we layered MDF sandwhiched with mat and resin and crosshatching each sheet of MDF with plunge cuts from a circular saw about .125 in depth and spaced about 1/2 in. after coating inside and out it was pretty heavy lol.. but he did well in competition scoring a 147.2 on a TL.

[theabunai 3]

So there really isn't much of a difference in sound from MDF and Baltic Birch....

[jbob 0]

So how well does 3/4" birch plywood work, not the baltic stuff, the actual 11-ply that comes in a 4x8?

[audio-neon 34]

So how well does 3/4" birch plywood work, not the baltic stuff, the actual 11-ply that comes in a 4x8?

It works, but if it's got voids it sucks, I only use it for low powered home sub setups.

[ramos 2]

So there really isn't much of a difference in sound from MDF and Baltic Birch....

Build it right and it shouldn't sound different

[buggsson 0]

The size of the enclosure might also play a role in what you choose - real birch ply doesn't come in 4x8 sheets, but smaller square sheets...so if you have something with larger sides than that...

I don't know where you got that info. from, but it is not correct, at least not east of the atlantic. Here are a couple of examples on what can be had over here:

1220 x 2440 mm

1220 x 3050/3660 mm

1250 x 2500 mm

1250 x 3000/3600 mm

1500 x 1500/2400/2500/3000/3600 mm

1525 x 1525/2440/2500/3050/3660 mm

Max thickness = 30 mm (21 ply)

it goes 25,4 mm to an inch.

Info from here:

www.wisa.com

Another aspect of why I do not plan to use MDF is the dust, not healthy at all, and additional alleged advantages, quite a few posts over at diyaudio.com concerns this issue.

Edited July 21, 2008 by buggsson