theoretical question.

[Faze]

Just doing some research on speaker enclosure designs and wondered what you guys think.

How do you think cabinet construction materials affect the sound eg MDF against Birch ply or composites.

how much does the enclosure shape affect the speaker sound eg Cube vs Rectangle vs pyramid vs sphere vs cylinder etc

which enclosure design offers the best freq response eg vented vs sealed vs horn.

plus anything else you might think is relavant.

thanks in advance for any comments!


Faze

[Confucius]

All the things you mention will affect the noise a speaker emits.

One thing you did leave out is their position relative to eachother and other objects.

My guess is one could write a very weighty tome on speaker design and not reach any 'ideal' conclusion.....

[Faze]

I purposely left positioning as that is one thing that is easy to change, however if you have just brought yourself a speaker setup consisting of cylindrical vented cabinets in birch ply, it's not something you are going to change to easily if you don't like the sound.........

perhaps I should rephrase slightly.

what design features would you like to see in a speaker enclosure given free reign in terms of cost and manufacture (eg pyramid/cylinder/sphere/horn/whatever shapes were easily possible) and for what reason?

Faze

How do you think cabinet construction materials affect the sound eg MDF against Birch ply or composites.

Ideally they shouldn't affect the sound at all, you want the sound to come from the speaker, not the cabinet. Unfortunately, the cabinet will add resonance it's just a question of minimising it as much as possible.


how much does the enclosure shape affect the speaker sound eg Cube vs Rectangle vs pyramid vs sphere vs cylinder etc

Take a look here at the results of different enclosure shapes. It will give you some insights into why the B&W Nautilus range is shaped the way it is.
http://members.aol.com/kmetaverso/graphs.htm


which enclosure design offers the best freq response eg vented vs sealed vs horn.

Depends on what tradeoffs you're prepared to live with! For example a sealed cabinet will have a better group delay response than a vented cabinet which will give a 'tighter' sound, however, a vented cabinet will have a lower frequency response than a sealed cabinet due to the output from the port at it's resonance frequency.

plus anything else you might think is relavant.

There are a number of good books on the subject, take a look at the bookshop section of Wilmslow Audio.

https://secure.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/acatalog/Wilmslow_Audio_Books_on_Loudspeakers_9.html

[Faze]

So an ideal speaker enclosure - would be one that is constructed in a non-resonant material in a spherical shape?

the only decision left to make is weather to go sealed or vented - what about horn loaded? anyone have any expirience of that sort of enclosure?

Faze

There is no design ideal for everyone, I can show you box shaped speakers that sound much better then cilindrical or whatever...

Why dont you go and audition speakers until you find one you really like ? And then it might not suit your listening room