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January 2, 2007 - 9:01am
#1
The component variation that dare not speak its name?
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Over the years, I've discussed exact topic with some audionut friends and it has made me nervous about choosing a speaker with a veneer for this very reason. I can't help but think the different densities of wood would affect resonance in some way. How meaningful a difference, who can say? This will be a difficult thing to test -- you have to get two sets with different finishes. I imagine the difference, if any, will be quite subtle, especially since veneers are so thin.
One wonders if maple might be a good choice, since lots of guitars use it... but, that's chosen because of its sustain, which might be bad.
That said, if I end up springing for some new goodies this year, I'm leaning towards something like a burl.
Hi, Jeff!
I wonder about just "how subtle" this should be. If placing a little vibrating cup, a Mpingo disc, or other small item on a speaker can make such reportedly obvious differences, the sonic differences between finishes should be huge.
As you mention, woods that are used in vibrating musical instruments should be anathema.
I'm not worried about shopping, because I can always buy the same finish that I audition, but I wonder what will happen to people who buy in a finish they haven't auditioned.
I've been trying to think about past experiences, and the only thing I can think of right now is a situation where I got to hear a well regarded speaker in a nautural wood finish that sounded good; but when I heard a piano finished version of the same speaker, I heard alot of high frequency glare. At the time, I wrote it off as the difference between systems, but perhaps that piano finish wasn't the best idea for that speaker.
Who knows, it could have diffracted the treble differently than a natural wood, or maybe the natural wood helped mask a problem with the high frequency reproduction of that system that the piano finish didn't.
You've said that you can easily hear the effects of Sam Tellig's coin trick, so just imagine how much more impact finishes should have!
I agree about burl being a likely best choice, but then think about the lacquers or other "brush on" things they may put on.
Plus, even with burl, it opens up the possibility of mismatched sound from speaker to speaker in a given pair, or even an inability to "make the same speaker twice."
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I like JA's stethoscope test, but imagine that now we have to extrapolate that to every square inch of the speaker.
Maybe Krell has it right, and we should be going for something more "replicatable" with our cabinate materials.
Wilson seems headed that way with their materials, but then they add those finishes...
What a mess.
Yep, the variation would be a problem wouldn't it? Even if the veneers are done in sequence matched, mirrored pairs, in reality, one of those pieces must be a bit different. An artificial, repeatable material makes the most sense for consistency. Depending on the size of the speaker, the surface area covered with veneer could be quite substantial, although, face grade veneers are from 1/40" to 1/28" thick -- which is pretty thin. Will four quarters and two dimes resonating make a lot more noticeable noise than 1/40" x 15" x 36" (x 4 or more) sheets of veneer? My guess is quite a bit more, if only because of the frequency of the resonance. The veneers will be dampened by adhesive and mounted to MDF. But, yeah, the hardness of the finishes... oy... what a mess. If I dwell on this enough, I won't buy anything.
Maybe this is why Thiel is only veneering the sides and back of their cabinets and not the fronts. But I bet it has more to do with the curves on the face of the speaker.
Maybe this is the real reason Richard Vandersteen's made all those speakers covered by socks.
Also may be one of the reasons I have always been drawn to planars and electrostatics?
Fewer internal/surface "cabinet" resonances?
Most wood veneers range in thickness from 1/32 inch down to only about 0.005 inches. I really don't think that this is thick enough to have an audible effect on the sound of a speaker.
I think that what would have a more audible effect would be how the MDF that is used as the base material for the cabinet was constructed. MDF is basically sawdust glued together under low pressure. So the glue used would have an effect and so would the pressure used during the forming process. What I wonder is if the cabinet makers test each lot of MDF for the resonant properties before they assemble the cabinets?