My last thread was singing the praises of my newly discovered Alto Elvis 10A powered wedge and while I love the sound, I hate the look. Carpeted wedges just aren't cool :lol
Ive managed to purchase the internals from a matching but broken wedge to complete my stereo pair and here is where I start the research.
Ive built many guitar cabs in the past so the construction and tolexing isn't a problem, but I wanted to get some opinions on the materials to use.
From everything Ive read, an FRFR speaker box should be stiff and dead sounding in its construction. Meaning no resonance within the box and every panel well braced. Unlike a guitar cab where you want to hear the box as part of your tuned guitar sound in conjunction with the speakers.
Pretty much all reading points to MDF as the preferred material to use. The Alto boxes are just chip board but very well braced and solid, so I cant see MDF sounding worse.
I must admit I love working with MDF as it cuts, drills and glues up so easily. The dust isn't a concern so unless someone else can convince me that its not a good idea, Ill make a start!
Ply was my other option, and while a Birch ply would be my go to material for a regular guitar cab, I don't see the lack of density being of benefit here. Plus the internal bracing to get the box as rigid as MDF is also putting me off using it.
Weight is not really a concern either as the cabs are basically oversized 1x12s in their size and will be very manageable with small format quad box handles on either side.
Im aiming to keep the internal volume close to the wedges, but slightly bigger. I can always remove volume with high density foam inside, but I cant increase it if I make it too small. Plus I like the idea of playing around with internal volume to try and tune the cabs once built.
Ill post pics as I go and hopefully end up with a couple of cabs that wont look out of place next to my old Marshall quad box.
Thoughts and ideas anyone?
Ive managed to purchase the internals from a matching but broken wedge to complete my stereo pair and here is where I start the research.
Ive built many guitar cabs in the past so the construction and tolexing isn't a problem, but I wanted to get some opinions on the materials to use.
From everything Ive read, an FRFR speaker box should be stiff and dead sounding in its construction. Meaning no resonance within the box and every panel well braced. Unlike a guitar cab where you want to hear the box as part of your tuned guitar sound in conjunction with the speakers.
Pretty much all reading points to MDF as the preferred material to use. The Alto boxes are just chip board but very well braced and solid, so I cant see MDF sounding worse.
I must admit I love working with MDF as it cuts, drills and glues up so easily. The dust isn't a concern so unless someone else can convince me that its not a good idea, Ill make a start!
Ply was my other option, and while a Birch ply would be my go to material for a regular guitar cab, I don't see the lack of density being of benefit here. Plus the internal bracing to get the box as rigid as MDF is also putting me off using it.
Weight is not really a concern either as the cabs are basically oversized 1x12s in their size and will be very manageable with small format quad box handles on either side.
Im aiming to keep the internal volume close to the wedges, but slightly bigger. I can always remove volume with high density foam inside, but I cant increase it if I make it too small. Plus I like the idea of playing around with internal volume to try and tune the cabs once built.
Ill post pics as I go and hopefully end up with a couple of cabs that wont look out of place next to my old Marshall quad box.
Thoughts and ideas anyone?
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