GR-Research Speakers

[kano32]

I'm not sure what you mean by "directional expansion". The pics of the Salk Sound speakers I did not build. I was just showing those as an example of using harwood for the front baffle. I always used mdf and painted it or veneer over the mdf.

These sound incredible. The amount of clear & clean sound of that comes out of this small speakers is impressive.

[tribalwind]

nice stuff!

im a draftsman/designer for a high-end audio-visual/lighting integrator firm so i get all the industry mags for speakers etc. some of these really blow me away,and look within my reach craftwise after some practice ,ive wanted to get into it myself but keep putting it off.the nautilus designs from B&W look really far-out though. we also sell alot of CAT MBX systems(people are paying in the millions for these speakers, its crazy!)

i also know an artist nearby who does INCREDIBLE looking speaker "sculpture" (cant even call it a cabinet lol) ill get his website if i can find it.

[rollo]

salk speaks

I understand that you didn't build them, i'm just curious if they actually glue the panels to MDF, or screw them on allowing for expansion of the hardwood. Solid wood expands differently cross grain and long grain. Wood expands and contracts a significant amount on the cross grain (which is why you can't build a solid, airtight hardwood box w/o using some tricky expansion joints, I had a post on this earlier). If you glue a piece of hardwood directly to a solid substrate and put it through changes in humidity, one of a few things may happen:
1. Nothing. Works fine, acting like another ply layer of plywood.
2. Split the hardwood baffle. If the wood is thick enough, the bottom part of wood that is glued to the MDF/plywood stays stationary, and the stresses that build up in the hardwood split the top surface as the hardwood tries to warp.
3. Split the underlaying MDF. The hardwood stresses are great enough to tear apart the MDF.
4. Glue joint failure: the stress would shear the glue joint. This is probably least likely, as the glue is typically stronger than the wood, especially in shear.

Any experience people have with hardwood bonding to MDF/Plywood would be great, as I am intending to do exactly what the salk people are doing. Sorry for the slight thread drift.

[kano32]

I've seen several speaker cabinet makers that use solid hardwood front baffles and they all glue it to the mdf. I haven't heard or seen of any problems.

[lcm1947]

Good Lord! Those are beautiful! Man, I'm impressed - greatly!