A discussion was had between Scottmoose and I over wood selection for building horn speakers. Different types of finishes were also discussed. Obviously like anything else in audio, preferences and bias will depend on personal preference & thy ear taste buds. It seems the subject might make a nice discussion thread.
Here is a little of my experience with diff woods and Spawn designs...... This should get the thread started...
I've built three pair of Saburo's and two Sachiko's. One pair of Nagoaka D90's and a pair of Derek Walton inspired voigt pipes from solid pine.
All of them I've built from different wood and used different finishes.
My first Saburo was constructed from 3/4" Maple Ply. The front and sides were covered with Maple veneer to hide the ply edges. I then coated them with a water based General Finishes Polycrylic, which is recommended for Maple as it stays clear and does not yellow like some oil based poly is prone to.
The second set was made from Cherry ply with no veneer. Stained and then coated with the same polycrylic. (easy to work with and clean up)
Both were in my listening room at the same time. (photo below) To this day I still feel the Maple ply had a "livlier" sound. Perhaps quicker sounding? The Cherry had a deeper, robust sound.
One Sachiko was built from Birch ply and the other from Maple ply. A close friend of mine had my original birch ply pair that were painted black. (Photo on the Frugal-Horn splash page) He requested I build another for him from Maple and veneer the front with Mahogany to better match his room. When we swapped out the drivers and fired up the new cabinets, we immediately noticed that the new Maple cabinets had that lively sound I mentioned before.
I have a pair of Maple Saburo's about 3/4ths complete. Perhaps some Mono experiments are in order with one finished and one with no finish??
Would be happy to hear your thoughts and observations regarding wood species and finishes.
Photo below is of the Maple speakers and Cherry ones in my listening room at the same time.
Here is a little of my experience with diff woods and Spawn designs...... This should get the thread started...
I've built three pair of Saburo's and two Sachiko's. One pair of Nagoaka D90's and a pair of Derek Walton inspired voigt pipes from solid pine.
All of them I've built from different wood and used different finishes.
My first Saburo was constructed from 3/4" Maple Ply. The front and sides were covered with Maple veneer to hide the ply edges. I then coated them with a water based General Finishes Polycrylic, which is recommended for Maple as it stays clear and does not yellow like some oil based poly is prone to.
The second set was made from Cherry ply with no veneer. Stained and then coated with the same polycrylic. (easy to work with and clean up)
Both were in my listening room at the same time. (photo below) To this day I still feel the Maple ply had a "livlier" sound. Perhaps quicker sounding? The Cherry had a deeper, robust sound.
One Sachiko was built from Birch ply and the other from Maple ply. A close friend of mine had my original birch ply pair that were painted black. (Photo on the Frugal-Horn splash page) He requested I build another for him from Maple and veneer the front with Mahogany to better match his room. When we swapped out the drivers and fired up the new cabinets, we immediately noticed that the new Maple cabinets had that lively sound I mentioned before.
I have a pair of Maple Saburo's about 3/4ths complete. Perhaps some Mono experiments are in order with one finished and one with no finish??
Would be happy to hear your thoughts and observations regarding wood species and finishes.
Photo below is of the Maple speakers and Cherry ones in my listening room at the same time.