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No offence please, but....

Posted by Morse (A) on May 6, 2002 at 20:36:12

In Reply to: Picking nits. posted by R. Hertz on May 6, 2002 at 19:46:19:

Please take no offence, but I must respectfully disagree with you on this.

I think that the controversy about the utility of cabinet finishes as a means of cabinet resonance control comes down to the same dichotomy of design philosophy that exists between solid state enthusiasts (who want the lowest possible distortion) and their valve hifi counterparts (who are willing to live with a higher level of distortion, so long as the result is "musical").

With respect to loudspeakers, one camp wants the lowest amplitude of cabinet resonances (and thus favours MDF, which is claimed by many to have an 'unmusical' sound in terms of the resonances that are present), while the other camp, though desiring low resonance in a speaker cabinet, is willing to accept more resonant output from the cabinet so long as it is 'musical" in character (and thus tends to use real wood and finishing techniques similar to musical instruments, despite the drawbacks this entails).

With all due respect, the finish that is applied to a musical instrument (such as a violin) most certainly can affect it's sound! Thus, if one wants his or her enclosures to function analogously to "musical instruments", then it would make some sense to me to pay attention to that sort of detail.

At the moment, the "smallest amplitude of resonance" camp is overwhelmingly dominant in loudspeaker design over the "musical instrument" camp.

As far as a special "mystery finish" is concerned, you are very right to be skeptical, in my opinion, of any panacea. I suspect that the finish that makes one cabinet sound "just right" may not be the best one for another. An enclosure built around the "smallest amplitude" philosophy will probably not benefit much from this sort of thing either. One that is properly built to function like a musical instrument is a very different matter, in my opinion.

Pax Vobiscum ("Peace be with you") and
Enjoy your music!
Morse

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