DIY Speakers

[blownsi]

With zero knowledge in the field I'm just curious as to why bamboo? What special properties does it bring to the plate?

 

I would guess density and cost. I think we under utilize bamboo in the audio world.

[blownsi]

Natural hardwoods make great musical instruments where you want the coloration/resonance of the wood... but are bad for the same reason in speakers. Man made compounds with high rigidity and no resonant character are a better choice. If you like the appearance of wood, veneer can be used on the enclosure surface without harm to playback.

 

Bamboo as a material is too lightweight for good speaker enclosure material.

 

While I understand your point I would respectfully disagree. The musical instruments you are referring to are typically hollow bodied. In a hardbody electric guitar the more dense the wood the better the sound. This is because you are hearing the strings and not the body. A good speaker enclosure should do the same thing except for drivers instead of strings. IMHO the best speaker enclosure is so dense that it provides no resonance at all. While that's impossible to achieve, the more dense the material the better the chances of providing a better enclosure. MDF is nothing more than wood shavings and glue. It most definitely has a resonance. The material is really cheap (at least in the US) so it's widely used. Baltic Birch Plywood is more expensive but is better than MDF because it's more dense. On a Janka hardness scale, bamboo beats both of the previously mentioned materials. Manufacturers typically stay away from these expensive woods because it's far cheaper to just double the thickness of the MDF.