MDF Poisonous - stop buying speakers now! ;)

[Anonymous]

chebby:

My old Rega R3s were veneered on all the inside surfaces too. (Not varnished but veneered.)

I was quite impressed.

I would think that is down to cost. The cabinet manufacturer probably buys in the mdf veneered all over and uses it any way he likes as opposed to panels custom veneered on one or two surfaces that can only join one way.

 

[Richard Allen]

johnnyjazz:chebby:

My old Rega R3s were veneered on all the inside surfaces too. (Not varnished but veneered.)

I was quite impressed.

I would think that is down to cost. The cabinet manufacturer probably buys in the mdf veneered all over and uses it any way he likes as opposed to panels custom veneered on one or two surfaces that can only join one way.

The reason boards are veneered both sides is to keep them flat!. If you veneer 1 side of a piece of MDF, it will bow however slightly due to the torsional stress imposed on that side by the glue and the veneer. Veneering both sides of the board cancels this out. Bear in mind that most cabinet makers use either a block bonding PVA or a resin glue like "Cascamite" and also use heated presses. You have to veneer both sides, unless you want to make cricket bats or something equally shapely.

 

[chebby]

Richard Allen:You have to veneer both sides, unless you want to make cricket bats ...

MDF cricket bats? Nooo!

It has to be the thwack of leather against willow on a summer's day. (Where is the poetry in the sound of vinyl against MDF?)

 

[Anonymous]

Yes Richard, agree with you about the fact that boards are veneered on both sides to stop them from bowing but surely thats only the case when the cabinets are made with pre-veneered boards as opposed to cabinets that are made with mdf then finally finished with book matched veneer which would cost more to manufacture. Thus making the internal veneered cabinets cheaper to manufacture than the RAW cabinets.

 

[Anonymous]

Speaking of dangerous materials in hifi - has anyone noted that expensive high end speaker maker Focal uses Beryllium tweeters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium

 

[chebby]

woollyjoe:Speaking of dangerous materials in hifi - has anyone noted that expensive high end speaker maker Focal uses Beryllium tweeters.

Yes you'd have real problems if you ripped out your Focal tweeters and ate them or ground them into fine power and inhaled them!

 

[Andrew Everard]

chebby:Yes you'd have real problems if you ripped out your Focal tweeters and ate them or ground them into fine power and inhaled them!

I think you'll find that's why they take such care when making them, this guy wearing all this clobber and working in a HazMat room..

.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm impressed, that actually looks like a guy making the beryllium foil dome and suspect it is?

 

[Clare Newsome]

Yep, that's how they do it. I was watching that happen at Focal in France on 7/7/05 while a large portion of my brain was trying to process the sparse snippets of news coming in from London about the bombings. A surreal day while we desparately waited for news of loved ones while being shown cutaways of speakers and then seeing Oscar Peterson live at a jazz festival

 

[chebby]

Clare Newsome:...and then seeing Oscar Peterson live at a jazz festival

I saw Oscar Peterson in concert in 1978 (with Louie Bellson drumming). Brilliant.