Bamboo speaker enclosures?

[Carlman]

I saw this and was wondering what folks thought of using it for speaker cabinets: http://www.calibamboo.com/bambooplywood.html

Bamboo is really hard and stiff... I would think it would be great for a speaker but maybe not?  Thoughts?

[JLM]

Check out the Ascend Acoustics forum.

Their Sierra standmounts use bamboo construction and reportedly was a PITA, but worth it once they got past the learning curve.

Sounds like a good project for an extreme DIYer.

[richidoo]

Sounds like a good idea. It is extremely dense and stiff so it should be a good cabinet material, easy to damp. But also very heavy and maybe difficult to finish? Hard on blades and bits? Thanks for the link.

JLM, I searched on Ascend forum for tech info about bamboo, couldn't find anything except talk about finishing and color. Do you have a link about why they are using it?
Thanks
Rich

[Putz]

From the Salk Song Tower options page:

Bamboo construction

Bamboo is fast becoming a very popular material for speaker building. It is renewable (a
grass), high-mass, inert and low VOC. It can be veneered or finished in its natural or dyed state.

$300

[rollo]

   Seems to be a very interesting material for enclosures. Will the labor and tool cost outweigh the cost of the material ?  Good point Richadoo.   Indonesian hardwood ply is another recent find in material as well.



charles

[evan1]

Sounds like a good idea. It is extremely dense and stiff so it should be a good cabinet material, easy to damp. But also very heavy and maybe difficult to finish? Hard on blades and bits? Thanks for the link.

JLM, I searched on Ascend forum for tech info about bamboo, couldn't find anything except talk about finishing and color. Do you have a link about why they are using it?
Thanks
Rich

It is used because it is considered a Greener material. Salk I believe charges about 700.00 extra for Bamboo

[Barry (NJ)]

It is used because it is considered a Greener material. Salk I believe charges about 700.00 extra for Bamboo

I wonder if it also may have different resonant characteristics than traditional cabinet materials (MDF) making it better, or worse, than those(?)

[rollo]

Sounds like a good idea. It is extremely dense and stiff so it should be a good cabinet material, easy to damp. But also very heavy and maybe difficult to finish? Hard on blades and bits? Thanks for the link.

JLM, I searched on Ascend forum for tech info about bamboo, couldn't find anything except talk about finishing and color. Do you have a link about why they are using it?
Thanks
Rich

It is used because it is considered a Greener material. Salk I believe charges about 700.00 extra for Bamboo

Well one of the reasons. Good call. The material is cheap as hell. The only only Bamboo i we knew came in a nice package. $700 extra , really.


charles

[evan1]

It is used because it is considered a Greener material. Salk I believe charges about 700.00 extra for Bamboo

I wonder if it also may have different resonant characteristics than traditional cabinet materials (MDF) making it better, or worse, than those(?)

I may be wrong on the price . I t it confused with something else. See what happens when you give the wrong info , its like playing the game telephone

[Bunky]

 The Nomad Audio Ronin open baffle speakers were done in bamboo and i thought the really looked nice 

[Putz]

From the Salk Song Tower options page:

Bamboo construction

Bamboo is fast becoming a very popular material for speaker building. It is renewable (a
grass), high-mass, inert and low VOC. It can be veneered or finished in its natural or dyed state.

$300

Hello, Anyone here? I listed the price Salk charges in my earlier post.

[JLM]

Here's the link from David Fabrikant:

http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?p=23288#post23288

[richidoo]

Here's the link from David Fabrikant:

http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?p=23288#post23288

Thanks JLM!!  That is interesting.

Shortcut straight to the bamboo part:
http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showpost.php?p=22500&postcount=1

[BobM]

Very interesting about the rigidity and non-resonance characteristics of the material, as well as the density and difficulty working with it. Maybe we'll see more of these in the future.

[Carlman]

I've thought about this before when I installed bamboo flooring in my basement... and then I was looking for a decorative piece of wood for backmounting some art recently... and bam, there it is again...

The plywood sheets linked above would be ready to go, no additional finishing needed... just cut and glue and they already look nice.  Plus, they came in some pretty thick sheets.  Bamboo is hard like a rock... It has more of a 'clack' sound when you tap it... rather than wood that has more of a 'doonk' sound.  Then I saw they had a speaker implemented..

Green schmean, I just think it'd be a good speaker enclosure... and for a DIY'er, worth the extra tool costs.. For a mass-producing manufacturer, maybe not.

-C