What is your favorite material for loudspeakers?

Johnk,

Actually, its a metal frame, but my point is that I don't (or didn't) want my drivers in a box. I have the Eros Mk II and, yes, the woofer is in a box, so I am kind of speaking out of both sides of my mouth but the 60hz or so sounds don't seem to be effected as much by box coloration as mids and highs do (and I do like going down to 28hz so need the hybrid design). In the price range of my stats, I haven't heard any box speaker that comes close. At multiples the price (I like the B&W 800d, Magico minis -only down to 40hz, and Kharma Ceramique), I would be happy upgrading but not looking to spend $20,000+ right now. Actually, I would go $20k+ but I would also need to upgrade my amps (eyeing either Ayre MXR for SS or shindo for tubes) and would also need to upgrade preamp to better match the amps. So, upgrading will run me close to $50,000 or so, so waiting. Speaker design has progessed greatly over the years and I have heard less (in the products mentioned above)or(almost) no cabinet coloration but, when I bought my speakers, in the price class, box speakers just didn't do it for me.

Johnk, Sonus claims their cabinets are built like Cremonese string instruments of old. . . fabulously effective markcom. . . reality is different though. . custom ply cabinets of Sonus do not vibrate. . . they are desirably dead as doornails. But yes, it would be interesting to develop a speaker that truly vibrates like a fiddle. . . would probably be incredibly efficient. G.

Magfan...I tried concrete once. Chimney blocks are a good size for a bookshelf speaker...all you need is front baffle and rear panel. Only problem is that concrete rings. Not dead at all.

Suggestion...try styrofoam, well braced and/or curved. It is dead.

Not to belabor the point, but I was looking at an photo from the CES show a couple of years ago and found a photo of Vanderstein 5's. This was a special pair that Richard built using carbon fiber. Apparently the sounded great but I am sure production was very expensive. I think the Marten speakers are made from carbon fiber as well. My guess is that working with that material takes alot of research and would be tough to do in a garage. So we have three major companies that use/have used carbon fiber successfully. My guess is when you design with carbon fiber you probably would need an entirely different crossover and drivers. Not as easy as one would think.

I miss spelled the name of the violin company. There website is http://luisandclark.com/ . I doubt they sound as good as a Strat but when a 5K violin can sound as good as a 100K violin that tells me something.

Soundsrealaudio, this is very encouraging. . . if you consider that it took about 500 years for fiddles to progress from early Moorish example to reach the greatness of the Cremonese masters. . . while contemporary luthiers have already achieved respectable results having experimented just for a few years with carbon fiber composits. G.