In Reply to: Re: plywood vs mdf posted by R. Hertz on March 22, 2001 at 10:24:57:
Thanks for that. I'm wondering about the sonic tradeoffs. I know MDF seems to have become the defacto standard but to my ears it sounds dead. Musical notes don't lead with the instantaneous burst and the natural decay of live music. Bass notes go thud instead of thump. Treble sounds cloaked without shine and sparkle. On the other hand plywood (ala LaScala) does thump, sparkle and shine but with a 'plywood' colouration. I think the brain can compensate for colourations (looking through coloured glasses for instance) better than subtractive distortion (looking through smudged glasses). Even musical instruments have their own colourations depending on manufacturing techniques and age (Bosendorfer vs Steinway vs Kawai etc). But what would an MDF piano or violin sound like? Are we putting too much emphasis on 'deadness' (the knucle rap test)in a cabinet and unwittingly killing off something important?
Just wondering.
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