Wayne Parham Messages: 18758 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I prefer Titebond or Elmer's Wood glue for MDF. But for my larger hornsub cabinets that use Baltic Birch, I prefer PL adhesive. I have also used it in smaller cabinets and it works just fine. It just isn't as easy to clean up. So for the "furniture" aspect of the speakers that have real wood veneer finishes, I think probably the wood glues are probably better. Once that PL gets on the wood, it's really hard to get it off, so the finish can be blotchy.
Now please understand I usually have a cabinetmaker do the woodworking, so I'll defer to some of them here to give other opinions. There are some really good cabinetmakers here on the forum. What I'm telling you is what I've come across on the cabinets I've helped build. I tend to be hands-on from time to time with my cabinetmaker buddies, and have learned some from them.
As for the structural stuff, I've found good clamped joints are usually stronger than the wood when using either glue. If you break a box, it usually breaks the fibers next to the glue joint, not directly on the seam. So I'm pretty happy with both adhesives in this respect. As for acoustics, both are fine too.
About the screws, I wouldn't get too worried since they are all exposed and easy to access. You can always remove them, run a drop of glue down in the hole and retighten. The glue can then press into any layers that may have split when tightening the screws.