Analysis of Resonance Characteristics of Different Shapes of Birch-Wood Loudspeaker Enclosures

This study presents a comparative analysis of a "design" speaker cabinet shape and a conventional block enclosure, both having identical internal volumes. Both enclosures were built from birch wood, and for comparison, block-shaped baffles were also made from medium-density fiberboard (MDF). While the designer's new shape was hand-crafted using a lathe and a cube baffle on a CNC machine. The block-shaped sound box was made as a representative of the classic shape that occurs most often in the world of music. For this reason, it is offered as an ideal reference sample of the enclosure for comparison with the new design proposal, which was produced based on the shape predispositions and the interest of potential customers. The loudspeaker systems were then subjected to anechoic chamber testing using the sine sweep technique to assess and compare their resonance characteristics. The box-shaped enclosure showed a smoother course of the frequency response, but the differences are not significant. A potential improvement in acoustic performance was offered by acoustic dampening material that was incorporated into each enclosure, and the measurement was repeated. With the acoustic filling, the frequency curves are even more smoothed, and it can be said that the damping material can eliminate some of the imperfections of the enclosures.