Are Lightweight Plastic Cabinets Coming Soon ??

57pbass

57pbass

Supporting Member
Aug 1, 2004
5,363
10,157
6,512
66
Bayside, New York
#1
Lightweight Speaker cabinets are becoming more popular these days.
I wonder if we will see plastic cabinets in the near future or other lightweight materials aside from wood without compromising sound..
Plastic over styrofoam would really eliminate some weight..
Fiberglass is another option..
Carbon fiber another..
I was watching a YouTube Barefaced video and Alex made a comment about the lightweight hi strength materials used in hi performance race cars and it got me thinking..
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ethereal Thorn
#2
57pbass said:
Lightweight Speaker cabinets are becoming more popular these days.
I wonder if we will see plastic cabinets in the near future or other lightweight materials aside from wood without compromising sound..
Plastic over styrofoam would really eliminate some weight..
Fiberglass is another option..
Carbon fiber another..
I was watching a YouTube Barefaced video and Alex made a comment about the lightweight hi strength materials used in hi performance race cars and it got me thinking..
Click to expand...
There have been threads on fiberglass cab builds and other material like carbon fiber.
 
  • Like
Reactions: alaskaleftybass and HolmeBass
#5
The biggest hurdle I see with it is overcoming the ratio of hardness to brittle. Wood is rigid and hard, but synthetics with the same hardness and rigidity tend to be brittle; even more so at low temperatures. There is a specification for these materials called cold-crack, and one called flex maxim or similar. In order to overcome physical shock they need to flex, making a sweet spot very difficult to nail down. If it is too flexible it is susceptible to vibration. If it is too rigid it can crack or shatter. They tighten up or even shrink a bit at or below temperatures that lots of gear sees, and this makes them open to fatigue and stress fracture. Like posted above, so far the mass produced products aren't necessarily offering weight savings over wood. The day will come, but for the next decade or longer I don't see anything de-throning wood as king of cab material.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Groove Doctor, Pbassmanca, BadExample and 3 others
#17
Bassbeater said:
Dense plastic is pretty heavy i think.
Might be cool with 3d printers to print your cab someday though.
Click to expand...
beastie_b15n.jpg

:cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: superdick2112, el jeffe bass, Squittolo and 7 others
#19
Plastic COULD be used, but in order to make them practical, they would typically be a plastic composite, there would be embedded structural elements and to keep weight down the cost would go up considerably.

Higher end speaker cabinets for PA are showing up as composites, some with structural foam cores and some with light weight wood cores. I'm thinking of the JBL Vertec, VRX, etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dukeorock, alaskaleftybass, Ethereal Thorn and 4 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back