Birch or ply wood for live sound?

[claend]

All other things being equal, both may perform in a very similar fashion.

[Syncamorea]

The sound will be very dependent on design and construction, so you could get good results with either. I'd recommend on having some cloth showing too. Having more than one wood and/or stain can make for a good look to establish visual lines.

Take a look at the threads here and elsewhere on polycylindrical diffusers, panel absorbers and porous panels. Lots of great options.

BTW, normal plywood is made from SPF (spruce, pine and fir) most often. One nice thing about birch plywood is the finish. To get good SPF plywood in terms of finish, the price goes way up. Do all of your math and see how many pallets you need, then shop around.

[Sir Chris]

The finish is actually secondary in my book. If it looks ugly but makes up for it in sound, that's where I want to go. I feel people could be more forgiving if that's the case. I'm not too worried about absorbers or diffusers for the time being. I'd like to first focus on the wood. Once its all in place and a few of us can go in and hear it in action, we can determine how much (if any) sound treatment is needed. Thanks for the replies gentlemen.

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[Syncamorea]

Originally Posted by Sir Chris

The finish is actually secondary in my book. If it looks ugly but makes up for it in sound, that's where I want to go. I feel people could be more forgiving if that's the case. I'm not too worried about absorbers or diffusers for the time being. I'd like to first focus on the wood. Once its all in place and a few of us can go in and hear it in action, we can determine how much (if any) sound treatment is needed. Thanks for the replies gentlemen.

If you are concerned about sound more than visuals, then look back to how I started my earlier post:

"The sound will be very dependent on design and construction, so you could get good results with either."

By that, I mean that the design (shape, openings to absorption behind the wood, diffusive elements) are far more important to the sonics than the difference between SPF and birch. So I wouldn't just substitute plywood for a drywall-style cladding (or hang it over drywall) in a shoe-box shape and expect it to have awesome acoustics. Since you said it was a concrete room, the acoustics of the concrete room will dominate unless you tackle it as a live-venue or studio designer would.

[Sir Chris]

Originally Posted by Syncamorea

If you are concerned about sound more than visuals, then look back to how I started my earlier post:

"The sound will be very dependent on design and construction, so you could get good results with either."

By that, I mean that the design (shape, openings to absorption behind the wood, diffusive elements) are far more important to the sonics than the difference between SPF and birch. So I wouldn't just substitute plywood for a drywall-style cladding (or hang it over drywall) in a shoe-box shape and expect it to have awesome acoustics. Since you said it was a concrete room, the acoustics of the concrete room will dominate unless you tackle it as a live-venue or studio designer would.

Thanks for the clarification. That makes more sense.

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