In the near future, speakers will be made from Superwood

[skankhobag]

In about 2 years, expect a lot of high end speakers to have cabinets made of Superwood by Inventwood. It’s 50% stronger than steel and 1/6 the weight.

They take wood, remove the lignin and then compress the remaining cellulose. It’s impervious to water, rot and pests.

The best part is that it has no environmental downside. It uses no caustic chemicals during manufacturing and creates no hazardous waste when machined.

Also, it creates a small fraction of the CO2 compared to metal production.

The only “problem” is that it’s going to be more difficult to CNC due to its strength and hardness. Of course, that’s to be expected.

It will be interesting to see who first starts using it in their cabinets.

 

[jayapple]

This is very interesting! It seems that this material only uses cellulose, but the specific processing method is unknown.
However, it mentions various polymers, which seems to be inseparable from industrial glue, and a lot of formaldehyde and other toxic volatile gases will be produced.

When we discuss home materials, we are very concerned about environmental performance. I don't know if people in other regions pay attention to the problem of toxic gas volatilization from home products.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Should maybe pick another name, there's already a Norwegian company that's been around for 25 years or something with the same name. They make specially impregnated plank primarily for housing.

Superwood | Impregnert treverk til din nye fasadekledning.

Impregnert fasadekledning som forlenger levetiden og forsterker det vakre utseendet til din bygning. Prøv vår online konfigurator nå.

www.superwood.no

 

[Moti]

Link to op.

 

[Arindal]

In about 2 years, expect a lot of high end speakers to have cabinets made of Superwood by Inventwood. It’s 50% stronger than steel

Don´t know anything about this particular material, but there are already speaker cabinets made of highly compressed, natural wood on the market. Specific mass seems to be similar to what you have stated, 1/6th of steel is in the ballpark of wood compressed to double its natural specific mass.

Panzerholz

For loudspeaker cabinets, being just ´stronger´ is not really the most important property, as one could simply add some thickness or bracing for that. Resonance properties, damping and ability to produce complex, airtight structures are as important.

The only “problem” is that it’s going to be more difficult to CNC due to its strength and hardness.

Should not be a problem with the right tools. Hardness or impact strength does not equal steel-like resistance to cutting.

 

[somebodyelse]

I'm guessing Superwood is going to have the same drawback that has kept Panzerholz out of the mass market for speaker cabinets: cost. Panzerholz tested well for damping some years back, but not that much better than MDF which is a lot cheaper. That mostly restricts it to people with big margins, like Linn using it for an even more expensive LP12 plinth, and DIYers.

 

[skankhobag]

Let me respond en masse to the responses to my post.

I read a scientific article about this a few months ago and have been thinking about it for use in both my loudspeaker designs and in creating bass guitar bodies.

Obviously, this is not a material that will be used for making $500 a pair speakers. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if companies that made very expensive speakers didn’t use a lot of it given that it’s going to be a lot cheaper than using carbon fiber or aluminum.

Outside of its incredible strength is that it’s also environmentally friendly and no more dangerous for people to use than conventional wood.

Finally, hey, I’m not a chemical engineer or a materials scientist. I’m just fascinated by the qualities that this product offers.

But, you don’t have to take it from me. One prompt to an AI gave me this response:

“While engineered woods like LVL, CLT, Accoya, and experimental delignified woods offer impressive properties in specific areas, none fully replicate Superwood’s unique combination of extreme strength-to-weight, Class A fire resistance, and comprehensive environmental durability in a single, commercially available product. Superwood’s proprietary delignification and compression process gives it a distinct edge, particularly for applications requiring lightweight, high-strength, and fire-resistant materials. For the closest alternatives, you’d need to combine multiple treatments (e.g., acetylation for durability, fire-retardant coatings for Class A), but this increases cost and complexity without matching Superwood’s integrated performance.”

Just like any product used to build speaker cabs, its application will be dependent upon the design.

I have nothing more to say on the subject.

 

[Reddoc]

in the VERY near future
ie already

AUER ACOUSTICS - Lautsprecher mit Subwoofer

Unsere beiden größten Lautsprechermodelle R3 und R2 sind als Standlautsprecher mit integrierten Hochleistungs-Subwoofern konzipiert.

auer-acoustics.com

 

[Nopiano]

in the VERY near future
ie already

AUER ACOUSTICS - Lautsprecher mit Subwoofer

Unsere beiden größten Lautsprechermodelle R3 und R2 sind als Standlautsprecher mit integrierten Hochleistungs-Subwoofern konzipiert.

auer-acoustics.com

It mentions Panzerholz rather than this new brand. I believe these special woods have a place, but cheapness is the main driver for mass produced speakers, along with easy machining which is where these much stronger materials are less workable.

 

[Roland68]

in the VERY near future
ie already

AUER ACOUSTICS - Lautsprecher mit Subwoofer

Unsere beiden größten Lautsprechermodelle R3 und R2 sind als Standlautsprecher mit integrierten Hochleistungs-Subwoofern konzipiert.

auer-acoustics.com

The material used here is high-tech plywood/multiplex, at least according to the information on the website.
It has nothing to do with Superwood, except for the base material, and it doesn't come close to its properties.
The manufacturing process is also completely different.

By the way, does anyone have any information on Superwood's gluing options?
I can't find any information on that.
@skankhobag
Do you have any information on that?

 

[Arindal]

The material used here is high-tech plywood/multiplex, at least according to the information on the website.

They seemingly call it ´Panzerholz´, which is not just plywood but highly compressed wood. The examples of such materials I am aware of, show a density roughly 2 or 2.5 times the specific density of typical plywood, i.e. in the region of 1.4kg/l.

It has nothing to do with Superwood, except for the base material, and it doesn't come close to its properties.
The manufacturing process is also completely different.

Could you elaborate on the specific properties which are different, and how the fibres of this Superwood are exctracted and put together again?

The base for ´Panzerholz´ as I know it, looks indeed like plywood, but is kind of soaked with lots of artificial resin before being compressed to 2 or 2.5times the initial density.

 

[skankhobag]

The material used here is high-tech plywood/multiplex, at least according to the information on the website.
It has nothing to do with Superwood, except for the base material, and it doesn't come close to its properties.
The manufacturing process is also completely different.

By the way, does anyone have any information on Superwood's gluing options?
I can't find any information on that.
@skankhobag
Do you have any information on that?

Superwood is still wood so I imagine any wood glue will do. I think this was mentioned in the technical article I first read about it.

 

[skankhobag]

They seemingly call it ´Panzerholz´, which is not just plywood but highly compressed wood. The examples of such materials I am aware of, show a density roughly 2 or 2.5 times the specific density of typical plywood, i.e. in the region of 1.4kg/l.



Could you elaborate on the specific properties which are different, and how the fibres of this Superwood are exctracted and put together again?

The base for ´Panzerholz´ as I know it, looks indeed like plywood, but is kind of soaked with lots of artificial resin before being compressed to 2 or 2.5times the initial density.

Superwood is treated, solid wood. The lignin is removed, they may do something to the cellulose (or not) and then they compress the hell out of it. I believe there is some heating component to the process.

Obviously, they are rather tight lipped about the exact process.

My guess is that they have found a way to create this with cheap, easily available wood like pine. It wouldn’t make much sense to submit expensive wood to this process.

 

[ahofer]

Not sure I’d want to make a musical instrument out of it, if it’s non-resonant, or rather resonance is at ultrasonic frequencies. Any more than is make a guitar out of stone. I’m rather a fan of roasted maple necks and alder or mahogany bodies (and inset bridges or thru-stringing to couple more closely).

Maybe I misunderstand the appeal. Is it resonant but stronger?

 

[sq225917]

They chemically luquify the lignin then compress it at huge pressure. Saw an article on it last year. Different to panzerholz

InventWood — Home

Introducing the reinvention of wood: Superwood. Stronger than steel. The soul of wood.

www.inventwood.com

Densified wood

 

[ahofer]

For other applications-

I just went through selecting new siding and deck wood. I found the contractors quite hesitant to work with new sustainable materials. I suppose the one closest to the discussion here is the moso bamboo decking/siding. But even more sustainable hardwoods like black walnut. They don’t seem to want to use it. Perhaps harder to work with, or just unfamiliarity.

 

[Roland68]

They seemingly call it ´Panzerholz´, which is not just plywood but highly compressed wood. The examples of such materials I am aware of, show a density roughly 2 or 2.5 times the specific density of typical plywood, i.e. in the region of 1.4kg/l.



Could you elaborate on the specific properties which are different, and how the fibres of this Superwood are exctracted and put together again?

The base for ´Panzerholz´ as I know it, looks indeed like plywood, but is kind of soaked with lots of artificial resin before being compressed to 2 or 2.5times the initial density.

That's why I wrote that it's high-tech plywood/multiplex.
"Panzerholz" is a term from World War II for very stable, highly compressed, and coated plywood, so it's nothing new.
Highly compressed plywood impregnated with epoxy resin or other materials (adhesives, synthetic resins, etc.) has been around for well over 40 years and was already used in Formula 1 in the early 1990s.

Superwood has nothing to do with that, as it's solid wood whose structure is dissolved/destroyed and then highly compressed. Very simply put.
The exact process can be found on the manufacturer's website.

 

[skankhobag]

Not sure I’d want to make a musical instrument out of it, if it’s non-resonant, or rather resonance is at ultrasonic frequencies. Any more than is make a guitar out of stone. I’m rather a fan of roasted maple necks and alder or mahogany bodies (and inset bridges or thru-stringing to couple more closely).

Maybe I misunderstand the appeal. Is it resonant but stronger?

Les Paul invented the neck-through, solid body electric guitar because he wanted the pure sound of the string with no resonance from the guitar.

While I appreciate wanting a bass with a “sound”, that’s not what I’m looking for in my ultimate bass. It’s even more important with bass because of the low frequencies created. Resonances cause dead spots and uneven tonal response going across the frets and strings.

Also, I like to use a ton of effects. A pure string sound allows the effects to do their job without turning the instrument’s sound to mush.

A totally nonresonant bass gives me the pure sound of the string. I use GHS Super Steels and they are the brightest bass strings on the market. They offer contact core strings for their lowest, biggest gauge strings which produce much brighter harmonics than standard strings.

On a non-resonant bass with those strings and proper multiband compression, I can never get lost in the mix. Every nuance of every note is easily heard regardless of the music genre or instruments in the band.

 

[ahofer]

I don’t have an LP guitar, I mostly play hollows and a strat. But the ones I’ve tried definitely have strong neck resonance.

But PRS does seem to follow that discipline of isolating the string.

 

[Petrushka]

As a general rule, products requiring a new industrial process have to find a premium price outlet to prime the pump.