MDF Vs. EFS. Round 2. Baffles.
The benefits of EFS from a density perspective were originally discussed. The new found love for this stuff is coming from the car market. Why? Baffles baffles baffles!
Here are some big problems with MDF baffles we’ve always had to deal with in car audio.
1. They expand if you get moisture in your doors. Which is pretty much everywhere.
2. They retain water. At least for a while. So whatever gets wet stays wet for a extended period of time.
3. When a box gets wet (if it gets through the carpet) on a seam you can almost be guaranteed it will leak or crack over time. The box is scrap after a certain point. Open air jeeps and things like water are something that can’t be avoided. So is scrapping your box after it gets wet once.
The solution previously to this was to use ABS or otherwise and mill it. While we did that it’s just not cost effective for most customers. Baffle costs go up considerably when we’re cutting .5″ plastic.
Not with EFS. We recently cleared out 100% of our MDF baffles on sounddot. As a result 100% of the baffles for sale on the web site are manufactured from EFS. Not MDF.
To demonstrate the effect moisture has on EFS vs MDF we did a very simple test. We 1 piece of each (both .75″ thick) both in the sink in the warehouse filled with water for 5 hours. 1PM to 6PM. Then left them overnight to dry and looked at them. The results speak for themselves.
EFS on the left. MDF on the right.
EFS on the top. MDF on the bottom.
EFS on the left. MDF on the right.
EFS builds better boxes and better baffles.
All our baffles are made from EFS from here on out.
All our boxes are made from EFS from here on out.
While this development and move to EFS was largely due to HT products. It’s benefits in car audio applications are huge. At least from a reliability and performance standpoint.
EFS is just full of surprised. Read more about it here http://www.edesignaudio.com/elementaldesigns_efs.php
January 21st, 2009 at 10:35 AM
I can’t wait to order a new A5-350/550 just as soon as my tax return hits the bank in about 10 days.
I have been following ED for several months now, and I love everything about the company and the hard working people that work there. This will be my very first true subwoofer and I know that it will sound awsome. I will be replacing an old Infinity 12″, 150 watt speaker package sub.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:48 AM
I would like to see a picture with a third piece of either MDF or EFS as the “control” (aka: no water applied) and maybe a tape measure or caliper to measure the actual effect….any chance of getting that?
January 21st, 2009 at 3:17 PM
Hello Ryan.
We can do that no problem.
It might take a couple more days, but we are going to do a more detailed comparison.
We did have MDF and EFS that had been used as a control in the experiment. Just no pictures had been loaded in the blog.
March 5th, 2009 at 12:41 AM
[...] Another move that eD is taking to “Go green” would be the move from MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) to EFS (Environmentally Friendly Substrate). Comparisons of both materials, along with information, can be found on this page. [...]