4.2

The recycled materials used in my design are both effective and cheap. The MDF is a very good wood for speaker cabinets as its density greatly adds to the overall sound quality. It is also a convenient material for use in school projects as it is easy to use and very cheap. If I had used a native wood in my cabinet such as rimu the cost would have been much higher and therefore impractical. For example; the amount of MDF I used cost around $10 – the same amount of rimu would have cost $100. The wood does the same job and since I planned to paint the cabinet, a nice looking native wood would be wasted.
The carpet underlay was extremely good value as it does exactly the same job as acoustic foam but cost nothing. Enough acoustic foam to cover the inside of my speakers would have cost around $100. Because I used these recycled materials I paid only 5% of what it would have cost, and the speakers ended up being worth much more than the cheap products they are made from.