Speaker porn

Is that a toilet?

 

GOALS

 

^^^ I'm not sure How I feel about that. Are those Focals?

 

Sonus Faber Aida

 

That’s the sort of ambiophonics I could get into

 

Haha oh man

Definition of #foreveralone

 

Good call!
Klipsch Install Stories: Chipotle adds Heresy III

 

I suspect that that bath should probably have ugly sound dampening stuff sprayed all over the outside!

 

Kenwood KL-999DX 4-way loudspeaker from the 80's. 98db/W, 17" Woofer.


Kenwood KL-1000Z 6-way loudspeaker. 99db/W.

 

The new Yamaha NS-5000







While it looks like your typical, nothing special, bass reflex 3 way rectangular box from the outside, the drivers on this thing are quite something...

It has a 1-1/4 inch tweeter, a 3-1/4 inch midrange, and a 12 inch woofer...ALL of them (yes, ALL of them) made of same material, Zylon:
“a synthetic fibre of exceptional high strength, having acoustic velocity as well as the ability to reproduce the finest details of audio but without a sharp resonance peak inherent in a hard material”.

Here's an interview with one of the designers of the speakers:
http://www.avhub.com.au/features/sound-image/yamaha-ns-5000---full-story-interview-429975

"The mystery material is a synthetic polymer called ‘Zylon’, which is manufactured in two varieties, Zylon-AS and Zylon-HM. It is used by NASA and in Formula One cars, and according to manufacturer Toyobo’s spec sheet for Zylon, it is indeed lighter and stronger than beryllium, its density 1.55g/cm3 compared with 1.8g/cm3 for beryllium, and its tensile strength 5.8 gigapascals compared with only 0.24 gigapascals for beryllium, and surpassing even carbon fibre at 3.5GPa. Zylon is also amazingly flame resistant, according to Toyobo, hopefully something prospective NS-5000 owners will never need to discover."

Yes, better than beryllium and no hard resonance peaks like metal-based drivers, think of it as Biocellulose on steroids.


Just imagine a fully open, high impedance TOTL headphone with a big ass Zylon driver with a radial magnet array, low distortion, clean CSD and PMx2-like frequency response...

 

Also no carcinogenic properties i bet? One of the reasons i got rid of my Focal Solo6's, that beryllium tweeter made me antsy. Even had a special plastic cover for shipping and clear instructions to tape it up asap when it gets damaged.

 

Wish I knew but I have no idea, maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in.

 

Yeah, don't buy that one without a demo first...

 

The main problem with beryllium iirc is that it can shatter into such tiny particles that can get into your lung tissue. Since the tensile strength is so much higher for zylon perhaps it is of no concern.

 

Mr Google says it's highly carcinogenic - and tiny particles of anything can be bad news for lungs...

 

Yeah i think it’s irresponsible if you have pets or kids to have that stuff around. Also a reason why i would never buy a Utopia even if i could afford it.

 

Audiophile gas masks...my future business

 

That's some nice speaker porn right there!

 

Fwiw tensile strength is of very little practical importance to speaker driver material without further context (hard matrix).
Kevlar, carbon fiber, Nomex, perhaps even plain old treated paper are better in this metric than beryllium.
A Nylon shirt fabric can have higher tensile strength than Beryllium, have you seen speaker drivers made out of Nylon?
Stresses in cone structure are strongest in compressive way, that's why tensile strength is largely irrelevant, unless the high tensile strength fibers are woven in specific way or suspended in a matrix.
I'd put my money on biocellulose or high quality paper every day over some bullet proof west material.

Rigidity matters, out of basic mechanical material properties perhaps hardness is the closest property to look for;
here ceramics and beryllium are unmatched by any polymer for both rigidity and hardness.
Ceramics have often poor tensile strength, and make for great pistonic driver construction.

Pioneering era carbon fibers, esp nanotubes are the ones to look for in this regard.

 

Damn, my dad just got me a set of Focal bookshelves - he knows a guy who works for them and got a huge discount. I knew there had to be a catch...