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Paper Based Speaker Cone Question

I am considering a pair of Ohm Walsh speakers, likely the beta Super Sound Cylinders or the beta 3.3010s with the integral powered subwoofers. Ohm has indicated to me that the speaker cones are made from a paper based material. Should this concern me or not considering the pricing is around $5k to $6k / speaker pair? Can paper based speaker cones perform properly and have reasonable durability?  Are there other similar cost speakers with paper cones?

michiganbuckeye
seanheis1
616 posts
 
There are $50 speakers that use Kevlar and 100k speakers that use paper and vice versa. The cost of the enclosure is much greater than the driver. 
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 

Tannoy uses paper cones.....some believe that the sound of music takes on the properties or characteristics of the material used to construct the cone. 

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,879 posts
 

First consider the question in context….of a true Walsh driver…if you understand how they work the waveform must propagate along the driver surface, so a stiff non pistonic cone is ideal.

in a more conventional box speaker / driver arrangement, IF you want the output to look like the input, you want a pistonic driver.  IF the speaker / driver designer is focused on recreating the input aka music without distortion, they will have to get creative with various exotic materials like aluminum, bextrene, doping, kevlar, carbon, balsa wood, etc…. None of which constitute a free lunch.

The key here is output = input, otherwise you are buying a tone control you like… nothing wrong with that…. Audiophile know thyself….

Jim

 

erik_squires
16,007 posts
 

Paper can be superb.  I currently use paper cone ScanSpeak midwoofers.  They are a little high tech in that they use a multi-layer, composite resin construction but don't look down on paper cones.  In the Ohm designs I believe that they are needed to break up, deliberately.

kingharold
304 posts
 

Seventeen years ago when i horse traded for a pair of AER BD3 8" paper cone drivers to use in my Oris 150 horns I got a great deal on them.  I certainly couldn't afford to buy them new now since these 8" paper cone drivers list for $11,325.00 a pair plus shipping from Europe and import duties.  They sound wonderful.

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