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Hemp Drivers, musicians lov'em, audiophiles?

I'm demo-ing a pair of Fritz Monitor X with the Hemp drivers, at 85 db they're not the best match for the 6L6 powering them. Turns out Santana and many other notable hall of fame musicians prefer similar drivers to get their signature sound. Only similar by description to what Fritz uses for pro audio performance use, they sound great. In a home, audiophile setting, I'm constantly liking them, loving them then disliking them altogether, as they require lots of absorption materials (wall mounted) to tame and focus the bass. I'm guessing crossover design is probably very important and plays a big role when these monitors were conceived. I purposely asked for a broken in pair to evaluate. Again, its a love hate thing. Anybody had similar results, I'm curious.
loanofficer
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,976 posts
 
You can not blame cone material for the sound your getting. You listen to a loudspeaker. Not just a cone. But that being said. I have 4 custom built alnico magnet 12in hi-eff woofers with hemp cones in my front horn system. They work great. Hemps just another form of paper.
mordante
511 posts
 
Audio Note also use hemp drivers.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
An electric guitarist will choose an amp/cabinet (speaker) in large part on the way that combo sounds when grossly distorting the signal. This is quite different than an audiophile application. Production vs reproduction can be apples vs oranges

Marty
martykl
3,578 posts
 
BTW,

My comment was in no way a criticism of hemp drivers, as I've never heard one. I was just pointing out that Santana's use of this type of driver for performance/recording is no endorsement for that driver in a home system.

Marty
loanofficer OP
13 posts
 
I guess I should clarify what it is I'm trying to ask. Hemp is being used for so many applications these days. I just found out the door panels and dashboard in my '07 MBZ are made of hemp. Chosen for its moldability, strength, stiffness and natural damping abilities as well as its inexpensive cost and availability. These drivers are quite stiff, on the 4 ohm taps they seem to mesh better with the Vifa tweeter that's in there (awesome tweeters BTW), much tighter sound than on 8 ohms, but they still seem very directional and inconsistant. I'm contantly adjusting position, using different port plugs and moving my bass traps around, changing amplifiers and sources too. One minute the music sounds terrific (lots of bass, great midbass and stellar highs, the next I don't even recognize it. It could just be me, my new room is probably one of the worst environments to set up a system in, it may be the room too. But my full range single driver mini onkin crossoverless horns sound phenomenal. They use the Merrill driver that I was going to try replacing with a 5.5" hemp driver that Fritz raves about, he gave me these two ways to try out so that I could get a taste of the hemp sound but I'm not sure I like it. As far as I know I have the only Monitor X pair in existance. For Audio Note to be using them, there must be something there. Maybe Fritz is on to something.
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