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Gobel and the Bending Wave

An article at Stereophile regarding the Gobel Divin Noblesse speaker caught my eye recently:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/g%C3%B6bel-loudspeakers-cables-engstr%C3%B6m-pre-and-power-wadax...


Jason Victor Serinus made a simple mistake and listed the AMT tweeter as a "bending wave" transducer. He's corrected the error, but the "fix" was just as curious. According to the Gobel website, and JVS's correction, the midrange drivers, which for all the world look like FaitalPro 8" mids to me are "bending wave" transducers in this model.


http://www.goebel-highend.de/products/divin-noblesse.html


These midranges look nothing like the bending wave planar transducers used in the Epoque line, or described by their technology page here:

http://www.goebel-highend.de/technology.html

So, without being able to order and disassemble these $190K speakers, I'm really skeptical that this description of the midrange drivers is accurate.


That is all,

Erik
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,841 posts
 
For historical context, the Ohm Walsh down firing drivers were some of the earliest "bending wave" drivers if not the first. There have also been other attempts at creating mega speakers from bending wave type of drivers like this one from Impact (long gone):

https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/648/index.html
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,156 posts
 
The Air Motion Transformer was a bending wave, so is the tweeter used in the High Emotion Audio loudspeakers. Very nice and fast, smooth due to no breakups?
erik_squires OP
16,841 posts
 
Sorry, AMT is not bending wave, Atmasphere. It's motion is pistonic, although at an angle. :)

IMHO, to be a bending wave, the transducer must be excited at one end, and have the sound wave emit off the surface as the wave travels from one end to the other, or from a central point to the edge.

AMT's are driven across their entire length at the same time. There is no start and end to the wave across its surface.
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