Paper cone woofers died in 1962 .... a look back

I heard a Leak loudspeaker with a "sandwich" cone woofer in 1971---it was excellent, the best speaker I had heard until hearing my first ESL later in the year. That year I also heard the ESS Transtatic I, which had three RTR ESL tweeters and the legendary (with good reason) KEF B139 woofer, itself having a sandwich cone with a flat front face of Styrofoam and a butyl surround. I currently own a pair of the Transtatics, and their B139’s are still operating perfectly, as are the KEF 5" B110 Bextrene midrange drivers (the first commercially available Bextrene-coned driver) and the RTR tweeters.

I’m a big fan of composite construction, @bdp24 , from Focal’s W, to Rohacell to ... paper! :)


I’m currently listening to Scanspeak’s Revelator mid-woofers, which are two paper layers with an epoxy bonding them together. really pretty marvelous.

RIP Mr woofer!!!