2. speakers
  3. 1347904818

Good lookin' speaker drivers

For me, a large part of the overall aesthetic of a speaker is the actual driver itself. The cabinet, obviously, is a large part of the styling, however there is just something about the way certain drivers look that do it for me and give some indication as to speaker's sonic potential.

I find myself leaning more towards bespoke--or to borrow an term from horology--"manufacture" drivers. Examples of good lookin' drivers IMHO are:

*Revel Ultima2 mid/bass: simple, inverted dustcap sans any lines

*Magico Q series drivers

*KEF Uni-Q

*JL subs with their large overroll surrounds

Conversely, the less aesthetically successful drivers IMO are the wide-bandwith single drivers with the whizzer cones, i.e. the Lowther drivers. In no way am I saying that these are sonically inferior--they're not, and sound great--but something about the whizzer cone in my mind makes a visual association with the cheapo car stereo speakers.

Just an opinion. What other drivers do you guys like, aesthetically speaking?
e30m3
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
i like ones with red led bulb blinkin' in the middle when that thing pumpin'...
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,883 posts
 
It doesn't matter, nor would even enter my buying decision, as to what a driver looks like as long as it sounds great. My Tonians use Lowthers and look like they mean business, IMO, and sound like it.

What would bother me is an unsightly cabinet, be it the design or finish. That's one of my pet peeves so YMMV. This area is totally subjective.

All the best,
Nonoise
realremo
460 posts
 
I like a well detailed driver cone, that has a pattern or a texture to it, and that moves independently of the center bullet, and i prefer that bullet to have a metallic finish. I like the look of the tyler acoustics drivers, and the monitor audio drivers in the silver series are very nice. I also like creative use of color, like the yellow kevlar mid range drivers on some of B&W's gear.
I find the drivers on my current quad 22L2s to be kind of drab by comparison, but the sound is quite good, so i made an exception!
rodman99999
6,158 posts
 
To me; transparency is of major importance, in speaker systems. Thus, I've always preferred planars(as mains).
More to discover