@johnk --
Thanks for clarifying. Had no intention to put down Alnico magnets in any way, in fact I'd only cherish their inclusion in a speaker setup.
Thermal Distortion your loudspeaker most likely suffers from it. But do you care?
Thermal Distortion is much more serious than just a maximum power handling limitation or side effect.TD is overlooked by most manufacturers as there is no easy (low cost) solution and TD is audible and measurable most of the time at most power levels. TD is caused by the conductive metal (aluminum, copper, or silver) voice coil getting hotter when you pass electrical energy through it. The more power you pass through it the hotter the metal gets. The hotter the metal gets the more the electrical resistance increase. The efficiency goes down and you need to ram in more and more power for smaller and smaller increases in SPL. It can be the reason you get fatigued while listening. If you are running massive power you are creating more TD in your transducers. But do you care? And is it a reason some prefer horn-loaded designs or SET-powered systems since they have the least problems with TD?
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I have woofers and midrange compression drivers that utilize alnico magnets. I don't plan on abusing these drivers to the point where de-magnetification occurs. A local dealer who had an alnico magnet driver with weak output had the magnet recharged, it did not cost that much to have this done. I have no idea about the particular effect of the type of magnet employed in a driver, as far as the sound is concerned, except that many of the drivers I like happen to have alnico magnets (and pleated paper surrounds, and other old school design features). |
@pcrhkr — “Thermal distortion from my speakers. My ears would blow first! :)” One of those instances where it may feel inappropriate stating that this is actually a desirable outset :) Question is if you would know whether thermal distortion/modulation had krept in in the first place, because that’s the real bug for the ones in particular who don’t have high efficiency speakers (and speakers that are passively configured to boot), and at what juncture - much earlier than one would imagine - it may pose an issue. In your case it may be a lesser issue than what many other audiophiles (unknowingly) are facing, at least. |
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