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Paper cone drivers/natural materials

I’ve been think recently about some post I read somewhere in which the OP complains about Wilson Audio’s use of doped paper pulp drivers for the cone material, saying that that’s not an acceptable material by today’s standards. Thinking about how meticulous is the design and execution of this company’s  offerings, this criticism just doesn’t seem valid. I’m sure if they found a better material, they’d use it. I’m sure they are designing for linear excursion within the pass band. I remember visiting an ex audio dealer’s house near Binghamton, NY, back in the early 80s when I was just a teenager. I remember him extolling the virtues of paper cones, and that way back then many manufacturers had experimented with others but kept coming back to paper. My opinion now is that many materials can be good candidates if executed well. Wilson is also using silk dome tweeters. My dad had very smooth and detailed sounding Philips silk dome tweeters back in the ‘70s in his homemade speakers. I say natural materials tend to hold their own and often prove superior. I have a cactus spine for my cartridge cantilever- my excellent Soundsmith Hyperion. Vandersteen uses extremely stiff and light balsa wood and carbon fiber in its top offerings. I can vouch for the excellent midrange in my 5A Carbon.

How much does driver material influence you purchasing decisions?

 

earthtones
boxcarman
408 posts
 

Cones?  I don't need no stinking cones.  I have had Magnepans for 25 years and there is no going back.

vinylfan62
119 posts
 

I’ve built speakers using just about every design principle and driver material available. For cone type dynamic drivers there are many choices of material and driver construction. Many are outstanding if used correctly. You just have to understand and design around the trade offs of each. This includes cost in most cases. Extremely stiff materials have good and bad traits. I bet diamond cones would have trade offs as well. I have used treated paper cones that don’t look like paper. That might cause people to think a shinny or strangely textured or colored cone they see is not paper based, when it might be. If you like the sound then driver material is unimportant. 

2psyop's avatar
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2psyop
1,558 posts
 

Every speaker I have liked had paper cones. Few I have liked had other materials.

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,895 posts
 

Been basically married to Tannoys with paper / pulp cones for over 15 years. I like some other speakers with modern materials, but love my Tannoys.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,677 posts
 

Speakers have been around for long enough that if there was something better and cheaper than the dope/paper combo, we wouldn’t have paper woofers anymore.  Having said this, The biggest difference’s I’ve ever heard was in tweeters, not mids or base design. A silk tweeter sounds different than a medal tweeter, that sounds different from a ribbon tweeter.

Back in the day, I replaced the tweeters on my DQ-10’s with some Decca ribbon tweeters and man was that the best money I ever spent at the time!

 

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