Titanium Voice Coils - where to get best price?

@ditusa 

Sorry, of course I'm familiar with Ti based formers, but when I ask for "such a beast" I'm asking if the OP has heard or seen of the same model speakers having different drivers.

What got him thinking that taking this model of speaker and swapping out the voice coil alone was a good thing?

@erik_squires I actually just read something in a thread about titanium voice coils and wanted to try it out with hopes to improve SQ with my speakers for less than replacing them.  Btw, where is DIY audio?

@tsacremento I read somewhere that titanium voice coils would improve SQ and wanted to try it before considering new speakers.

@audiokinesis thanks!

OP:

DIYaudio dot com

OK, so you first need to know something about why all drivers are different, require different cabinets and crossovers, impedance curves, etc.

It's very rare that you can find a drop-in replacement for a driver and I've never heard of a case where a manufacturer has the identical driver, except with Ti voice coil. 

I mean, of course you can find woofers with Ti voice coil formers, but all the other speccs are different so you are really talking about building an entirely different speaker.

I suggest that instead of attempting a hack like this you build your own from a kit first.

I agree with @erik_squires, that you’re unlikely to find an off-the shelf replacement for your woofer that is functionally identical except for the voice coil former.

I think you’re also unlikely to find a recone kit for your woofer that has a titanium voice coil former.

Replacing the voice coil former itself is not for the faint-hearted. The voice coil will be glued to the voice coil former. And the final assembly needs to be round and sized within fairly tight tolerances.

Unless you have a very special set of skills, you might want to look for a speaker recone shop that can undertake what you have in mind. And you may find that it’s just not practical after all.

Getting back to Erik’s suggestions, building your own speakers (ideally starting with a kit) puts you on track for a lifetime of enjoyment of this hobby from a whole new participatory angle. Your interest in titanium voice coil formers implies that you are detail-oriented, and amateur speaker-building is very detail-oriented. It was my gateway drug to becoming a dealer and eventually a speaker manufacturer.

Duke