Passive radiator


Were passive radiators an ultimate failure? Does any speaker company still use them? A friend of mine is asking about them in regard to vintage speakers, and all I remember is being unimpressed. But I don't want to tell him that without some back-up.
arnettpartners
Passive radiators were and are not a failure. Still used because they offer numerous sonic advantages over ported designs. Their downside vs. ported includes larger cabinet, increased parts costs and harder to properly design.
The *very* successful GoldenEar Triton series of speakers use passive radiators, apparently to very good effect. This is a well-known technology used by many speaker mfgrs...

-RW-
Some of my favorite speakers over the years have used passive radiators, though they seem less common these days then back in say the 70's. Goldenear Aon3 is the current one I know of that I have heard and also thought to have top notch sound especially for the price. The combination of side facing passive radiator and folded ribbon tweeter makes these a quite unique design these days at a very affordable price worth auditioning. I've heard Tritons as well and was less impressed, but I suspect the problem was in the specific dealer setup I heard somewhere and not the speakers.