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Unique & Distinctive Speakers

Magfinity said:
What people often forget that dipole is not the only thing that makes them sound the way they do. The drivers are linesource. That makes a huge impact, cones radiate completely different from how maggies do. They don't have issues with side wall , floor, ceiling reflection. Imagine a figure 8 through the speakers seen from ontop. Walk up to one stand beside it , a huge spl drop ..

That's the secret sauce right there
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Really interesting and important point.
 
JoeESP9 said:
All dipolar speakers have a rear wave that's 180 degrees out of phase with the front. That includes OB's.
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Understood 'but' ........... is the rear wave identical (aside from phase) to the front wave on a dynamic (cone) speaker ? I didn't think so, so if that's the case then I don't see them being the same ?
 
Please explain how the rear wave of any vibrating membrane can be different from the front other than phase?
 
JoeESP9 said:
Please explain how the rear wave of any vibrating membrane can be different from the front other than phase?
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Ok, just so I understand, if I held a spl meter one meter in front of an OB speaker and the same distance to the rear the reading would be the same ?
 
twitch54 said:
Ok, just so I understand, if I held a spl meter one meter in front of an OB speaker and the same distance to the rear the reading would be the same ?
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No. The shape of the driver will cause different wave patterns AND the front side is moving slightly more air because of the center of the cone is exposed where on the back side the spider and VO are not moving as much or any air. With a none cone driver the answer could be yes.
 
kfa888 said:
No. The shape of the driver will cause different wave patterns AND the front side is moving slightly more air because of the center of the cone is exposed where on the back side the spider and VO are not moving as much or any air. With a none cone driver the answer could be yes.
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That single ended planars don't sound the same on both sides is a given. Just as cones don't sound the same from the rear as the front. I don't know if there is a difference in SPL's between the front and rear of either type.

For planar magnetics, there are two basic types, single ended and double ended. Single ended have a sheet of magnets either in front of or behind the diaphragm. Single ended Magnepans used to have the sheet of magnets in the front. All of them now have the sheet behind the diaphragm. Double ended Magnepans (20.x and 30.x) have a sheet in front and behind. They like esl's have true push pull operation. The Eminent Technology LFT speakers are also double ended.

However, that doesn't support the idea that OB's don't and can't benefit from room acoustic treatments. That's why I started this line of questioning and supposition.

If OB's are so different from planars how come the best place for them soundwise is pretty much the same as for planars? Those same positions very rarely work as well with any type of box.

I consider OB's, planar magnetic and esl speakers to be unique and distinctive. Unknowing guests have more than once asked me what the room dividers are for. Other guests have stood right next to one of my panels and while it was playing music asked, "Where is the sound coming from?".

Regardless of anything else the three types are all dipole radiators and follow the same rules of sound propagation and in room effects.
 
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kfa888 said:
No. The shape of the driver will cause different wave patterns AND the front side is moving slightly more air because of the center of the cone is exposed where on the back side the spider and VO are not moving as much or any air. With a none cone driver the answer could be yes.
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that was my point....... example, an OB and a stat are therefore not the same. Yes I get it that an OB has rearward propagation but not the 'same' as say a Martin Logan stat panel
 
Princeton Audio Wireless Wooden Speakers
Princeton-Audio-Wireless-Wooden-Speakers-2.jpg
 
Most everyone knows about plasma tweeters. How about full range "plasma" speakers? Nelson Pass demoed the speakers below at a CES many years ago. The speakers produced copious amounts of Ozone causing Pass to spend several days in hospital.

The full range speakers are completely massless.

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They are not massless - plasma is a state of matter, just like solids, liquids and gasses, and in fact, it is the most common state of matter since the sun and stars are plasma. And if the sun didn't have mass and therefore gravity, there would be no solar system.
Plasma is matter that is excited to the point were some of the electrons fly off the atoms and molecules that make it up (which are then ions), so it is electrically conductive, which is why it can be used to create sound. Because it is so excited, chemical reactions that don't easily happen at normal (to us humans) temperatures which is why ozone can be formed. That tingly smell after a spark (which is plasma) is ozone. Lots of it is formed in in the upper atmosphere where the intense radiation of the sun tears oxygen molecules apart and allows them to combine into ozone.
 
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