Where did Poly-Planar go? And how did they go?

[simplyvolkol]

For people who don't know them, they are a 1970's speaker manufacturer, all their speakers were made of polystyrene moved in a planar orientation (hence the name). Just like a conventional speaker, the polystyrene plane is moved with a voice coil but without any spiders to stabilize the "cone" which makes it thinner than an inch.

I have one of their first speakers ever made, the brochure even says that everything was new! They sound amazing for what they are and I can even go as far as to say that they can compete with a conventional speaker assembly for the price of a Poly-Planar speaker (tweeter, mid, and woofer speakers as the same speaker)! Don't let the styrofoam fool you.

However, I think the company is sold to a no-name Chinese brand as their new "waterproof" speakers have a review about how they broke after minimal use. The newer speakers don't have anything to do with poly nor planar.

edits:
1. I forgot some spaces

 

[alteclipsch]

Lifted this from the interwebs. Pretty neat concept, never heard of them, only the EV 30" styrofoam woofer.
Can you scan/post your brochure?

 

[simplyvolkol]

Lifted this from the interwebs. Pretty neat concept, never heard of them, only the EV 30" styrofoam woofer.
Can you scan/post your brochure?

View attachment 2210008

(I am currently unable to take pictures but will send a picture of the back of the speaker and the part they explain the superiority of the speakers as soon as I can)
Mine is the bigger p40 version with 40 watts of power and has (I think) a pretty straight frequency response. P20 and P40 are the same size but P20 is 20 watts and P40 is 40 watts. In the brochure, they say that the round speaker (the one you’ve sent) is a replacement for conventional speakers and explained why these speakers are much much better with actually plausible reasons (pic 5 top right if you can read it). Over all I love these speakers.

Edit: grammatical and directional errors

 

[swechsler]

Lifted this from the interwebs. Pretty neat concept, never heard of them, only the EV 30" styrofoam woofer.

BES's (Bertagni Electroacoustic Systems) entire product line consisted of sytrofoam-diaphragmed open-baffle speakers. I used to have a pair of those red-framed drivers. Not particularly good, IIRC.

 

[simplyvolkol]

BES's (Bertagni Electroacoustic Systems) entire product line consisted of sytrofoam-diaphragmed open-baffle speakers. I used to have a pair of those red-framed drivers. Not particularly good, IIRC.

The roundie styrofoam speakers may not be that great as they are only 8” and how much can an 8” long and 1/2” thick styrofoam bend? (Mind you, I haven’t owned any of these round speakers). The bigger versions are probably much much better as the styrofoam has more space to bend and there are rings around the center to help it move and the smaller versions don’t have these(yes there is a really small rectangle versions that, yes I don’t own yet). I love how my speakers look and sound, I was lucky to inherit these practically NOS.

From my research I think some stuff came out the factory with poly-planar speakers, I could find pictures of a reel to reel VTR with the smaller rectangle one and a boat with one of my speakers. However it is sad how many people throw these out thinking they are no-name e-waste brands without listening to them.

 

[goodolpg]

Are the speakers/mechanisms mentioned in this thread similar in concept to what they call "exciters" now days?

 

[Pio1980]

Are the speakers/mechanisms mentioned in this thread similar in concept to what they call "exciters" now days?

Somewhere between, afaik.

 

[Ohighway]

In the early 70s I ran a pair of poly planar speakers in the back package tray of my 63 Impala. They sounded good and lasted quite awhile.

Somewhere in the dungeon here I have a new in box pair...... slightly larger than the ones I used in the car IIRC.

 

[Lavane]

In the mid 70's Radio Shack sold some that looked very similar to the rectangular ones in the picture posted above. When I was working at RS while in high school, we had a pair of them hanging on the back wall playing background music.

 

[simplyvolkol]

Sorry, wasn’t home in a while. Here is the back of the speaker and the advantages of this design stated by poly-planar.

Edit: Attachments weren’t cooperating

 

[DanSoeters]

For people who don't know them, they are a 1970's speaker manufacturer, all their speakers were made of polystyrene moved in a planar orientation (hence the name). Just like a conventional speaker, the polystyrene plane is moved with a voice coil but without any spiders to stabilize the "cone" which makes it thinner than an inch.

I have one of their first speakers ever made, the brochure even says that everything was new! They sound amazing for what they are and I can even go as far as to say that they can compete with a conventional speaker assembly for the price of a Poly-Planar speaker (tweeter, mid, and woofer speakers as the same speaker)! Don't let the styrofoam fool you.

However, I think the company is sold to a no-name Chinese brand as their new "waterproof" speakers have a review about how they broke after minimal use. The newer speakers don't have anything to do with poly nor planar.

edits:
1. I forgot some spaces

Hi All,
I know this is an old post, but for anyone that is interested and comes across it, I'm happy to provide an update on Poly-Planar. The company changed hands a few times and over the years began to focus more on Marine, Pool and Spa speakers.
In January 2024 Poly-Planar merged with my own company, Banshee Marine Audio and I came on board as President and part owner (there are three of us that now own the company, all based in the USA). We have invested heavily in Poly-Planar during this period appointing a new Electro-Acoustic Engineer, a team of Industrial Designers (US based) as well as a Product Development Team lead by myself. We are based out of Summerville, S.C. (just outside of Charleston).
Our strategy at this time is for Poly-Planar to return more towards it's roots in home, outdoor and commercial use loudspeakers while the Banshee Marine Audio brand will handle all things marine. Banshee Marine Audio just released two new products into the space and picked up the coveted Innovation Award at IBEX (the biggest B2B trade fair in Marine). So we are off to a strong start.
We have a really exciting development roadmap for both PP and Banshee Marine Audio, so stay tuned!
I'm trying to gather up some of our older products from pre-2000s for historic purposes, so if anyone has any old user manuals, catalogues, boxes or even products I would be happy to trade them for some samples of some of our new equipment!
If anyone has any old stories about Poly-Planar, products or just wants to learn more about our new direction and commitment to audio moving forwards, feel free to contact me directly.
Dan Soeters,
President
Poly-Planar and Banshee Marine Audio
dan@polyplanar.com

 

[nherd]

Hi All,
I know this is an old post, but for anyone that is interested and comes across it, I'm happy to provide an update on Poly-Planar. The company changed hands a few times and over the years began to focus more on Marine, Pool and Spa speakers.
In January 2024 Poly-Planar merged with my own company, Banshee Marine Audio and I came on board as President and part owner (there are three of us that now own the company, all based in the USA). We have invested heavily in Poly-Planar during this period appointing a new Electro-Acoustic Engineer, a team of Industrial Designers (US based) as well as a Product Development Team lead by myself. We are based out of Summerville, S.C. (just outside of Charleston).
Our strategy at this time is for Poly-Planar to return more towards it's roots in home, outdoor and commercial use loudspeakers while the Banshee Marine Audio brand will handle all things marine. Banshee Marine Audio just released two new products into the space and picked up the coveted Innovation Award at IBEX (the biggest B2B trade fair in Marine). So we are off to a strong start.
We have a really exciting development roadmap for both PP and Banshee Marine Audio, so stay tuned!
I'm trying to gather up some of our older products from pre-2000s for historic purposes, so if anyone has any old user manuals, catalogues, boxes or even products I would be happy to trade them for some samples of some of our new equipment!
If anyone has any old stories about Poly-Planar, products or just wants to learn more about our new direction and commitment to audio moving forwards, feel free to contact me directly.
Dan Soeters,
President
Poly-Planar and Banshee Marine Audio
dan@polyplanar.com

Hiya Dan,

I know this post is nearly a year old by now, but if you see this... I wanted to ask - what direction did you guys end up going with your home audio/loudspeaker product development? Did you refine the poly planar idea further and, if so, what did it yield? On it's face, it certainly seems a plausible idea that had not found it's niche. I'd be interested to hear if it could be used for high-resolution monitors in conjunction with a cone-based subwoofer unit (and possibly a crossover network if needed).

Thanks - and lots of respect to you for 1) starting a company and 2) hiring US-based engineers and designers.

Tom