Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions OT wood cones?

Has anyone seen this kind of thing before?
JVC has a new mini system with a cone made of ricewine soaked then formed birchwood.

It claims no more than 10% THD. Is that a typo? Am I missing something? That seems like a LOT of distortion for today's speaker and amp technology.

jr

JR, sushi and others previously speculated about the "warm" qualities of the JVC wood cones. Hearing of the ricewine processing raises concern however that the sound quality may be "loose".

The 10% distortion isn't a typo, but rather a EIAJ(Electronics Industrial Association of Japan)rating which is sometimes used(besides FTC, DIN etc.)even on more expensive equipment. Although it would surprise the audiophiles who you read on occasion torturing over the difference between 0.04% and 0.07% THD, it generally takes over 1% to be audible on music. 10% is clearly audible even on complex musical passages, but isn't totally unlistenable and makes for a nice big wattage number.

Thats pretty interesting

Varnish your speakers... and cones!

Thanks JohnK.

I think I need lessons on the proper way to search for things in this forum. I never seem to find anything I'm searching for....

jr

Don't fret about it. JohnK has an uncanny ability to remember the most minute topic and find old previous threads about it. It's kinda scary the old threads he's able to find/remember.

Second spiff's comments John. You ALWAYS seem to be able to come up with insightful and informative input.

yamaha is doing "wood" cones on it's HX speakers too.

Hi,

The Japanese have been experimenting with wood cones for years. I saw a very expensive 3-way system on a trip to Japan in the late '80s and early '90s. It might have been a Pioneer speaker for the domestic market in Japan.

Paper, which is made from wood pulp, was the standard cone material for decades, and it's still found in lots of speakers, so going to wood isn't all that farfetched. The wood cone drivers I heard didn't sound all that good, but that may or may not have been related to the cone material. During my visits to companies there, carefully controlled listening tests of loudspeakers were virtually never done.

JohnK is correct re the 10% distortion figure. The latter was often chosen to rate power output for the amplifiers in after-market car audio units for years to jack up the power figures. And distortion in deep bass from speaker can certainly reach whole percentages easily. It often goes unnoticed until it becomes really excessive. It gives bass a warm, fat, bloated coloration.

Regards,

These speakers has been using wood and paper fibre composite cones since its inception.

http://www.dali-usa.com/Page.asp?MMID=1&MID=3&UMID=4&UUMID=3&PID=17

Here is the technology:
http://www.dali-usa.com/Page.asp?MMID=1&MID=3&UMID=4&UUMID=3&PID=22

warm, fat, and bloated...

i've heard that too many times