Mike, that sort of suggestion has often been made before and isn't really "thinking outside the box", but rather thinking outside of reality. If the "frequency response characteristics" are the same it doesn't matter what materials the engineer has used to obtain them. As Alan has pointed out here, "soft" materials don't mean softer sound, despite frequently heard comments to the contrary. We should stick to the facts that we've learned(at least those of us willing to learn)from audio engineering principles.

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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.