Cone material sound

In this video I am sharing my experience with cone materials and they're general traits.
The cone material choice can be helpful as a guide to navigate the many speaker drivers you haven't heard playing, but is not the end all be all, but again very typical.

With numerous years of serving high-end audio clients under my belt, I am excited to offer a speaker repair and upgrade service that's sure to meet your needs. I apply the intricate process demonstrated in my videos, ensuring that your speakers are handled by an expert. For advice or packaging inquiries, please don't hesitate to contact me. If you're within the Las Vegas area, drop-off or potential pick-up can be arranged.

[JonDeth]

I have some amazing poly cones including large scale guitar and musician's pro audio speakers. *The damping quality to polypropylene and metalized polypropylene really cleans up the sound in general, not just the breakup of decay.*
*Generally, I would favor paper cones of some kind particularly in the mids and highs, but strangely is for a shred and sweep guitarist like myself, the polymer cones provide a significant amount of damping that makes your playing clearer and more defined.*

The fiber cones sound very "open" but they also aren't very forgiving to the imperfections coming out of guitars that we so often just regard as transient noises. *My metalized polypropylene cones for pro audio and musician's needs ultimately sound warmer and more intimate than paper.*
Metalized polys are cheap and perform amazingly. I'm surprised I rarely see it anymore. My favorites to date are polypropylene that has been metalized with chrome. *It sounds so very warm, organic and intimate that it's literally a comforting color and texture added to everything coming out of it.*

[loudspeakerchefOriginal]

Its not just the material, but also the shape and thickness of the cone that makes the sound difference.

[Enemji]

Great video! 6:43 confirms the “fun & entertainment” factor that was experienced by the audio community when Andrew Jones designed the Elac Debut speakers using these. He then moved to Woven Aramid fiber (ala Kevlar) with the Debut 2.0 and the community mourned the loss of fun & entertainment.

[carlosoliveira-rcxt]

Beryllium is an awesome material for tweeters. Hybrid materials are best at creating a light, stiff driver with good damping characteristics.

[editorjuno]

Properly implemented -- implementation is crucial -- paper is the best for woofers and midranges, mostly because it has a built-in damping effect, whereas metals, ceramics, and synthetics like Kevlar tend to ring when they ought to be silent.

[linandy]

Great video ! Thanks. Confirmed my thoughts on paper woofers but learnt something new about magnesium. I must try some.

[InspiredByBrad]

I owned vintage KEF speakers, one with paper cones, and the other “Reference” model had polypropylene. I found the paper cone to be much more transparent and detailed in the midrange compared to the dull, muted sounding polypropylene. This contrast was noticed in so many other speakers I’ve listened to, such as MB Quart. I can’t fathom why polypropylene became so rampant and popular. I find myself always seeking out speakers with thin, light, fast, musical paper cones now, which unfortunately has become terribly rare….

[truthseeker]

hey man, that is absolutely good informative video, thank you so very much for making this

[larrygaines]

I am using 2in vifa full range vertically (2) and open baffle 800 hz to 5khz, kelivar carbon fiber, 70to 800hz. Sweet @ 100w per channel. Going to ribbon tweeters

[stormshadow]

Mr. Larsen, Which materials come the closest to covering the full range of audio frequencies the best all by itself? Thank you

[jimmyg]

Just got my wife a mini van and I love the stereo very warm big stage nice highs all paper! Not excellent at very high volume but will play loud.

[yo]

Great! Just want to mention, that ie peerless got some very smooth polyprops (I think 2 layer PP with different damping).

[cdbennett]

Focal has done wonderful things with metal dome tweeters. Their aluminum tweeters are coated with different materials and dampening that makes them loud, which I like, and accurate.

[sterlingcampbell]

When you say the paper cone is the most "entertaining" what do you mean? Same with "likely"?

[fiveb]

The "diamond" variant is interesting.
Is it just diamond dust which has been added to the polypropylene (or whatever substrate material that it's combined with) prior to the formation process? Is it then poured into a mould, or sprayed onto a form in layers, or by a process of injection moulding maybe? It wouldn't be a solid sheet or layer of pure diamond, because whilst diamond is very hard, it's also very prone towards breaking when suffering an impact or direct shock around it's thinest edge or point. At which time it breaks clean across to the opposite side. Right?

[bobavon]

With all this talk about cone materials and certainly different materials sound different, but in the end your amps should be of good quality to appreciate the sound. Also the beauty is in the ear of the beholder.

[kuronekosan]

Hi i would like to buy in cieiling speakers for atmos..my bed layer speakers has kevlar cone and silk soft dome tweeter..i would like to timbre match my bed layer speakers as close as possible ..as they dont have the speaker from the lineup..im looking at buying ceilling speakers with same materials at least..but i keep getting kevlar cone speakers but with titanium dome which is too different..so now i got 2 options ..1 is carbon fiber cone and second
Polypropylene Cone ..both with silk dome tweeter
.what would be the closest pick to kevlar cone and which one would blend more with eq ?

[RennieAsh]

I have speakers using aluminium even as mids, tweeters etc. It depends how it's implemented.
No breakup heard when done right, though can sound "too clean".

[deuce-way]

Awesome content! Keep up the good work👍🏽

[cychen]

thank you! learned a lot. very professional content!