speaker
SPEAKER DRIVER MATERIALS USED FOR MANUFACTURE DOME TWEETERS & MIDRANGE
Aluminium. The majority of metal domes use aluminium diaphragms. Aluminium has an extremely high stiffness to weight ratio, but poor damping characteristics. Some vendors also chemically treat the metal or apply coatings to improve its damping characteristics.
Titanium. Titanium is slightly heavier than aluminium for an equivalent sized dome. It is, however, much stronger than aluminium and has slightly better internal damping. It's also significantly more expensive. As with aluminium, chemical or ceramic surface treatments
e.g. Focal's "Tioxid"and or coating are sometimes used to boost damping.
Fabric Treated . Often silk, but other materials are also in common use, hand-treated fabric is used as the material of choice in some of the most respected tweeters in high-end sound. Fabric domes have high internal damping. Their stiffness to weight ratio is mostly dependent on the material used to treat the fabric.
Beryllium. Used only by TAD-Pioneer in its professional drivers, beryllium is the ultimate metal for use in diaphragms. It stiffness to weight ratio is the highest of any known metal. Although its self damping is not inherently superior, its stiffness usually raises its resonances to well over 50 kHz, obviating the requirement for special surface treatments. Beryllium is also one of the most expensive materials from which to fabricate diaphragms.
Polymide. Polymide is the last of the hard dome materials. It is used in only one recommended driver, at low-cost 3/4" dome tweeter from LPG.
KevlarTM. Although Kevlar is most typically used in woven form for larger coned drivers Focal still makes two Kevlar dome tweeters. For more information of Kevlar, its description is discussed in the information of cone materials which follows this.
Ceramic. Accuton produces tweeters using thin aluminum oxide ceramic diaphragms. Used correctly, ceramic can be an almost perfect material.
Aluminium. The majority of metal domes use aluminium diaphragms. Aluminium has an extremely high stiffness to weight ratio, but poor damping characteristics. Some vendors also chemically treat the metal or apply coatings to improve its damping characteristics.
Titanium. Titanium is slightly heavier than aluminium for an equivalent sized dome. It is, however, much stronger than aluminium and has slightly better internal damping. It's also significantly more expensive. As with aluminium, chemical or ceramic surface treatments
e.g. Focal's "Tioxid"and or coating are sometimes used to boost damping.
Fabric Treated . Often silk, but other materials are also in common use, hand-treated fabric is used as the material of choice in some of the most respected tweeters in high-end sound. Fabric domes have high internal damping. Their stiffness to weight ratio is mostly dependent on the material used to treat the fabric.
Beryllium. Used only by TAD-Pioneer in its professional drivers, beryllium is the ultimate metal for use in diaphragms. It stiffness to weight ratio is the highest of any known metal. Although its self damping is not inherently superior, its stiffness usually raises its resonances to well over 50 kHz, obviating the requirement for special surface treatments. Beryllium is also one of the most expensive materials from which to fabricate diaphragms.
Polymide. Polymide is the last of the hard dome materials. It is used in only one recommended driver, at low-cost 3/4" dome tweeter from LPG.
KevlarTM. Although Kevlar is most typically used in woven form for larger coned drivers Focal still makes two Kevlar dome tweeters. For more information of Kevlar, its description is discussed in the information of cone materials which follows this.
Ceramic. Accuton produces tweeters using thin aluminum oxide ceramic diaphragms. Used correctly, ceramic can be an almost perfect material.