2. speakers
  3. 130257-68346

Looking for input: Best material for mid range cone

I had a surprise last night when I switched speakers in my system.  I've got a few pairs, but had been listening mainly to some Ascend Sierra 1, which have a polypropylene cone with a soft dome tweeter in a bookshelf design.  Anyway, I've got a pair of Tannoy Precision 6.1's, and swapped them in.  

The sound was noticeably different.  Piano sounded better, vocals had a finer quality as well, and the whole sound seemed a little more lively.  Now the Tannoys have silver interior wiring, a titanium tweeter in a coax design and are only rated for 75 watts. The cone material is some kind of pressed paper fibre.  And they are voiced to somewhat push the midrange.  But the sound was compelling.

I'm just wondering about cone material because some old Paradigms with Polypropylene were really not up to snuff, but they were quite old.  Any thoughts?
213runnin
erik_squires
15,615 posts
 
Agreed. The material used in a driver is only one of many factors that come into play.

I've heard very good and very bad Be tweeters for instance. Fun to bs about though.

Best,

E
213runnin OP
914 posts
 
Thanks for the comments, my own experience is somewhat limited.  Paper does seem to be quite nice when done right.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Speed and lightness.
Best for upper bass to upper mids is ESL's.
Best for upper mids and beyond is a Plasma Tweeter.

Cheers George
helomech
1,482 posts
 
@kosst_amojan,

If plastic is a miserable material for cones, why do British monitors such as Harbeth Spendor and Epos produce such an elegant midrange? Have you compared such speakers to Focal's Flax cones?  
czarivey
5,652 posts
 
I love KEVLAR. It gives BEST and most realistic and natural midrange
More to discover