Voice Coil February 2023 opens with the essential CES 2023 Report, unwrapping some of the trends of the largest consumer electronics show in the world. Increasingly a business-focused event, able to project its influence globally at the start of every year, CES 2023 was intense and full of business-to-business (B2B) activity during all four days of the show. Thousands of companies from all the over the world used the opportunity to be in Las Vegas, NV, all week, to resume business, reinforce connections, and find new suppliers after two years without face-to-face meeting opportunities. Wireless home audio, soundbars, spatial audio, and automotive systems were the focus at CES 2023. The largest loudspeaker driver manufacturing companies from Asia and Europe attended in force, conducting business from private suites.For this month's Acoustics Patents column, James Croft focused his attention on a just-granted patent titled "Quadrupole Transducer," which was awarded to inventor Bruce F. Thigpen, of Eminent Technology fame and a prolific inventor, with much experience in planar magnetic loudspeakers since 1985. The newly patented Quadrupole Transducer focuses on "spatially offsetting a first dipole from a second dipole while causing the first and second dipoles to produce the same acoustic signal," minimizing floor, ceiling, and wall reflections. "In some embodiments, the second dipole is vertically offset from the first dipole. This produces a phantom acoustic image that is perceived to emanate from an intermediate position," the patent details.
As scheduled for this time of the year, Voice Coil updates its directory of Loudspeaker Cone/Diaphragm Industry Suppliers, an area where demand continues to grow, with manufacturing operations spread globally. More than 50 companies are listed in this 2023 edition, not counting subsidiaries. A great way to identify new suppliers and supply chain options.
And directly to the Test Bench articles by Vance Dickason, this February 2023 issue offers the detailed characterization of Wavecor's latest SW259WA01 High Xmax Subwoofer. This new 10.25” subwoofer (4Ω version) has a generous feature set that includes a proprietary six-spoke cast-aluminum frame that is substantial enough to support the heavy ferrite motor assembly and incorporates 36 vents below the spider mounting shelf. Other features include a very stiff and thick flat profile aluminum cone, further stiffened by a 3.25” convex aluminum dust cap. For additional thermal cooling, the cone includes eight vents on the rear of the cone beneath the aluminum dust cap. Suspension is provided by a FEA-optimized low-loss (high Qm) NBR surround plus a flat 6.25” diameter black Conex spider. All this is driven by a 2" four-layer voice coil wound with round copper wire on a black fiber glass non-conducting former, and an ingenious motor system with enhanced cooling.
The second driver on this month's Test Bench is the beryllium version of the popular Radian Audio 475PB 1" ferrite motor compression driver. The Radian 4795BEPB-8 is the beryllium diaphragm model, which like other products from the company normally come in two diaphragm types: Radian’s outstanding sounding proprietary aerospace-grade aluminum alloy, and the Materion beryllium diaphragms. These diaphragms are produced by Radian at its Pomona, CA, facility under license from Materion, allowing the company to increase the overall output of these highly sought-after diaphragms. For this Test Bench, Vance Dickason offers a comparison analysis of the aluminum alloy 475PB version (already characterized in the January 2019 issue of Voice Coil) directly with the 475BEPB beryllium model. An insightful characterization for speaker builders, designers, and manufacturers.
As always, this issue of Voice Coil closes with Industry Watch notes, this month highlighting the forthcoming return of the Klippel Three-day Lecture in Dresden, Germany (March 13-15, 2023), a new application note from Audio Precision, new Mundorf resistors for crossover networks, and the latest from The Audio & Loudspeaker Technologies International (ALTI), which following the successful CES Hospitality Suite now moves to Munich, Germany, with the ALTI Pavilion + Conference at the High End Show (May 18–21, 2023).
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