Voice Coil February 2025. From DSP to Cones and Domes.

This issue includes a new product review in Vance Dickason’s Outboard DSP series, exploring the miniDSP Flex audio processor. And Dario Cinanni explains how to Enhance Loudspeaker Efficiency and Bl(x) Symmetry with the Virtual Voice Coil software from SpeakerLAB. As scheduled, Mike Klasco and Nora Wong compiled the 2025 Cone and Dome Directory. For this month’s Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes the Faital Pro 5PR120 5” Pro Midrange Driver.

Mike Klasco writes about Dr. Kurt Müller's 100-Year Anniversary and revisits the milestones of this important supplier of cones, suspensions, dust caps and surrounds company. Perhaps the oldest surviving cone factory in the world and certainly one of the most advanced, DKM was originally founded in 1922, in Berlin, and in 1970, extended its product range with the acquisition of Pulsonic Ultrasonics Limited (now known as Kurt Mueller UK Ltd) in the United Kingdom. Happy Birthday!

Loudspeaker designers can look forward to a couple of exciting materials that have been in stealth mode but are about to step into the spotlight. A lightweight military aviation-grade nanocomposite from Alpine Advanced Materials, HX5 may be an alternative to beryllium and high-performance aluminum alloys used in woofer, midrange, and full-range cones. Compared to aluminum, cones can be made at half the weight with comparable strength. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2022.