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In Reply to: Whizzer cone = distortion. posted by sser2 on March 11, 2007 at 21:35:17:
Wizzers add mass but also extend the high frequency response of a cone driver, so I think there's more to it than just power-to-weight ratio.My understanding is that a wizzer cone's smaller diameter and steeper profile make it much more rigid than the main cone. So when the main cone is effectively de-coupled from the voice coil due to cone flexing at high frequencies, the wizzer remains rigid and couples well to the voice coil and to the air.
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In fact, the high mass of the whizzer cone does not allow it to move as an entity at high frequencies, even though it is relatively rigid. Instead, it goes into multiple breakup modes. With proper material, breakup resonances can be dampened, which allows achieving more or less flat frequency response. But don't be misled by flat response. Distortion and stored energy tests of whizzer cones are uniformly unfavorable.It doesn't take sophisticated tests to tell the difference between a whizzer cone and a dome tweeter. With demanding acoustic material like vocals, piano, and strings, it is very apparent.
For certain kinds of music where high frequency content is essentially noise, whizzer cones may be OK.
It's quite possible that I'm incorrect about the wizzer remaining rigid. It probably starts out that way, then goes into breakup but at a much higher frequency than the main cone. I can imagine the unterminated edge of a wizzer cone causing problems. Some of the better designs put a curl in the edge which probably introduces some much-needed stiffness there.So far I haven't seen any distortion or stored energy tests on wizzer cones (nor much on other cones for that matter) - do you have any links?
In my experience with fullrange drivers, "shout" can be tamed by equalization. There are other issues which cannot.
John Krutke's site (Zaph Audio) has tons of info on driver distortion. Unfortunately, none of the drivers he tested were hi eff. His objective measurements provoked ire of some manufacturers, if I remember correctly.Manufacturers tend to publish distortion data only if there is something to brag about. I remember I was impressed by distortion figures of EV DL-12, or waterfall plots of BG Neo drivers, and indeed these drivers sounded good.
that I couldn't find any distortion or waterfall plot for a whizzer cone drivers on the internet.I remember reading an article by a former car speaker designer who used whizzer cones to add brightness to one-driver speakers. He said that an average consumer would percieve it as top end detail with kinds of music that people usually listen to in a car. Mesurements showed, however, high levels of high frequency distortion.
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