Ambitious Audio Design writes: “All speaker units have “their own sound” and it is common for audiophiles to discuss the pros & cons of using different diaphragm materials. Some audiophiles swear by hard cone materials (e.g. beryllium, aluminum, titanium, carbon) and special surface treatments (anodizing, ceramics, Diamond Like Carbon/DLC) – because the sound experienced can be more clear and detailed.”
NEW CONE TECHNOLOGY
The price is (usually) a very marked break-up pattern (=distortion) because the damping in the hard materials is low.
The breakup patterns need to be removed because it can be very uncomfortable. The crossover filter can eliminate some of the problems, however, a crossover filter has an effect on the sound. The more corrections that need to be made, in short, ‘the greater the loss of music experience’.
Other audiophiles swear by soft cone types (e.g. plastic, paper) because they have a higher damping and therefore can have less critical breakups in the membrane. Therefore it can be less complicated to manufacture crossovers. There are always exceptions.
We like the relaxing, ultra-clear and super-detailed reproduction of sound – like live music. So we have been looking to make speaker units with those features.
For many years we have dreamed of manufacturing a membrane that had a hard surface – but without the traditional breaking tendencies. That… is almost contradictory.
Over the past 10 years, we have made an incredible number of attempts at “the impossible task”.
But we’ve cracked the code.
Our new cone is composed of many different materials and complex internal and external geometries. The result is a cone with high stiffness and high damping. This means, for example, that the new 6” midwoofer, in a test baffle (in wall setup), can be used without a crossover because it has a very nice roll off.
LINEAR LOSSLESS SUSPENSION – LLS
After several years of research and development, we are pleased to present a new linear and lossless control system for the bass and midrange units in the A-Series.
Introduction to the problem:
- The power from your amplifier is sent through the speaker unit’s voice coil and then to the speaker’s cone. As seen in the image below (billed indsættes), the voice coil is centered in the magnet system air gap where the magnetic field is concentrated.
- In electrodynamic speaker drivers, the voice coil is centered with a so-called “spider”. The spider is typically a piece of ribbed fabric that sits just behind the membrane.
- The control of the voice coil is necessary to center the voice coil in the magnetic gap. Without control, the voice coil will touch the magnet system causing loud mechanical noises and distortion.
- Since the first practical electrodynamic loudspeaker was invented by the Danish inventor Peter Jensen, various types of spiders have been used to make the speaker units work.
The spider solves the centering problem. However, there are several disadvantages. For example:
- The spider is relatively heavy and stiff, and its weight and inertia reduce the cones ability to start and stop (impulse handling)
- The spider (yellow in the video) is not linear.
- At some frequencies it will even move in opposite phase relative to the movements of the oscillating coil and cone.
- The spider usually covers a large part of the back side of the cone, thus impeding the free movement of sound.
These are factors that prevents a true-to-life reproduction of the music. In particular the clarity of the sound, the reproduction of details and the experience of atmosphere in the music.
Less is more
We want to give the listener an amazingly great music experience – but the spider is one of the elements that stands in the way of the great music experience. Although the spiders have gotten much better over the years and many speaker developers have tried to omit the spider, no good producible solutions have been found.
Ambitious Audio Design has been researching the problem for 10 years and many prototypes have been tested. We are therefore pleased to present a completely new linear lossless suspension system.
We call the Linear Lossless Suspension: LLS
The benefits of LLS are:
- We remove the spider. Doing that the weight is significantly reduced – typically more than 95% compared to the weight of a traditional spider.
- There is no air resistance in the LLS.
- Full linear control of the movements of the voice coil is achieved.
The results are:
- Smoother frequency response
- Better impulse handling
- Higher efficiency
- Lower driver resonance