DRIVER'S ED
Remember when it was coloring time back in kindergarten, and the teacher
would always tell you to stay between the lines? Well, it seems that many
loudspeaker designers learned by those same rules, as almost every so-called new
speaker design uses just another combination of the same old dome tweeters and
plastic coned woofers. Don’t get me wrong, driver choice is only one part of
what it takes to make a good loudspeaker, and conventional technology can
produce sensationally good results. But if you really want to hear what’s
possible when you move beyond standard technology, it pays to check out some
speakers that use drivers you might not find in the design book.
Unlike the
other components in an audio system, speaker design has basically stood still
for more than 30 years. Sure there’s been a trend toward taller and slimmer
cabinets, but the actual components themselves, the woofers, midrange drivers,
and tweeters used in most speakers can trace their design origins back to the AR
Model 3 introduced way back in 1958. The problem is that in the decades since
then, our listening habits have changed dramatically.
Instead of playing LPs
featuring Herb Alpert or Elvis singing “Viva Las Vegas,” today’s speakers must
be able to replicate the helicopter crash scene from Black Hawk Down. These
changes, along with the current trend of mounting the speakers up on the wall,
require a reappraisal of what type of speaker technology is needed to produce
the best results.
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