'New materials are keenly anticipated in the land of speakers'

摘要

New materials, and material technologies, are keenly anticipated in many quarters of our hi-fi industry. If there's a way that an unusual metal, native or alloy, can be incorporated into a cable or connector then our hobby will find a way. Same goes for novel semiconductors, power transistor substrates or tube variants. But if there's one quarter of hi-fi's commonwealth of components that's more keenly influenced by new materials then that's in the land of loudspeakers. While birch-ply panels never entirely went out of fashion, plain vanilla MDF is no longer the go-to material for loudspeaker cabinets hosting drivers of distinction. Curved, laminated woodwork, constrained-layer damping and critical bracing are today's tools of the trade as speaker designers seek inert but practical and attractive cabinet solutions.