Astonishing discovery

[NV&H]

Been playing around with aluminum ribbons (9 microns) for some time and was struck by how awfull they sound played full range. Sizzle at the top and raspy down low (below 1000hz). Tinkered and tinkered with all manner of damping metheds and then hit upon something that seemed to work perfectly...

Stretched out some very sheer pantyhose sprayed a little 3M Super 77 (I mean a little) on it, applied my ribbon to that, detensioned the hose, and BAM!!! Beautiful sound. Alison Krauss' voice brought tears, as it should have.

You heard it here first!!!!

[a.wayne]

LOL.............

Thin Mylar packaging tape works wonders also ..... Are you using corrugated or non corrugated diaphragm ?

[wrenchone]

I can just see it in my mind's eye now - some scruffy DIY type badgering a pert panty-hose sales person about relative grades of sheerness. Well, they probably think we're all perverts of some sort anyway...

[Mark Allen]

I just had to ask this... Which brand of panty hose do YOU use??? I can get our group back together to do some panty hose audition testing if you so desire... But you gotta go out and buy all the types involved!! I know nothing about panty hose...

[NV&H]

I first tried corragated ribbon onto the stretched hose, but there was still some extraneous noise. So I then tried it flat. That's when the magic occured. The advantage of very sheer pantyhose is that it is so light and the amount of glue needed to attach it is so small. Since the glue is sprayed on, what doesn't adhere to the very fine fibers passes on through the openings in the weave. The amount of added mass is so small that I noticed NO reduction in output.

No rattling or buzzing down low (even at 50hz) and the top is smooth as silk.

[gripracer]

right, so it stops it buzzing, but there still isnt any extra output down low or up high. a ribbon is not a woofer.

in other words, use a ribbon in the application it was designed for.

[NV&H]

Cheap Walmart stuff is all I've tried so far (I'm back in the US). It's extremely sheer. You don't want anything "supportive". Anything heavier would likely hurt efficiency and I suspect something even more sheer would damp resonances just as well without excess mass.

Got me thinking about spider webs now!

[NV&H]

Originally Posted by gripracer

right, so it stops it buzzing, but there still isnt any extra output down low or up high. a ribbon is not a woofer.

in other words, use a ribbon in the application it was designed for.

My magnet design allows my ribbon to move > +/- 5mm without a change in flux density. So my goal was to elimate a separate midrange driver. It's clean as a whistle with no drop-off at 200-300 hz so that goal has been met. I'll just cross-over there to a woofer.

[Mark Allen]

a ribbon is not a woofer

You'd have a very difficult time convincing the feoows that designed the old Apogee full range ribbons to that statement!! They were extremely impressive speakers...

Mark

[Borat]

So wait a minute - does the pantyhose serve as spiders on a woofer ? Do you have it as suspension to the left and right of ribbon ? Or did u simply create a sandwich material ?