TangBand New Driver | W4-2356 (4" PP Full-Range)

I found a TB new FR driver that looks interesting.
Anyone have any information on this?

http://www.tb-speaker.com/products/w4-2356#
TangBand W4-2356 - 01.jpg
 
Just why on Earth would TB create such a thing....so many "new" variables, a real cornucopia of mathematics, vibrational analsyis, VC stresses, air-mass loading,, cone curvatures, etc. etc.
More trouble than it's worth! I'm guessing it's more marketing than science.




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
 
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The second driver in this month's Test Bench is even more intriguing and comes from Tang Band Speaker (TB Speaker), with the reference W4-2356. This is a new driver in the popular 2" to 4" diameter full-range category but is significantly more innovative. The TB Speaker W4-2356 driver is built on a proprietary and patented injection-molded polymer four-spoke frame that allows the voice coil not to be centered in the 4" injection-molded polypropylene cone, but offset by about half inch. The aim for this original off-axis design, according to TB Speaker, is to solve "the difficult diffraction problems" and make cabinet design easier. In reality, as Vance Dickason explains upfront, this design aims to defeat concentric cone modes, a well-known source of coloration in round voice coil transducers. Otherwise, the TB Speaker W4-2356 full range driver combines an injection-molded poly cone suspended by a Santoprene surround and a cloth spider, with a three-sided aluminum phase plug, underhung neodymium ring magnet motor structure, and 1" (25.4mm) diameter voice coil.


https://audioxpress.com/news/unique-speakers-parts-and-concepts-in-voice-coil-september-2022
 
Looks like it should work well enough -but it seems a rather complicated way of dealing with the concentric edge resonance of a circular driver. I'd be more inclined toward the method Scan & its then-sister companies adopted of using an asymmetric surround. Or simply bite the bullet and go with an elliptical / some other form of oval form-factor (not so sure about the elliptical coil method).

It looks a rather deep cone profile from the pictures above & website -be interesting to see how that affects the off-axis. Certainly not without interest though & it's good to see something a bit different to the usual run. 🙂
 
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