Pressed steel speaker chassis vs cast or plastic

[RoA]

You are correct that none of these guarantee good sound quality. And the LS3/5A sound bad for reasons that have nothing to do with the woofer chassis.

Good grief, are you just arguing for high prices? These are great sounding speakers. And very reasonably priced. Any change in BOM cost will translate to nearly 10x price increase. The majority of the audio industry is infected with compulsive FOMO and FUD regarding exotic materials, what we need is better acoustic engineering not fancy driver chassis.

Indeed, I am arguing about material as well as sonic value. Like I said, if you feel happy to pay the inflated prices for Kii (example) for good engineering alone ... good. I wouldn't.

As for the Neumann, seems decent value for what they charge.

 

[unpluggged]

It isn't

It looks almost the same as this one. So it must be plastic.

 

[RoA]

It looks almost the same as this one. So it must be plastic.

View attachment 406452

It looks nothing like that.

 

[RoA]

Debut Reference | Bookshelf Speaker | DBR62 | Best Audiophile Speakers

Elac - The life of sound | Best Audiophile Speakers

www.elac.com

 

[kyuu]

What matters is how the entire system performs as a finished unit. Obsessing over what materials are used where is... silly. Particularly for internal components where aesthetic appeal isn't even a factor.

 

[unpluggged]

What matters is how the entire system performs as a finished unit. Obsessing over what materials are used where is... silly.

OP is obviously trolling, I suggest we stop feeding them. It had been fun, but not anymore.

 

[MAB]

Maybe OP could help out. Get one of those Peerless pressed steel frame woofers used in a Kii. SBS-160F35AL01-04 for instance.
Test it. Compare it to a few 6 1/2" woofers. See if it has loads of distortion and untamed resonances that are not present in drivers with fancy frames.

These odd ideas about materials are a problem in audio. Makes good sound less obtainable. Cheap amps can outperform expensive amps that utilize bespoke components. Opamps outperform discrete by large margins. Paper cone drivers are a great choice for certain applications, not cheap.

Perceptions of cheap vs. appropriate dominate, manufacturers often select expensive over good as a result of this FOMO fever.

 

[Ktacos]

Driver basket material seems to matter more in terms of mounting the driver than anything else. Pressed metal can kind of warp if you tighten down too much. Don't think anyone's ever been able to identify basket material from listening.

 

[unpluggged]

These odd ideas about materials are a problem in audio

Yes, we have already a guy here who is obsessed with aluminum speaker enclosures, but to be obsessed with woofer basket construction is another level.

 

[Deleted member 58670]

There’s nothing wrong with good old stamped steel chassis, paper cone, cloth surround or ceramic magnet. For some applications paper cone is still the best I think.

My favourite 12” low-midrange driver :

 

[Roland68]

Looks plastic to me.

It looks almost the same as this one. So it must be plastic.

View attachment 406452

Sorry, but this is getting a bit ridiculous.
I have the Elac DBR62 here and the driver has already been removed and is in my hand. The chassis in the Elac DBR62 definitely has a die-cast basket made of metal and not plastic.

If the chassis in your picture is supposed to be similar to the chassis installed in the Elac DBR62, then every driver of that size really is "similar" to it.

 

[voodooless]

]f the chassis in your picture is supposed to be similar to the chassis installed in the Elac DBR62, then every driver of that size really is "similar" to it.

 

[unpluggged]

Sorry, but this is getting a bit ridiculous.

It got ridiculous, and not just a bit, already in the first post. So no wonder that subsequent posts are a bit playful

 

[Roland68]

Now I choked on my coffee from laughing.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I get that but if a speaker costs a considerable amount of money, measures and sounds good should cheap parts not matter?

If an inexpensive part has superior performance it is a better choice.

There are plenty of very expensive drivers but no point in using them if they are of modest or poor performance.

I hope the biggest proportion of the price I pay for a speaker is for years of research and knowledge at the company. In a car about 10% of the retail price used to be the parts 20 years ago when I was still involved. The big part of the cost was engineering and tooling, often spending a fortune on tooling so the individual parts are inexpensive. More is spent per car advertising it than making it

I would not be surprised if the BOM cost of a speaker is 10% of retail too. I worked for Garrard in the 1970s and then the biggest percentage in the retail price was the retailer margin. With the exception of the gear hobbed platter in the Garrard 401 the most expensive to make component in the carton you bought was the owner's manual.

 

[RoA]

OP is obviously trolling, I suggest we stop feeding them. It had been fun, but not anymore.

So I corrected you and you accuse me of trolling. Seems about right

 

[dfuller]

All other things being equal, a cast aluminum basket is a better choice than stamped steel. It's nonmagnetic so it doesn't interfere with the motor, it can be shaped to be less resonant and have less rear-side interference.

However it does tend to be more expensive to use cast baskets and the advantages aren't always super clear.

As far as plastic baskets... Not a fan. They're usually not particularly strong, and if a speaker takes a good hit in shipping it can literally break the magnet off the driver. I've had it happen.


Also - I wouldn't say the drivers in the original KH120 are cheap. Both of them are customized designs made only for that speaker, and they're very high performance drivers. The basket is the stamped SDS series, but the motor structure is considerably more advanced than the higher end HDS line.

 

[kyuu]

All other things being equal, a cast aluminum basket is a better choice than stamped steel. It's nonmagnetic so it doesn't interfere with the motor, it can be shaped to be less resonant and have less rear-side interference.

However it does tend to be more expensive to use cast baskets and the advantages aren't always super clear.

If the advantages aren't clear and it's more expensive, are you sure that it's a better choice?

 

[unpluggged]

However it does tend to be more expensive to use cast baskets and the advantages aren't always super clear.

This is what OP aims for. They are more comfortable when it's more expensive.

 

[Ktacos]

As far as plastic baskets... Not a fan. They're usually not particularly strong, and if a speaker takes a good hit in shipping it can literally break the magnet off the driver. I've had it happen.

Cast can die in extreme conditions, like when a goober employee drove off without securing 4 EAW kf650's and they all fell off the back. Somehow the cabinets were ok but the drivers were all destroyed, the baskets broke apart on all of them. Nothin like holding $300-400 woofers that just flop around to put things in perspective.