Grant_Youngman wrote:You're absolutely right. I think the real problem here has nothing to do with headphones, foam surrounds, metal fatigue, the relaxation of long-chain hydrocarbons, nano vibrations, or anything of the sort. It's the absurd language (David, I mean no offense, here) -- but really ... "less brittle"? What the blazes does that mean?
Hi!
I'm one of those very down to earth people who sneers at venal ways to make even bigger fools of idiots with more money than sense - diamond material tweeters, for instance, and "oxygen free copper". Big jokes.
But by brittle, I mean not free and relaxed. It's a description and an explanation understood by addicts of the one particular speaker driver renowned for such an effect - you'd recognise it if you heard it and you'd only then do so when your units had actually been run in, as they sound pretty good as they are out of the box. But treated carefully for the first few days, they sound better and better. My 10 year old units sound better than my newly refurbished ones.
It's like old violins - they sound better than new ones, and new ones improve as they get older. Harps do too - in particular they need constant playing and an instrument not played for 6 months needs "playing in" until its tone comes back.
This is no audiophile freak country - it's an effect noted by musicians across the board . . . especially ones who are sonically in contact with soundboards. Even pianos get better and I prefer an 1880s instrument against a new one any day. Resonant planes have modes. The longer they resonate in a wider variety of modes, more subtle modes can come to the fore rather than merely those instantly available when they are brand new. Materials have memory and exciting higher orders of vibration will bring vibration in those modes, as flexibility increases in those modes, into availability at lower energy levels.
No doubt it's also on account of the vibration modes of the thin paper cones also. When new, simple numbers of resonant modes predominate whereas with ageing, a nearer to continuity of available vibrations opens up.
Strads were probably fairly run-of the mill violins when they were made. But for some reason because they were favoured slightly more and survived slightly better, they were appreciated more and more as their ages increased and violinists will use the terms "sweet" and "brittle" likewise in respect of old and new instruments.
I am dealing currently with one of these exotic drivers on one channel of my organ at the moment. A wire has failed at its solder joint with the lead-in wire so I have the unit apart. Some time ago, because I could not source foam spiders, I replaced the spider with a very thin rubber membrane, which is in perfect condition. But having dealt with some foam examples recently, I realise that the rubber membrane has a springiness, providing a return force similar to a new foam. But old foams are stretched so that within the confines of the pole gap field linearity, the spider allows free movement without a return force. So I can see how the process of ageing does actually affect the mechanical properties of the system and the sound will be audibly affected as a result. But it's good enough for frequency range of the channel of my organ that I'm using it with . . . However, the cone edge surround is foam and I can see that through use it has acquired concentric lines in the foam which are not present in new foam surrounds. So the effect is not only audible but visible too.
Best wishes
David P