[jeffbee]

Yes, as we know from the history of electrostatic speakers, all you need to replace those bulky magnets is a sheet of mylar the size of a billboard, and also a regular magnetic voice coil for the half of the power spectrum that they can't handle.

[buildbot]

These seen smaller than a billboard: https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Me16Db11xTX/p_839EMESLD/Martin...

And with lower frequency sound, aren't heavy drivers actually better? You literally need more mass/energy to push more air, but at a lot lower frequency so the effect of moving the mass back and forth at 20Hz does not really matter as much as 40Khz?

[bob1029]

The weight of the driver is not really a factor so much as a side effect of the engineering. You want to look at it in terms of total volume displaced and the sensitivity (if you are thinking about efficiency). Drivers with more surface area & excursion typically do have larger magnets and support structures.

LFE reproduction is all about moving large volumes of air by any means necessary. There are relatively featherweight subwoofers that literally use fans to move volumes of air and achieve performance that is impossible in traditional drivers of any weight class.

Doesn't really matter how you do it as long as things stay in phase.

[elevaet]

> There are relatively featherweight subwoofers that literally use fans to move volumes of air and achieve performance that is impossible in traditional drivers of any weight class.

Wow I've never heard of this, what are these called? Would love to read more about this tech

[bob1029]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_woofer

[ilyt]

> These seen smaller than a billboard: https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Me16Db11xTX/p_839EMESLD/Martin...

Right... because this one contains a normal magnetic woofer