We were talking about Bluetooth players and the speakers in them. Jason said his Bose Bluetooth speaker was not of the old paper cone, coil and magnet design and that it was the new technology. I said well I don't know but there has to be some moving part interfaced with air to produce sound. So I'm wondering is there a new way that speakers are made to produce high quality sound reproduction? I don't think a smartphone has a paper cone and magnet speaker.

 

They make speakers using piezo-electric crystals.

 

Years ago, we had a Bose PA System.
Couldn't believe how clear the vocals were, out of those small speakers.

I didn't tear into them to see the technology, but I wanted to.

 

the world of high-end speakers have always been pulp-cone,, combined with copper or flat wound aluminum voice coils, and usually neo-dymium magnets.. bose probably uses some form of poly cone designed for linearity though.. the big secret behind bose systems is the wave guidance technology. I have been in the audio industry for 20 years and have built many many systems.. The shop I work at has multiple world records in spl and sq. We have reproduced the "bose wave guidance system", or better known as the folded horn, or a-periodic design and have achieved 174.6 db at the windshield with a little over 250k watts on a single 18 inch woofer.. call your buddies bluff and teat his bose system apart...Bose does however use a reverse suspension system that puts the vc above the suspension(spiders) coupled with a large dustcap giving the appearance of a non traditional voice coil loudspeaker.. Subwoofer design can be a little different but the same fundementals apply..

 

Thanks for those replies. I knew about crystals. So is the speaker in a smartphone of the magnet and coil and cone design? That wave guidance is interesting. I'll read up on more of it.

 

Thanks for those replies. I knew about crystals. So is the speaker in a smartphone of the magnet and coil and cone design? That wave guidance is interesting. I'll read up on more of it.

Im not so sure about a smartphone speaker, they certainly build traditional speakers that small, But theres probably a way more efficient speaker that they use in high tech gadgetry like the smartphone. As far as the wave guide thing, www.diysubwoofer.com will yield a plethora of info on all designs. good luck