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Guide to Planar Magnetic and Ribbon Loudspeakers
Planar magnetic and ribbon speakers offer a unique aesthetic and approach to sound reproduction.
Planar magnetic headphones have been the tip of the spear during the Head-Fi revolution and you are more likely to find consumers who have heard of the technology because of the exponential growth of the high-end headphone market versus those who have experienced planar or ribbon loudspeakers.
Edward W. Kellogg and Chester W. Rice are credited with inventing the first ribbon loudspeaker while they were working at General Electric in 1924. They discovered that a thin metal ribbon suspended in a magnetic field could be used to produce sound waves, and this design has been refined and improved upon over the decades.
Dr. Oskar Heil was also a pioneer when it comes to ribbon loudspeakers in the 1930s. Heil was a German physicist and inventor who was interested in developing new types of loudspeakers that could produce high-quality sound across a wide frequency range. Heil’s design used a thin strip of metal foil suspended in a magnetic field to produce sound.
The ribbon loudspeaker was initially used in military and industrial applications, but it later became popular in high-end audio systems due to its ability to reproduce sound with exceptional clarity and detail.
Audiophiles have enjoyed the benefits of planar/ribbon loudspeakers for almost 50 years, and many of us have owned loudspeakers created by Magnepan, Eminent Technology, Infinity, and Apogee Acoustics. New brands like Diptyque and Clarisys Audio are offering new ribbon designs that offer even more impressive performance.
Ribbon tweeters have become extremely common and one can find them in loudspeakers manufactured by Quad, MartinLogan, Adam Audio, Emotiva, Aperion, and Monoprice.
Like other planar loudspeakers (electrostatic), planar magnetic loudspeakers use a flat diaphragm to produce sound. However, instead of using an electrostatic charge to move the diaphragm, planar magnetic drivers use a magnetic field.
The diaphragm is suspended between two rows of magnets, and when an electrical signal is applied to the voice coil, it interacts with the magnetic field to move the diaphragm and produce sound.
The diaphragm is usually made of a thin film or foil material, such as Mylar or Kapton, and is mounted between two sets of magnets, one on either side of the diaphragm.
This article originally appeared at ecoustics.com and an intro has been published here with permission.
Read the full article: https://www.ecoustics.com/ask-an-expert/wtf-ribbon-loudspeakers/
