HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

A question for the technically minded.

In what way or ways does the speaker spider affect the sound? I have to assume that it does, as it is in contact with the cone and is an integral part of the design but surely is a form of mechanical filter. What would be the effect of doping this as well as, or instead of the cone itself?

Hi Phil,

A very good question and something i have never considered. I don't know how it affects the sound to be honest. It's role is to keep the voice coil centred in the gap and to allow the cone to move back and forth freely.

So any doping must preserve these functions. Cover it in bison kit and i would say that it would probably restrict the cones movement, but what do i know i have never tried it. Spray it with plastidip and it might be ok but who knows. Maybe you should try it out and let us all know

Related to this - i read something ages back on the classic speaker pages (they repair all sorts of ancient drivers over there) where somebody commented that repairing driver sourrounds with dope could be done but if you did not use the right stuff it could increase the resonant frequency. Different dopes had been used and the frequency measured
for each. Could be all but i suppose altering the properties of the spider may be akin to this. Or might not.

Oh and by the way, tweeters can be doped with plastidip too. I did it to a cheap metal dome tweeter and it has improved it a little. Thing is i could not do it to the outside because of a metal grille that i could not get off so i had to take the tweeter apart and dope the inside of the dome

Stu

It is a necessary evil, or the driver wont work. It is a classic design compromise, it has to centre the voice coil in the basket, so it has to be strong enough to do this, and weak enough not to contribute to or hinder the driver motion, both are opposites so it is a compromise, so best to leave it alone.