Speakers: Parts Is Parts - High-Polymer Film, The Lost Speaker Technology (Part 1)

This article explores Polyvinylidene Fluoride Film (PVDF), a piezoelectric polymer used in various transducers for headphones, microphones and loudspeakers. It seems that the audio engineering community at large is either not familiar with PVDF film or misunderstands PVDF piezoelectric film technology. Hopefully, this article will serve as an introduction (or reintroduction) to the technology. This article was originally published in audioXpress April 2013.

For several years, Mike Klasco and Steve Tatarunis wrote a series of articles under the header Parts is Parts where they have explored loudspeaker drivers, how they work, and all the different parts and components. In this specific article, the two audio industry experts provide an excellent introduction to high frequency drivers, revisiting some key historical designs. This article was originally published in audioXpress, January 2013.

Mike Klasco explains the evolution of speaker cone materials, from paper to the first experiments in plastics and finally to Polypropylene (PP), which became the preferred resin sheet material for thermoformed speaker cones. The article also discusses recent trends in woven composite cone fabrication. This article was published in Voice Coil, February 2014.