Bill13
100+ Head-Fier
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- Jun 22, 2004
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InnerFidelity's Tyll Hertsens did a MrSpeakers' VOCE factory tour conducted by CEO Dan Clark ---- this factory tour video was posted on YouTube in May 2018.
It was interesting to see Dan explain that the VOCE diaphragms are held in place by 3M adhesive film - understood Dan to say that it's the same adhesive is used fasten architectural panels in buildings (predicted forty year adhesive grip?). Anyway, years ago, Mylar electrostatic speaker driver diaphragms were typically fastened by a combination of glue and clamping force by the spacers between the stators. At that time my electrostatic speaker drivers would often slip & lose tension after a couple of years or sooner.
Mylar is very slippery stuff; difficult to glue in place.
Sometimes I could use a hot-air gun to shrink the Mylar film which would re-tension the diaphragms = but in my experience, this was a temporary fix at best.
Stax, of course, had a better track record.
It's notable that RAAL ribbon tweeters use plastic film fastened to the ends of the aluminum ribbons to set the tension - and a hot gun is used to shrink the plastic film thereby tensioning the ribbon element when/if necessary. There was/is a YouTube demo video showing how you can use a hot air gun to re-tension a RAAL ribbon tweeter.
I still worry about tensioned electrostatic diaphragms stretching/slipping over long periods of time -- to me it's just a question of time - not whether or not it will ever happen or not.
However, at least 10-15 years driver lifetime would be OK with me. (IMO, Stax seems to have mostly achieved this already).
Wish the VOCE warranty could be 5 years -- not just two years.
It was interesting to see Dan explain that the VOCE diaphragms are held in place by 3M adhesive film - understood Dan to say that it's the same adhesive is used fasten architectural panels in buildings (predicted forty year adhesive grip?). Anyway, years ago, Mylar electrostatic speaker driver diaphragms were typically fastened by a combination of glue and clamping force by the spacers between the stators. At that time my electrostatic speaker drivers would often slip & lose tension after a couple of years or sooner.
Mylar is very slippery stuff; difficult to glue in place.
Sometimes I could use a hot-air gun to shrink the Mylar film which would re-tension the diaphragms = but in my experience, this was a temporary fix at best.
Stax, of course, had a better track record.
It's notable that RAAL ribbon tweeters use plastic film fastened to the ends of the aluminum ribbons to set the tension - and a hot gun is used to shrink the plastic film thereby tensioning the ribbon element when/if necessary. There was/is a YouTube demo video showing how you can use a hot air gun to re-tension a RAAL ribbon tweeter.
I still worry about tensioned electrostatic diaphragms stretching/slipping over long periods of time -- to me it's just a question of time - not whether or not it will ever happen or not.
However, at least 10-15 years driver lifetime would be OK with me. (IMO, Stax seems to have mostly achieved this already).
Wish the VOCE warranty could be 5 years -- not just two years.
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