[Stitch]

Since i've been looking around here i stumbled across Orthodynamic and Planar headphones. Curious as i am i started searching what those are and how they work. Searching here and googling for over an hour didnt help much.
I found this on wiki, dont blame me for quoting it. Is the only thing i found that explains it. Searching for planar didnt give anything usefull at all.
I'm sure there are people here that can give me a better, more extensive explanation then i found on wikipedia....

Quote:

Orthodynamic Orthodynamic, isodynamic or magnetostatic drivers, are either composed of a thinly pressed disc made of tightly coiled fine aluminium wire affixed to a mylar sheet or of a printed circuit. This disc is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is then sandwiched between two magnets which have the same polarity facing each other. As a result the magnets repel from each other and so the whole assembly is clamped together. An electrical signal is passed through the disc as it would be through the voice coil of a moving coil driver and the motion produced generates the sound. Once a popular choice for manufacturers such as Yamaha for their headphones, the technology has fallen generally into disuse as companies increasingly favour moving-coil designs. Fostex though, continues to manufacture orthodynamic headphones.

 

[achristilaw]

You should read it several time till you get the gist, it will make sense if you had a visual aid. The Magnepan web-site has a time honored diagrams that are simplified. These are smaller examples...

Use the search at this site..it has been covered several times. Taught Mylar, wire or mag film adhered with adhesive and magnetic (usually bar mag) plane (Planar) behind. And alternating signal makes it all flex (+/-) with the applied signal (ultra simple ex.) .

 

[dBel84]

More information than you probably care for in this thread and just in case the wiki was not wikiphonia ..dB

 

[lecky]

And to be even more precise:

Isodynamic (aka orthodynamic) - Wikiphonia

 

[Stitch]

Great, thanks. After reading wikiphonia, the quote from regular wiki is much clearer.
Already noticed the thread on here on head-fi but it seems i didn't look good enough for a good explanation.

 

[Kabeer]

'Planar' refers to a headphone driver diaphragm that is flat. I.e. a flat disc in a 2-dimensional "Plane". And this disc vibrates in-and-out into the Third dimension.

This is unlike a dynamic diaphragm, which is a Cone shape.

The advantage of a planar driver is that the flat disc allows the whole diaphragm to vibrate in phase, therefore having less distortion. Imagine the cone vibrating, its diaphrahm is a funny shape rather than being flat, hence it will not vibrate as uniformly.

Examples of Planar audio driver technologies are: Electrostatic, Electret, Ribbon, and Orthodynamic.

Orthodynamic is just a TYPE of planar headphone. And the definition you presented explains how it works.

I hope that clarifies things for you!

 

[Syan25]

Really interesting to read about....I'm looking for alternatives to dynamic driver based - phones

 

[joelpearce]

Quote:

Really interesting to read about....I'm looking for alternatives to dynamic driver based - phones

The best place to start is the T50RP, because they are quite cheap and give you a sample of the sound.  It's an easier entry point than some of the newer and more expensive models, vintage orthos, or STAX.

 

[Syan25]

Thanks - that is awesome....I would really like to hear what it is all about - cheers!