[Uncle Erik]

This thread can't help but remind me of Rega's glass platters. Hopefully, one of the materials scientists can comment, but I think the resonance of the glass contributes to the sound of a Rega. They don't sound like other turntables, and the ones with acrylic platters don't sound like a Rega. Come to think of it, I believe some o the higher end Rega decks have ceramic platters. I haven't heard one, but it is interesting that they use it.

Glass headphones would be pretty cool - I'm imagining a Grado-style headphone with glass cups. Though (I think) the glass would have to be pressed in a mold. That's OK if you're making a lampshade, but I wonder if the tolerances would be tight enough for headphones that would consistently sound the same.

 

[jjsoviet]

Is carbon-fiber mesh possible?

 

[xkRoWx]

Or, you can carve it our of diamonds.

Thats dense enough, would probably make a hole in your hardwood floor dropping it from shoulder height.

Joking aside, I've heard of speakers built in a ceramic enclosure (mostly wood), but never fiber glass or glass. None of these would be safe, if any of them were to be dropped on the floor accidentally.

 

[nylan8301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xkRoWx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Or, you can carve it our of diamonds. Thats dense enough, would probably make a hole in your hardwood floor dropping it from shoulder height. Joking aside, I've heard of speakers built in a ceramic enclosure (mostly wood), but never fiber glass or glass. None of these would be safe, if any of them were to be dropped on the floor accidentally.

Harman Kardon is working on a computer speaker that is made out of glass.

LINK

Nylan

 

[Rinoue]

@nylan

that's pretty interesting, wouldn't mind trying it out if I had the chance.

 

[Sebhelyesfarku]

Silver sprayed plastic is the best, why wasting resources on these kind of exotic materials?

 

[deadly55]

I woudl really love ot see transparent plastic... or arcylic used.. this way you get to see your headphones are work but not have the fragility of glass (from drops anyways),

 

[Sherwood]

The goal of an enclosure is to be inert, durable, light, and cheap. Plastic does those things well.

Now the goal of a driver, on the other hand, is simply to be light and inflexible. The more of both, the better. Drivers are where you get the crazy materials, including diamond.

 

[salannelson]

Well, I've worked with fiberglass. It's a pain in the ass. The materials needed are REALLY expensive, you need to mix it, shape it just right, and wait for it to harden. That equals time and money wasted. I don't think that it would have good acoustics either.

 

[b0dhi]

The benefits don't outweigh the addition resources needed to make them.

 

[bellbrass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjsoviet /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is carbon-fiber mesh possible?

I've worked with carbon-fiber a lot....it's VERY expensive, but it's a great and lightweight material. Cost-wise, though, it's like going with gold over aluminum.

To play devil's advocate here, I think there's still some stigma in our society against plastic. Plastic = cheap and padding the company's bottom line, most people say. I think that plastics are chosen more carefully than meets the eye. I'd rather the company be putting the money into the driver and cords. Also, the design of the driver housing is as important as with speaker enclosures. I know a very famous speaker manufacturer, and he once told me that the sound of top-rated speakers was as much about the cabinet design as the quality of the drivers....if not more.

 

[paulb09]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now the goal of a driver, on the other hand, is simply to be light and inflexible. The more of both, the better. Drivers are where you get the crazy materials, including diamond.

Yeah, I've heard of diamond being used for tweeters. I wonder what affects the choice of not using it for headphones, unless no headphone manufacturer wants to get into the costs. In fact, are there any dynamic headphones that don't use Mylar diaphragms?

 

[Graphicism]

Headphones must cost the manufactures pennies; I mean if a headphone can be upgrading with the likes of pennies on the driver, blu tack on the cover, dampening material around the driver and foam under the ear cushions... they either don't know what there doing (which is scary), are too cheap (which is also scary) or purposely build them with faults so that you upgrade...

 

[paulb09]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif Headphones must cost the manufactures pennies; I mean if a headphone can be upgrading with the likes of pennies on the driver, blu tack on the cover, dampening material around the driver and foam under the ear cushions... they either don't know what there doing (which is scary), are too cheap (which is also scary) or purposely build them with faults so that you upgrade...

I know this probably doesn't hold to all headphones, and I only know so much about mods for different headphones, but the likes of the K81DJ were built for DJs in mind. I suspect it gets pretty noisy and the bass gets lost easily when you're performing as a DJ at an event, so they were designed with a more prominent bass than many might want as a hi-fi headphone. Especially true when you think how "bass light" some of the higher range AKGs are considered

 

[OpticElement]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rinoue /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was always curious why materials such as Ceramics, Glass / fiber glass, etc aren't used on headphones, is it because they are Not suited to get the desirable sound? cost? too heavy? too fragile? What do you guys think? My guess is its because it doesn't have a desirable sound, but that's just a guess.

---Mechanical Engineer (Student still

)

Hey, Rinoue.

Are you referring to things like the actual body/frame of the headphone, or the materials actually "inside" (sorry I read the thread and wasn't exactly clear what specifically you were referring to).

Ceramics fracture very easily due to impact. If you used a ceramic as the material for your headphone body, and you dropped it, kiss your money/time for listening to tunes good bye. I'm not sure if giving the material some kind of treatment (spray-on?) could improve the ceramic's loading properties well enough to sustain impact, but most likely a company would just change the material, since coatings can be costly.
--->Fragile

Fibre materials (like carbon, kevlar, etc.) are usually mixed with what is known as a "matrix" (something like a glue) which bonds with the fibre to create a fibre-composite. Composites can be pretty strong in impact and in just plain ol' pulling. But who wants to put the time into mixing the fibre with the glue-like stuff and risking damaging your headphone electronics? Much easier just to machine something... Also the shape of FCs are pretty unpredictable, whereas if you machine the headphone out of plastic etc. you know what you're going to get.
--->Un-predictable shape (unless you use some kind of mold maybe?).

I can't really comment about using fibres or ceramics "inside" the headphones themselves without doing some research! The only thing I can say is that if for some reason there were alot of vibrations in the headphone (bass monster style) and ceramics were used near the transducers/speakers, a crack may appear in the ceramic, and once a crack gets started, it's pretty hard to stop.

Sorry if I got nerdy on you. I hope I didn't embarass myself but stating something stupid