Cloth surrounds....

[Worf101]

I once "inherited" a pair of no name, nodessript speakers from a friend and recently took a look at them as they were "sitting on the curb". They were from some company called ADG speakers and featured the typical 70's 3-way layout. 10" woof 3" mid and 1 inch domed twee. Surprisingly the speakers sounded great. They had some sort of attenuation nob on the front and were quite versatile. Problem with them was that they'd been left in a leaky basment and the cabinets were shot to **** but I still woulda kept em but the woof's features cloth surrounds, and these had rotted as well. I replaced one of the drivers with a rubber surround
replacement but it never sounded as good or a sweet as the cloth. My questions are:

1. Was cloth EVER a popular surround material, if so, when?

2. Besides rot, what were it's inherent weaknesses?

3. What were it's strengths?

4. Why was it abandoned?

5. Anyone still using cloth today?

Thanks in advance

Da Worfster

[Swerd]

I replaced one of the drivers with a rubber surround
replacement but it never sounded as good or a sweet as the cloth. My questions are:

1. Was cloth EVER a popular surround material, if so, when?

2. Besides rot, what were it's inherent weaknesses?

3. What were it's strengths?

4. Why was it abandoned?

5. Anyone still using cloth today?

Hey Worf

Cloth surrounds used to be used on some hifi woofers, and may still be used today, although I haven't seen any in some time. Most woofers today that I've seen have rubber or foam surrounds, as you've described. I still have a pair of JBL L100s from the 70s where the woofers have pleated cloth surrounds, and they are in great shape. The construction of those woofers are very heavy duty by today's standards, with huge magnets and voice coils. I always thought that the cloth would last longer than rubber or foam surrounds, but they may also be stiffer. Since most woofers today don't have such powerful magnets and also have lighter cones, maybe more compliant surrounds of rubber or foam is a better choice. In keeping with the idea that cloth surrounds goe with sturdy construction, most guitar amp and PA speakers still seem to have pleated cloth surrounds.

You might get better responses if you ask the same question at the Madisound or Parts Express discussion boards:

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/discuss.cgi

http://www.pesupport.com/cgi-bin/config.pl