Truextent/Materion Talk

[srm51555]

I recently spoke with a sales rep from Truextent about Diaphragms, listening impressions of M2/Everest, and TAD aftermarket diaphragms. First off he was a very professional and helpful. He spent about 20 minutes talking to me about all sorts of things. Here are a couple of things:

• Materion is a MFG of JBL's be and Radian's as well. They also do the mg phrams as well
• Radian was sold but couldn't recollect who.
• No plans for be in small format stuff.
• He mentioned someone was make aftermarket Beryllium Diaphragms for TAD but didn't know who.
• Speaker Exchange is the only place to buy now that OCS is out of business.
• Impressed with 2216nd's upper midbass when first listening to the M2's. He did say he was not using his own listening material.
• He was also surprised at the amount of M2 WG's were able to purchase here on the site.

In closing this individual was a very good representation for Materion. He was helpful and willing to talk even though I was only thinking of buying a backup pair of diaphragms.

Thanks,
Scott

[pos]

Very interesting, thank you Scott.
Any opinion about the D2430K?...

[zeljkor]

http://www.radianaudio.com/radian-audio-new-ownership/

[srm51555]

Very interesting, thank you Scott.
Any opinion about the D2430K?...

We talked about the D2430K for about 30 seconds only, he was surprised we were able to get them. They have one there for testing purposes.

[srm51555]

http://www.radianaudio.com/radian-audio-new-ownership/

Thanks

[grumpy]

From a recent NAMM video (forthcoming products)
Notice multiple logos on diaphragm. Perhaps it will enhance availability.
(only TAD/JBL 4" dias were mentioned in the vid)

[srm51555]

From a recent NAMM video (forthcoming products)
Notice multiple logos on diaphragm. Perhaps it will enhance availability.
(only TAD/JBL 4" dias were mentioned in the vid)

Interesting, thanks for sharing. It would be nice if someone other than speaker exchange sold them, just for price competition. The outer him of that diaphragm seems a bit thicker than my truextent 4016's.

[grumpy]

The picture may be the diaphragm for the TAD driver.

[pos]

Here is the preliminary (and outdated) datasheet for the TAD replacement diaphragm.
It is said to also fit the TD4003 but this must be a typo as this one has a different diaphragm than the TD4001 and TD4002.

[srm51555]

Interesting Thomas, thanks for posting. I also remember him saying something about a video showing Total Vibration of each material tested. Pictures of the results can be seen here on pages 13,14,15. If recall correctly, he said aluminum was the next best of the bunch in this particular experiment. I wonder if anyone has tried an aluminum diaphragm in one of the newer NEO drivers and was able to get decent UHF. I assume the 2441 would be the better option due to the diamond surround.

[Mr. Widget]

Here is the preliminary (and outdated) datasheet for the TAD replacement diaphragm.
It is said to also fit the TD4003 but this must be a typo as this one has a different diaphragm than the TD4001 and TD4002.

Yep, must be. The 4003 diaphragm has lower mass and the physical connection to the diaphragm is unique.


Widget

[FAST996]

I recently spoke with a sales rep from Truextent about Diaphragms, listening impressions of M2/Everest, and TAD aftermarket diaphragms. First off he was a very professional and helpful. He spent about 20 minutes talking to me about all sorts of things. Here are a couple of things:

• Materion is a MFG of JBL's be and Radian's as well. They also do the mg phrams as well
• Radian was sold but couldn't recollect who.
• No plans for be in small format stuff.
• He mentioned someone was make aftermarket Beryllium Diaphragms for TAD but didn't know who.
• Speaker Exchange is the only place to buy now that OCS is out of business.
• Impressed with 2216nd's upper midbass when first listening to the M2's. He did say he was not using his own listening material.
• He was also surprised at the amount of M2 WG's were able to purchase here on the site.

In closing this individual was a very good representation for Materion. He was helpful and willing to talk even though I was only thinking of buying a backup pair of diaphragms.

Thanks,
Scott

I talked to the head of the acoustical division at Materion today.

He couldn't tell me anytime soon that they would be producing Be Diaphragms for the TAD 4000 Series.
They were in the planning stages my guess 1-2 years. 2018-2019
If they went into production cost to the end user would be 600-700 each.
There had to be sufficient demand.
Radian was an OEM of there's in there Be line.

So the wait is looking longer for a Be replacement.

I recently purchased 4 each of the TD-4001 for $1350 and will use the AL diaphragms from radian @$290.00 ea .I will wait for the Truextent replacement or buy original Tad's $5000 ouch.

[ivica]

Interesting Thomas, thanks for posting. I also remember him saying something about a video showing Total Vibration of each material tested. Pictures of the results can be seen here on pages 13,14,15. If recall correctly, he said aluminum was the next best of the bunch in this particular experiment. I wonder if anyone has tried an aluminum diaphragm in one of the newer NEO drivers and was able to get decent UHF. I assume the 2441 would be the better option due to the diamond surround.

HI

I have done some measurements with Ti, Ti-ribbed, Ti-SL, AL, AL-(Radian), Be (Trex) using JBL 244x/50 drivers. My conclusions can be summed as:
-Ti-ribbed is quite OK up to about 12.5kHz where sudden but large ringing starts , so using over that frequency would not be good
-Ti non ribbed starts to ring 'earlier' but not so huge, so may be used up to 15kHz if such ringing is not so boring,
-Ti-SL behaves better the Ti-non ribbed one, but over 12kHz its response declines rapidly, so greater EQ has to be applied (but concerning the price it is the best compromise),
-AL (2441) has some small level of ringings, but seems can be used up to 20kHz (with the proper EQ) so for 2-ways system are the best candidate for home
-Be (Trex) behaves very much like Ti-SL, but with (fare) less ringing, and fast declining response over 11kHz, so, I believe that for Hi-Fi application UHF driver would be "a must". Owing to its ultra-high price I do not think it would be preferable solution for the most of the forum members.
-AL (Radian) is quite acceptable solution if not used over 10kHz, as about 11kHz it starts to ring almost as Ti-ribbed, or even worse with faster declining HF response (in the mean).

Fortunately JBL 4"-diaphragm reduced price in the range of 65$ to 150$
( http://reconingspeakers.com/product/...441-diaphragm/ )
( http://reconingspeakers.com/product/...1sl-diaphragm/ )
( http://reconingspeakers.com/product/...450-diaphragm/ )

so "quite acceptable solution" can be get, but the proper horn that can be applied to the 4"-diaphragm drivers can be a much more 'tedious task to be solved' if over 12kHz would be the application.

regards
ivica