Membranes made from ceramic and diamond
A chassis diaphragm is a very fragile and technically demanding component. On the one hand it should be very light, but on the other also very stiff and rigid. Only a light diaphragm allows a high dynamic (fast acceleration and quick damping) chassis. A solid diaphragm gives the speaker its transients, analytics and the resolution. Having said all this: a diaphragm which connects both worlds seems rather unlikely, right?
Let´s examine the Mohs hardness scale to find out the answer: one can easily identify diamond as the hardest material we know. It’s being followed by corundum (which already is by the factor 5 less hard than diamond). The so called inner sonic velocity also plays a role in this game, it´s 18.000m/s for diamond and only 6.100m/s for titan or 300m/s for cardboard, in contrast. So one could say that diamond is the ideal material for a diaphragm followed by corundum. Both materials are very rigid and yet light at the same time. However, the production of diamond is so expensive that it can only be used for small tweeters.
The specialist for such diaphragm materials is the company Thiel&Partner Accuton. They build pure ceramic and diamond chassis by hand following our specifications! We do not buy drivers "off the shelf" – all surrounTec™ drivers are specifically tuned to fit our zero order filters. We require a lower F3, a high Q, special ventilation as well as sometimes other magnets ... No other manufacturer did match our requirements and specifications for a handcrafted chassis nearly as good as Accuton.
The surrounTec™ loudspeaker baskets are CNC milled from the full aluminum block. This ensures the base for an ideally tuned driver.
Both materials allow a close to ideal step response and an incomparable dynamic. From this follows not only an unmatched low staining (or discoloring) and distortion of the audio signal but also a precise pulsation. The 30mm diamond tweeter used in surrounTec™ high-end products is by far not a marketing-gag! It’s not a diamond coated diaphragm or something which looks like a diamond – we are talking about a diamond diaphragm made of one piece of pure artificial diamond, cultured by the Frauenhofer institute in Germany and nothing else. Minimal weight at maximum rigidity. A very simple formula for breathtaking velocity and responsiveness.