If electrostatic speakers are basically vibrating membranes how come there aren't any speakers on the market that are strips of round electrostats in different sizes?
Is it not a functional form?
Interesting question there, corElement.
My two phooti Kaudiees as follows:-
ES panels from marques like Magnepan, Quad, Martin Logan and Cadence (India), to name a few, are a form of dipoles (read more open baffle than conventional electrodynamic open baffle speakers) for their part.
These are usually accompanied by a helper woofer for the low-mids and the LF, as they are by design not suited for those frequencies.
The longer/taller and narrower the panel, the more it acts like a vertical dipole line source.
This extract from wiki might help us grasp this better :-
QUOTE
1. Since many electrostatic speakers are tall and thin designs without an enclosure, they act as a vertical dipole line source. This makes for rather different acoustic behavior in rooms compared to conventional electrodynamic loudspeakers.
2. Generally speaking, a large-panel dipole radiator is more demanding of a proper physical placement within a room when compared to a conventional box speaker, but, once there, it is less likely to excite bad-sounding room resonances, and its direct-to-reflected sound ratio is higher by some 45 decibels. This in turn leads to more accurate stereo reproduction of recordings that contain proper stereo information and venue ambience.
3. Planar (flat) drivers tend to be very directional giving them good imaging qualities, on the condition that they have been carefully placed relative to the listener and the sound-reflecting surfaces in the room.
4. Curved panels have been built, making the placement requirements a bit less stringent, but sacrificing imaging precision somewhat.
UNQUOTE
Having quoted that, you can imagine what would happen if there were, as you said, speakers on the market that are strips of round electrostats in different sizes. Theoretically speaking, it would work as two hollow pillar-like cylinders that are made of ES panels but especially in the wake of point 4 above the stereo imaging precision would go for a toss.
Not only that, it would also lead to negation of all the positive aspects of an OB/dipole in addition to detrimental cancellation inside the hollow cylinder with no positive attributes thereto.
Flat ES Panels are as such, very expensive as we all know. A round one would be even more expensive to build and with nothing acoustically gained therefrom, it would obviously amount to professional hara-kiri on part of the designer, manufacturer and/or distrbutor(s).
@ All
Please do feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I am a tech-challenged guy of sorts, capable only of layman-like-understanding beyond a certain point. Therefore, have offered my two phooti kaudiees as such, just like a layman that I am. . . .
All the same,
Hope this helps.
hyeah::yahoo:
