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Technology: Electrostatic Advantages
Sound Lab speakers share two advantages with all electrostatic speakers: low
moving mass and evenly distributed driving force. These factors, coupled
with Sound Lab's proprietary technologies, form the basis of Sound Lab's sonic superiority.
Spin-offs from space-age developments have provided materials to make ideal electrostatic
transducers (panels). Membrane materials are now available in thicknesses of just a few millionths
of an inch. One advantage of the electrostatic panel immediately b ecomes apparent: it has the
lowest moving mass of any acoustic transducer, even lower than the so-called mass-less
"flame" speaker, whose ionic capsule has a higher equivalent mass. Or the ribbon speaker,
whose membrane requires metallic elements to conduct relatively high current (hence, mass and heat).
The moving mass of the membrane can now be a fraction of that of the air that it is moving. The
membrane is not required to carry current, so heat is never a problem.
The thickness of the conductive coating required to store electrical charge
on the membrane need only be molecular. Thus, not only are inertial problems eliminated (having to
do with the sluggishness of motion due to mass), but the damping of the membrane (elimination of
resonance modes) approaches the ideal damping characteristic of air. The result is sound that is
more natural, where transients are more detailed and crisp and where sustained sounds are sweeter,
cleaner, and more believable.
The next major advantage of the electrostatic panel is how the
electrostatic force is coupled to the membrane. It was mentioned above that the stator is made to
have the same area as the membrane. This results in an even distribution of the driving force over
the entirety of the membrane (iso-phasic force). In other words, every point on the membrane is
driven independently, but identically as neighboring points. This eliminates the need for stiffness
(hence, increased mass) to control movement as in the case of "cone" speakers. No other
means of moving air has such inherent control. Distortion products are virtually eliminated. As
stated in non-scientific jargon, there is no "cone breakup". There is no cone to
"break-up".
Because of the employment of a very thin, highly compliant membrane along
with an evenly distributed force field, electrostatic transduction exhibits the lowest mass, lowest
distortion and the most control over membrane motion of any type of transducer. This means that a
properly designed electrostatic speaker re-creates music with unsurpassed accuracy and naturalness. That's
what Sound Lab is about.
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