Any other speakers like Sony ES XS-HF78?

[ligs]

Any other speakers like Sony ES XS-HF78?

I got myself a set of vintage MOBILE ES XS-HF78 as X-mas gift. It is so fitting that the each woofer has a shiny red nose. Below is the description from the seller.

"COMPONENT SPEAKERS Sony Mobile
VERY RARE!!!
VERY RARE MAGNESIUM CONE WOOFERS!
UP FOR SALE IS A OLD SCHOOL SET OF SONY MOBILE
ES 6.5 COMPONENT SPEAKERS!!! HIGH END SONY ES!!!
THESE ARE IN GOOD SHAPE AND WORK GREAT!!!
THESE HAVE A PHENOMENAL SOUND,AND ARE ONE
OF THE BEST SETS OF COMPONENT SPEAKERS THAT
SONY EVER MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WOULD COMPARE
THESE TO DYNAUDIO,MOREL IN SOUND QUALITY!!!!!!! "

Sony says both woofers and tweeters are made of magnesium. The factory crossover is 5 kc Hz. I put them in a pair of 0.35 ft3 sealed enclosures and they sound very smooth and with no sibilant yet quite nicely detailed. The only other magnesium cone speakers I know of are Seas’ Excel series and they have humongous peaks in the 5-7kc range. Yet when I ran a rough FR using my Radioshack sound meter on this Sony ES woofer, it had no noticeable breakup peaks.
Does anyone know if there are any production midwoofers that are made of magnesium and behave like this one? Hopefully reasonably priced

[fastbike1]

The Hi-Vi M5N/A, M6N/A, M8N/A.

[ligs]

Indeed the HIVI speakers have more moderate peaks in the highrange than Excels. Does anybody know what OEM drivers used in Sony Mobile ES speakers. I had Sony ES M-3 and M-7 , both used Peerless CC line drivers. Some Sony recent home speakers have Kevlar-like woofers that look like B&W.

One more question, could a red colored hard dome like the center of HF 78 woofer be responsible for the extented yet non-peaky high range?

[Paul Carmody]

It appears as though those were deliberately colored to look like the Seas Excel. Honestly, from the photo, it just looks like the cones are painted those colors. Are you sure they're actually made of magnesium, and aren't simply polypropylene cones painted those colors?

Like, if you tap on the woofer with your fingernail, does it go "tink tink tink" or does it go "thud thud thud"? If the former, then it truly is a metal cone; but if the latter, then it's just a colored poly or paper.

Or... is it a poly cone with some sort of thin sputtering of metallic coating on it? Because honestly, I don't really know of metal cone woofers that don't have a breakup (the Dayton DA series are close, though, and I think the cloth dustcap is what helps dampen the ringing)

[ligs]

The cone goes tink tink tink and gets dented easily

The red nose is not a phase plug it moves with the cone and without destroying it I don't know for sure it is metallic or not.

According to Crutchfield, magnesium alloy is used in the woofer and tweeter.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-qEriF2f...ony_focus.html

[killa]

It appears as though those were deliberately colored to look like the Seas Excel. Honestly, from the photo, it just looks like the cones are painted those colors. Are you sure they're actually made of magnesium, and aren't simply polypropylene cones painted those colors?

Like, if you tap on the woofer with your fingernail, does it go "tink tink tink" or does it go "thud thud thud"? If the former, then it truly is a metal cone; but if the latter, then it's just a colored poly or paper.

Or... is it a poly cone with some sort of thin sputtering of metallic coating on it? Because honestly, I don't really know of metal cone woofers that don't have a breakup (the Dayton DA series are close, though, and I think the cloth dustcap is what helps dampen the ringing)

I think less ringing in the da has to do with the thickness of the cone ( may also be the reason for low sensitivity ) and also possibly cone geometry. I dont think the dustcap is heavy enough to damp ringing.

[ligs]

So the mystery stays. I recognize metal cone and lack of high frequency peak are very desiable and could be a great help for DIYers.