shorting rings?

what is the purpose of a shorting ring in a subwoofer and what material is better for them to be made out of?

The shorting ring is to reduce the inductance of the voice coil, improving transient response, and the better the conductor, the better the shorting ring. Aluminum and copper are common materials, and in theory, silver would work the very best, (as it is the best conductor known) but it would be quite an expensive option.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

ok thanks, last question, how would you describe transient response?

Transient response... You may have to follow a few links in there, but that'll get you there!It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

so your transient response is basically anything that isn't 100% at rest or maxed out. the in-between time of the cone being completely in or out? am i close? way off? i think i get it mentally but it is hard to describe in words. basically, a shorting reduces the inductance of the voice coil while the coil is moving and the inductance is electrical feedback caused by the coil moving in and out of a magnetic field, right? oh, and thanks Haemphyst for being the only one that knows anything.

1: I assure you I am not the only one that knows anything on this forum, but thanks, anyway... 2: When you lower the inductance of the voice coil at Fs, the amplifier can a) make more power at that frequency, and b) exert better control over the voice coil at that frequency. These are both good things. 3: This is the difficult answer. Transient respose is both a physical proof or number, and a ... listener impression. Transient response is generally accepted as "how fast can a given driver respond to this input signal?" LARGE drivers, not generally driven over 80 to 100Hz, it REALLY isn't as important as (especially, IMO) a mid-bass driver, required to respond to frequencies as high as a few kHz. In my car, they are only taken to 250Hz, but my mids are "shorting ring equipped" as well. Vifa mids, with carbon/Kevlar cones, they are LITERALLY the only two of these specific drivers IN THE WORLD. They were custom ordered from Vifa by a driver engineer (a personal friend of mine) at Harmon International for a center channel HT speaker in the Revel line, that never materialized. (BTW... Three way, with 600+ watts per side in my doors... Here's the thread, if you want to see the specifics of my system...) Continuing... Physical in the fact that the amp can have better control (at least mathematically) over the voice coil, and the "listener impression" part means, well... it sounds "faster". How good is the slam? The Adires in my door contain have shorting rings, and I can tell you for SURE that they are the VERY most accurate mid-bass drivers I have ever had in my doors, and I was at one time a HUGE fan of the Morel MW-162. The Morel was a 6 inch driver with a 3", respectably long throw voice coil (I want to say +/- 4mm or so), with FANTASTIC transient response - the mid-bass slam was nothing short of "live", and the Adires smack 'em down. There are several members on the board here, that have heard my system, and the reviews have been... well... "ego boosting". When you have a LARGE diameter voice coil, like the Morel has, with but a few turns IN the magnetic field, you will always end up with a low inductance. When you reduce the VC diameter, and immerse more turns in the field to improve efficiency, your inductance will go up, destroying your transient response. This is why you won't see many "high-end" 6" drivers out there. I choose (ALWAYS) non-off-the-shelf drivers for this very reason.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

haemphyst wrote: When you have a LARGE diameter voice coil, like the Morel has, with but a few turns IN the magnetic field, you will always end up with a low inductance. When you reduce the VC diameter, and immerse more turns in the field to improve efficiency, your inductance will go up, destroying your transient response. This is why you won't see many "high-end" 6" drivers out there. I choose (ALWAYS) non-off-the-shelf drivers for this very reason.

thats interesting, so you are saying it is basically a balance between low inductance and efficiency, and that generally, drivers with a low(er) efficiency will sound more accurate because of the low inductance. and also you are saying that a shorting ring isnt really that important in subwoofers. i guess i can understand how that can be true because sub bass isnt as directional as a mid, so if the sub sounds a little slow it should still sound fine as long as the mids are on point and blended well with the subs. i would love to get my hands on a set of adire mids and replace my diamond hex 6.5's even though everybody says they are really good speakers and i should stay with them, i really just want to hear the difference. also, thanks DYohn, that was a good read and i feel a little bit smarter now.

bump

I thought you were done... My apologies. What else did you need answered? You're pretty close with your analysis, except that the low inductance really doesn't have anything to do with the efficiency. Lower inductance improves the speed of the diaphragm, not necessarily the output. I was a Morel fan, as stated earlier, but the difference between the Adire and the Morel was literally day and night. SO much faster and SO much more linear, if you can find a set, they are WELL worth the PITA installing them. Mpyre bought the tech, maybe you can find some of those...It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."