Round, Square or Flat Speakers?

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Round, Square or Flat Speakers?

In the world of Boom Boxes there have been a wide selection of choices in box size, 1 piece, 3 piece and more. But one thing I was blown away with back in the 80's was when I first saw Sony's SQUARE speakers.

I never owned a radio that had these and I only had one friend with a Sony with them and I really don't remember how they sounded.

Then came FLAT speakers....No cone, just a flat smooth surface.

So, the question goes out to the pro's who have experienced these versions.

Round, Square or Flat Speakers?
Is one better then the other?
Did one brand pull off the square or flat speaker quality when others didn't?
Are there any radio's with Square or Flat Speakers you suggest?

 

[mellymelsr]

I prefer the look of the classic round speaker. Sharp and Sony are two that come to mind with the square speaker design. I believe sony did it best with their FH7 MK III series...it's one of the best sounding and most powerful portables you will find. The only downside is if those speakers rot or get blown there are NO replacements...anywhere.

 

[sony_apm_fan]

Good, question.... Here's my two cents on the Sony APM's

Sony's APM (Accurate Pistonic Motion) woofers can be found in quite a few of their 80's boxes, CFS-9000, CFS-9900, CFD-5 and most of the later FH series (from FH 7MK II onwards) and their nice "ES" series home boxes (22ES, 44ES etc). The nice thing about these drivers is they have stiff aluminium laminate cones with honeycomb structure, very fast and responsive BUT the roll surrounds do perish early and the APM tweeters don't handle high power, but the majority of APM speakers have cone tweeters.

Probably the whole APM thing was marketing, but they do look great IMHO, note that they do have conventional voice coil and magnet arrangements....

Most high end drivers though are round cone design, with cones in all sorts of materials.

Makes replacement that much easier too.

Round cones from round voice coils and round spider assemblies may be the reason?
Look at the complexity of the spider to cone assembly in the APM picture above....

Bottom line, I love the look of the flat square woofers. But that is just because as a young kid I drooled over the Sony gear that came with these woofers

Without a doubt Sony went hard with these flat, square woofers (and tweeters) and generally speaking any box / speaker system with these woofers sounds IMHO pretty amazing for their size. But, they don't go low, CFS-9900 for examples dies around 60 hertz. Who cares! Still love them.

That aside, the CFS-9900 and CFD-5 are amazing units, even without the APM speakers. The CFD-5, first CD boombox, built with incredible attention to detail, the CFS-9900 with Full Solenoid controls, Dolby B, Auto Reverse, Auto tape select, 7 band tuner, 22W RMS per channel, line and phono in. However, the tape decks are notoriously difficult to fix. When I was 15 I had one new, it went back to Sony 4 times under warranty and was eventually bought back by them as "unrepairable."

 

[bill]

if it sounds good it could be mickey mouse shaped and i would not care much.
to be honest i have to say that the big square apm speakers on both all the big sony boxes i have are really really hard hitting.
the bottom end that comes of them is hard deep and very very impressive.

 

[oldskool69]

...and most of the later FH series (from FH 7MK II onwards)...

Actually, the FH-5 was the first to appear with the three ways. The FH-7 got them starting with the two ways.

As far as going low, I would suspect by design the CFS-9000/9900 can't help but die around 60hz due to size and design limitation. The FH-3/5/7 all with the APM setups do quite nicely going low.

The only problem, and has always been as issue for Sony, is that the company tended to take the perfectionist view with audio that they did for video. What resulted was a brilliant soundstage that often times lacked warmth. The APM's woofers were very accurate...and stiff sounding at times...unlike round cones which tended to have a rolloff that had a smoothness from the natural tendency of cone flexion during movement.

 

[redbenjoe]

thanks oldskool -
thats an interesting viewpoint and conclusion

 

[oldskool69]

thanks oldskool -
thats an interesting viewpoint and conclusion

Thanks Ira. And let's not forget the Pioneer CK series. Though having flat speakers, their solution had a cone in the middle which moved in conjuction with the woofer. If you look at the back of the speaker, you'll notice it's kind of a 6"x9" two way with a flat surface on top. Pioneer's goal was to get as much surface area moving to achieve the low bass frequencies in a small space. The CK-5 and up woofers had the equivalent space of an 8" woofer without needing the space a full 8" diameter frame and enclosure would require.

That being said I still love the sound of my Sony's and the Pioneer.

 

[Superduper]

I also agree -- love the looks of the APM (or any flat square) design.

But the 60hz assessment is probably too optimistic. I would say they probably die well above 60hz.

 

[sony_apm_fan]

I also agree -- love the looks of the APM (or any flat square) design.

But the 60hz assessment is probably too optimistic. I would say they probably die well above 60hz.

For sure, there is little going on below 80hz, but we tested a pair of 9900's and they rolled off around 65hz (ran them with
a tone generator testing a new amp IC)

Ooops, forgot about the FH 5!!

 

[LLopez]

Lets also remember the Panasonic RX-C300. I dont have a pic but maybe some of the may put one up to see this impressive boombox.

 

[oldskool69]

Lets also remember the Panasonic RX-C300. I dont have a pic but maybe some of the may put one up to see this impressive boombox.

The RX-C300 has standard 6" & 2" cone drivers behind the square foam covering them. Same for many boomers, even my Sansui CP-55/77/99W's.

 

[LLopez]

Man I didn't know that, It really kills it for me. all well i still like the sound. Thankx man.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

thanks oldskool -
thats an interesting viewpoint and conclusion

Thanks Ira. And let's not forget the Pioneer CK series. Though having flat speakers, there solution had a cone in the middle which moved in conjuction with the woofer. If you look at the back of the speaker, you'll notice it's kind of a 6"x9" two way with a flat surface on top. Pioneer's goal was to get as much surface area moving to achieve the low bass frequencies in a small space. The CK-5 and up woofers had the equivalent space of an 8" woofer without needing the space a full 8" diameter frame and enclosure would require.

[ Image ]

That being said I still love the sound of my Sony's and the Pioneer.

This was a big question for me, I always wondered how the achieved a flat design that worked.

Very interesting information on this page.

 

[bill]

this is a good site for apm speaker fans.
theres tons of pictures showing the repair process for the surrounds.
i would suggest saving these images because it is questionable how long this page will be up for

http://homepage2.nifty.com/k-ooki/apm/

 

[JustCruisin]

Picked up these Pioneers today at the thrift, hooked em up to my Vintage Pioneer receiver and they put out some good bass, not a whole lot of voice, but decent highs from the tweeters.. Surrounds and speakers still in great shape!

 

[Brutus442]

Those are some SWEET lookin' PIONEERS!