Ceramic Speakers

I ran a pair of Lowther PM2C's (ceramic magnet) until about a year ago & upgraded to the rare earth magnet. The ceramic magnet driver is beautiful. Very real sounding (especially with the human voice) but lacks the speed & detail of the rare earth magnet. That stated, I wouldn't hesitate buying another pair of them for a second system. They are very good.

Maybe be a little specific. Do you mean ceramic cone / dome materials, magnets... cabinets? :)

What brands?

Best,

E

Marten Coltrane

It reaallly depends on the Designer and implementation. Generally Accutons are fast like an electrostatic, yet has the dynamics of a dynamic driver. Kind of best of both worlds. Though ceramic drivers can sound a bit dry and analytical. Imho they need some tubes in the mix, or warm tube-like ss amps.

Good implementations of Accutons include Marten, Avalon (depending on the model), Gauder Acoustics (top models) & Evolution Acoustics (top models). Marten seem to do the most consistent job getting Accutons right as Leif Olofsson actively partners with Accuton developing custom drivers for their needs. Leif is also fanatical tuning his speakers and has one of the best manufacturer listening rooms in the business.

I used to own a pair of Marten Coltrane Alto stand mounts which were power hungry. I found good synergy with a Boulder 1060 amp & heavily modded Ayon CD-5s as linestage. Solid state grunt with the sweetness and dimensionality of tubes up top. And paired with Jorma cables I got a very musical result. The Coltrane's carbon/sandwich construction cabinet helps to provide an ideal mix of qualities incl: excellent damping and stiffness. The carbon cabinet also lends a wonderful tonal purity to the sound. So if you can get your hands on a good 2nd hand pair of Cotlranes, or Coltrane Alto's no older than 2004 vintage, you'll be in for a treat.

I want to point out that Accuton drivers have different grades/performance/price points especially around the mid woofers and woofers. It’s hard to tell from the outside since they are all just as white, but it’s easy to be misled by looks, or get a bad impression from one speaker and think all Accutons sound the same. They don’t!

Erik