Anonymous
10+ year member
CarAudio.com Veteran
What is the difference between progressive and linear spiders? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type of spider?
I have heard, however I am not sure, that progressive spiders can suffer from sag over time since the outer area of the spider is a lot more compliant than the inner area. Like I said, I do not know if this is true or not so I am posting to see if you do //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gifThe main purpose of the spider is to provide a restoring force to the speaker, returning the coil to the rest position where it is centered nicely beside the top plate and within the gap.
When the coil moves, the spider is stretched. The further the spider is stretched, the more it resists moving further. This is an increase in stiffness (the same as a decrease in compliance), which can result in a loss of output and/or increased distortion.
A progressive roll spider is designed to keep the stiffness of the suspension as constant as it can throughout the coil's motion. The further the coil moves, the more useful it is, so they are more common in longer-throw subwoofers (since that sort of excursion is required for high output at low frequencies). It is still useful, though, in virtually any speaker that seeks more "clean" throw than other speakers of a similar size.
//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/word.gif.64b12e39f936af3b4fff38a1c0bd0244.gifProgressive spiders (Ie tarantulas) scare the shit out of me...
Linear spiders (Ie writing spiders) build elaborate webs that can be nice to look at.
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From what I have read the inner part of a progressive spider is stiffer than a traditional linear spider while the outer rolls are more compliant than a linear spider. Again, I may be 100% wrong, that is why I am asking if it is true or not.First I need to clarify that post:
Do you mean that the outer area of a progressive spider is more compliant than the same area on a linear spider?
Or that the outer area of a progressive spider is more compliant than the inner area of that same spider, and this difference results in a progressive spider having more sag than a linear spider?