Why does a Wilson Benesch loudspeaker sound so natural?
Part of the answer to this question is the cabinet architecture.
Put simply, sound is vibration. As such, sound can pass through many different substances – in fact, it requires the presence of a medium.
This simple harmonic motion animation describes the compression and rarification required to take place in a material for it to transmit resonant energy or in the case of air acoustic energy.
The speed at which sound travels is defined by the medium through which the waves are passing, and is often quoted as a fundamental property of the material. In general, the speed of sound is proportional to the square root of the ratio of the elastic modulus (stiffness) of the medium to its density.
VELOCITY OF SOUND IN METRES PER SECOND
RUBBER 40
CORK 400
LEAD 1158
WATER 1433
ACRYLIC 2680
CONCRETE 3200
GOLD 3240
WOOD 3300
BRASS 3475
COPPER 3900
HARDWOOD 3960
GLASS 3962
BRICK 4176
ALUMINIUM 4877
IRON 5130
PYREX 5640
STEEL 6100
DIAMOND 12000
CARBON FIBRE 18350
A Carbon fibre matrix has one of the highest ratios known to man being supremely stiff and of a very low density. This is one of the blocking structures that is disposed either side of the core.The woven carbon can be seen to exhibit small bundles of fabric each containing typically 5,000 fibres. The image below shows A 6 μm diameter carbon filament compared to a human hair. Within one layer of carbon there are billions of boundaries each of which plays its part in converting resonant energy to heat.
High Compression Foam Core.
Making a sound wave transfer through different layers of material with different densities assists in noise damping. The damping characteristics of the foam core used in Wilson Bensch A.C.T. structures possess one of the highest damping capabilities known to man. The sound waves are forced to travel through multiple foam cell air pockets and their cell walls as sound travels through the foam medium.
Critical Mass Damping
High mass high tensile strength steel structures are exploited for sub-baffles and bracing structures.
Two methods are used to control sound in a Wilson Benesch loudspeaker cabinet. Blocking and damping. No other cabinet in the world can be seen to deal with the problems of unwanted out of phase energy better than the materials deployed in a Wilson Benesch loudspeaker. This unique materials technology and the plant that creates it has been developed by Wilson Benesch to overcome the shortcomings of traditional materials that have been used in loudspeaker design to date.
Where did carbon come from?
Formation of the carbon atomic nucleus requires a nearly simultaneous triple collision of alpha particles (helium nuclei) within a the core of a giant or supergiant star.
This happens in temperature and helium concentration conditions that the rapid expansion and cooling of the early universe prohibited, and therefore no significant carbon was created during the Big Bang. Instead, the interiors of stars in the horizontal branch transform three helium nuclei into carbon by means of this triple-alpha process.
In order to be available for formation of life as we know it, this carbon must then later be scattered into space as dust, in supernovae explosions, as part of the material which later forms second- and third-generation star systems which have planets accreted from such dust. The solar system is one such third-generation star system.
