Rock out in your car basalt-style with Pioneer TS-D Series Speakers

Pioneer Electronics’ next generation TS-D series speakers boast a world first technology; a speaker cone made from basalt, a volcanic rock that improves the speakers’ sound quality.

Pioneer engineers chose basalt because it’s an ideal material for the cone as it’s rigid, heat resistant and delivers more detailed and accurate sound. Pioneer’s innovative speaker technology takes basalt fibres interwoven with Aramid fibre. The Dual Layer IMX Aramid / Basalt fibre composite cones are designed to deliver accurately detailed sound reproduction.

The new cones consist of a high-tech sandwich of basalt and ceramic components. The basalt, before it is turned into a fabric, is pulverized and melted at more than 2700 degrees Fahrenheit and then drawn into fibres. The combined materials of basalt fibres and aramid fibres are used to reinforce Pioneer’s composite injection moulded polypropylene (IMPP), creating an extremely strong speaker cone that can withstand flexing associated with excessive cone movement and produce an improved transient response in the mid to low frequency spectrum.

Tweeters

The new cones are matched with ultra light weight soft dome tweeters in both the coaxial and component versions. The large soft dome tweeters, made of high quality laminated polyester, use a finite element method (FEM) design with a specially crafted rear chamber that prevents standing waves and creates a loading effect to help produce a wider frequency response. In the coaxial version, the tweeter is placed in a waveguide chamber to control and direct the sound to the listener’s ears.

Passive crossover network

To further enhance performance and ease of installation, each TS-D speaker comes with a passive crossover network. In the component package, the speakers come with an attractive outboard passive crossover that uses an audiophile-grade film capacitor for the tweeter with a cut-off at 0 or -3dB and a metal core coil for the woofer to produce a smooth, natural response.

Pricing and availability

The new generation TS-D speakers are available now. Prices are as follows:

  • TS-D1002R 10 cm 2-way Speaker with 110W max. power handling – RRP $199
  • TS-D1602R 16 cm 2-way Speaker with 260W max. power handling – RRP $289
  • TS-D6902R 6 x 9″ 2-Way Speaker 360W max. power handling – RRP $329
  • TS-D1720C 17 cm Packaged Component Speaker System 260W max. power handling (comes with a 16 cm spacer ring so it can fit into both 16 and 17 cm holes) – RRP $399

Source: Pioneer