Dafaq is an electrostatic speaker ? how dafaq does it work ?

[GeneralTheoryOfBadassery]

I was watching a show on discovery channel and they were making an electrostatic speaker ( wut ? )

It had a thin plastic sheet sandwiched between two perforated metal sheets ..

( wut ? . why should it work ? )

How dafaq does it work ??

[AMICLG]

An electric current (amplified audio signal) is run through the grids attracting the plastic diaphragm creating sound like a standard speaker would but with static electricity instead of a electromagnet attracting to a neodymium magnet.

 

[79wjd]

Unlike a convential speaker, which uses a magnet to create sound, an electrostatic speaker uses electricity to move a membrane.

 

How Electrostatic Speakers Work

An electrostatic transducer has three basic components - stators, diaphragm, and spars (spacers) - assembled as a sandwich. The diaphragm is an ultra light plastic film, impregnated with an electrically conductive material and stretched taut between the two stators, which are perforated steel sheets coated with an insulator. When the speaker is operating, the diaphragm is charged to a fixed positive voltage by a high-voltage power supply, creating a strong electrostatic field around it. (If you've been puzzling over why electrostatic speakers have power cords, there's the reason).

The stators, meanwhile, are connected to the audio system's amplifier through a step-up transformer. It converts the amplifier's output to a pair of high-voltage signals of equal strength but opposite polarity. So as the charge on one stator grows increasingly positive, the charge on the other grows more negative by exactly the same amount. Because like charges repel and opposite charges attract, the diaphragm's positive charge will force it to move forward or backward depending on the stator charges. For example, when the front stator's charge is negative and the back stator's positive, the diaphragm will be pulled from the front and pushed from the back and therefore move forward. The stronger the charges on the stators, the greater the diaphragm displacement. This is how an electrostatic transducer translates an electrical audio signal into diaphragm motion to produce sound waves in the room.

To help stiffen the panel (it's very important that only the diaphragm move) and to prevent the diaphragm from ever coming too close to a stator, nonconductive strips called spars are placed widthwise at intervals along each stator's length.

http://www.martinlogan.com/learn/electrostatic-speakers.php#workings

[GeneralTheoryOfBadassery]

An electric current (amplified audio signal) is run through the grids attracting the plastic diaphragm creating sound like a standard speaker would but with static electricity instead of a electromagnet attracting to a neodymium magnet.

 

That gif tho

[creatip123]

It's kinda like planar, in a sense that it uses a membrane to move back and forth, generating sounds. Difference is, planars put the electricity through the membrane, and rock back and forth because of magnets in front and back. Electrostats put the electricity through the static part in front and back. In principal, electrostats generates more accurate sounds, because they can move the membrane very fast and accurate. 

[FatEskimo97]

So are electrostatic speakers insanely expensive just like their headphone counterparts?

[79wjd]

So are electrostatic speakers insanely expensive just like their headphone counterparts?

Good ones, like Martin Logans have gotten stupidly expensive in recent years.

/Not sure if there are any decent/cheap variants

[FatEskimo97]

Damn I want to start getting into speakers but I already spend too much on headphones to afford anything else haha.