Topic: HempAcoustics drivers

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

http://www.hempacoustics.com/    Canadian company, of course.

I guess these are just paper cones made with hemp.  I thought everyone had moved to composites for rigidity but the little blurb on the web page says that natural fiber is more natural sounding.  Anyone have a comment on this?  In any case, I thought this was entertaining.

[Weirdness]

As if I needed another reason to be a proud Canadian citizen...

Anyways, the Mission Pilastro which is their current flagship speaker uses hemp drivers to do the mids.  They're supposed to be quite the speaker and are also worth a pretty penny, either $20,000US or Canadian retai I can't remember which.  A buddy of mine runs a pair but I have yet to have a chance to check them out. 

[kindms]

I followed the link to the Omega Speakers and they are in Norwalk CT. Thats on liek 20minutes away. Might have to call and see if they will let me check them out

[Nick S.]

I've got 2 10 inch Tone Tubby speakers in one of my guitar cabinets, hemp cones . . . pretty sweet speakers, especially at lower volumes.  The big knock on them is that they are dark sounding, but not too much to my ears, I would call them smoother than many of the bright harsh speakers out there today . . . FWIW Clapton, Santana, Kimock, and Herring are a few of TT's players so they can't sound too shitty 

[BobW]

d00d !  (ahem)

B&W are arch-rivals of this idea with cone rigidity being one of their main tenants.

I think that any material that changes with humidity could be an issue.
My wife's car stereo sounds like ass when it's rainy with her factory paper cone speakers.
Hemp-cone speakers would have to be treated to not absorb moisture. It's basically a just type of paper.
I would guess that a bit of marketing is afoot.  Any plant-based material made into thin sheets is generically paper, with a lot of marsh grasses and other renewable resources being used today.

Hmm, I wonder if Cypress Hill sounds better on them