Ceramic Speaker That Sounds Like Alnico

Alnico speaker sound warmer and slightly darker.

Ceramic speaker that sounds like alnico.

The first crop of speakers in the early 1950s used alnico magnets which is why some people say they sound more vintage than speakers built with ceramic magnets. Ya the guy in the front row was screaming i hate the sound of your alnico v magnets. Alnico is commonly thought to produce the most vintage tone and has a reputation for sounding compressed. What s more relevant is that alnico is magnetically softer it has a higher reversible permeability than ceramics i e.

It changes its field more when affected by the. Due to the strong magnetic pull the alnico viii is a nice middle ground between the punch and clarity from a ceramic pickup and the sweet organic sound of an alnico which brings us to ceramic. I really prefer my telecaster with a cheap ceramic pickups. Ceramic speakers are less expensive.

Ceramic magnets are made of ceramic surprise. Ceramic tend to be brighter but not as warm. Alnico speakers compress at high volumes. Ceramic magnets do produce a stronger field but that alone doesn t actually change the sound it just increases the total output which of course will change the sound if you thereby drive an amp further into distortion.

Ceramic is the cheapest and most common material. It s a myth saying alnico sound better and ceramic are muddy. Alnico speaker breakup quicker that ceramic i e. Spend time honing your song writing skills instead of worrying about things that wont change how you write and play.

If you are comparing speakers that have the same magnetic flux but generated from different magnet compositions you probably won t notice a difference in tonality. Ceramic speaker have more headroom ceramic speakers tend to have smoother breakup. As the voice coil s effect lowers the available magnetic field of the alnico magnet the speaker becomes less efficient and the voice coil moves less.