| Home | Hifi speakers | Pro speakers | Library | Designer's notebook | Sales | FAQ | About us | User group | Designer's notebook Overview Personal notes   Chapter 4 : The wonderful Harbeth RADIAL™ drive unit cones - some history Pages: [3] - Current page: [1] Date created: 10 July, 2005 - time: 09:08 Comments: The heart of today's Harbeth sound is our unique, Patented, RADIAL™ cone material. It has an interesting legacy. On 19 March 1976, our founder, H. D. Harwood of the BBC Research Department, filed a Patent application (1563511) claiming that polypropylene could be used as a loudspeaker cone material, now the de facto material throughout the global audio industry. Upon this discovery, the Harbeth company was formed (see press release) to commercialise his invention, and to sell his Monitors to the BBC. However, in 1994/5, a superior material was presented to him by another inventor, and analysis of its improved properties led Harwood to abandon polypropylene and adopt the new material (TPX) in the forthcoming HL Monitor Mk4, and later in my (A.S) original Compact and HL5. In 1990, concerned by the scarcity of supply, we approached the British Government's Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC) for a Research Grant to thoroughly examine alternatives, concluding that there were no 'off the peg' material solutions, and inventing and Patenting our own plastic formulation which we called RADIAL [from Research And Development In Advanced Loudspeakers]. RADIAL is still unbeatable for clarity and resolution. It has come to light very recently (July 05) some fifteen years after our project commenced, that unknown to us, the BBC had developed in secret an engineering approach almost identical to ours, but were tied to readily available vacuum formed polypropylene. Our breakthrough was partly in the RADIAL material itself, and partly in the move away from vacuum formed cones to our injection moulded solution.   Harbeth Audio Ltd., 3 Enterprise Park, Lindfield, Haywards Heath, W. Sussex, RH16 2LH, UK This entire website is Copyright © 2007 HAL, England. All rights reserved. HARBETH is a Trade Mark/Registered Trade Mark. Site designed by Moose Web Design.