Quick question about square woofers

[Impious 1,476]

It doesnt seem like there would be an audible difference just because there is a SLIGHT cone area advantage.

Well, ~25% per cone could be a differnce once you start to multiply them.

Sure it could all add up, but for the average consumer, having a 10" square driver vs a 10" circular driver, the difference would be less then 25% and likely not audible, tuning the enclosure / raising net volume would be more noticeable

And were not even talking about the actual sd of the driver, this number varies from model to model. And by your standards of gaining more output the driver could just have more xmax and thus more displacement. But theirs a limit to everything and a point to where it's not worth it, everything has it's trade-offs

A 25% increase doesn't sound like much, until you realize there's only about a 35% difference in cone area between a 10" circular driver and a 12" circular driver. So you are almost gaining as much cone area by switching from a circle to a square of the same nominal size, as you would from exchanging a 10" circular driver for a 12" circular driver.

In terms of output, a 25% increase in displacements equates to approximately a 2db increase in output (at equivalent excursion levels). Definitely an advantage, as well as audible.

[Impious 1,476]

Larger cone area, less efficient, and corners help cause distortion, but can have slightly higher output at low frequencies and can be better in limited space. Google ftw.

"Being as how sound waves travel radially any other shape than round will be both less efficient and distorted."

No. Just no.

[Impious 1,476]

About the only "problem" with a square subwoofer is the increased stress at the corners of the surround and stress on the cone. Though all you have to do is physically look at one of Kicker's drivers to see what they did to combat these problems. Within the bandwidth of the driver, these issues probably have more do to with longevity of the driver than actual audibility.

The people making comments about how bad square drivers sound need to step back and realize that it had nothing at all to do with the shape of the cone. First and foremost it comes down to enclosure selection, installation and tuning. Second, the driver's design in terms of mechanical and electrical parameters and performance might have not aligned with their goals.....it wouldn't have mattered if the cone was square or round, the driver was simply not for them.

More companies aren't using them for the simple reason Sean mentioned. The cost of tooling the parts is probably not worth the benefit for most non-mainstream companies such as Fi, etc. You have to custom design and tool a cone, surround and basket at minimum. That's not cheap.