MartinLogan Monolith III user manual Electrostatic Concept, An Electrostatic Transducer

The Electrostatic Concept

How is it that music can be recreated by something that you are able to see through? Electrostatic energy makes this possible.

Where the world of traditional loud- speaker technology deals with cones, domes, diaphrams, and ribbons that are moved with magnetism, the world of electrostatic loudspeakers deals with charged electrons attracting and repelling each other.

diaphragm is what actually moves to excite the air and create music. The stator's job is to remain stationary, hence the word stator, to provide a reference point for the moving dia- phragm. The spacers provide the diaphragm with a fixed distance in which to move between the stators.

As your amplifier sends music signals to an electrostatic speaker, these

signals are changed into two high- voltage signals that are equal in strength but opposite in polarity. These high-voltage signals are then applied to the stators. The resulting electrostatic field, created by the opposing high voltage on the stators, works simultane- ously with and against the diaphragm, consequently moving it back and forth, producing music. This technique is known as push-pull operation and is a

To fully understand the electro- static concept , some back- ground information will be helpful. Remember when you learned, in a science or physics class back in high school, that like charges repel each other and that opposite charges attract each other? Well, this principle is the foundation of the electrostatic concept.

An electrostatic transducer consists of three pieces: the stators, the diaphragm and the spacers. (See Figure 8.) The

An Electrostatic Transducer

Diaphragm

Stator

Spacer

Figure 8. Cut away view of an electrostatic transducer.

Notice the simplicity due to minimal parts usage.

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