[Matt Ion]

MOSFET wrote:
Look, I'm sure you're right and that THERE ARE home speakers that utilize
oval speakers. But look at MOST of the speakers out there that use pistonic
priciples to produce sound (i.e. cones), the cones are round to match the
voice coil, which is ALSO round.

To me it's common sense. OF COURSE you want a cone that matches the shape
of the voice coil for PERFECT pistonic linierity.

I don't think it's as much matching the shape of the VC, as if it were,
the manufacturers would just use oval VC formers. The other part of the
problem is, your basic cone surround (the flexible bit that attaches the
top of the cone to the rim of the basket) will not flex evenly around an
odd-shaped cone, which in turn can distort the cone itself, leading to
all sorts of sonic weirdness.

But in any case, besides the point that ALMOST NO home speaker
manufacturers use the oval design, absolutely NO sound-reinforcement
speakers have ever used an oval design either.

In short, they are a design anomaly almost exclusively limited to the
car-audio realm. That alone has to tell you that they are far from an
ideal design.