Neodymium vs. ceramic

[RVBASS]

What are the advantages and disadvantages to using either neodymium or ceramic speakers?

 

[jimfist]

weight. NEO is lighter

 

[4Mal]

yep.

Ibelieve that what has been proven is that the match of driver to cab is far more important than the magnet material

 

[walterw]

ceramic is cheaper, neo is lighter; that's it.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Neo mining and refining is very polluting.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Neo mining and refining is very polluting.

 

[ggunn]

Neo mining and refining is very polluting.

So is the mining of just about anything else.

 

[Downunderwonder]

So is the mining of just about anything else.

So I should have said "particularly polluting" just for the pedants.

 

[Munjibunga]

So I should have said "particularly polluting" just for the pedants.

Pedant or not, mining of any metal is highly polluting. Besides, most of the rare earth mining is going on in China. They get the pollution, we get the magnets.

 

[Linnin]

I like the total sound quality produced by Eminence Neo woofers better than any other. Here's a link to some research I started over on the Fender Forums Invalid Link Removed

 

[walterw]

... most of the rare earth mining is going on in China. They get the pollution, we get the magnets.

i remember in the big chinese neo-D cutoff scare of a few years ago it was pointed out that we in the US have plenty of neo-D to mine, it's just that the chinese have ramped up the mining of it already.

 

[Munjibunga]

i remember in the big chinese neo-D cutoff scare of a few years ago it was pointed out that we in the US have plenty of neo-D to mine, it's just that the chinese have ramped up the mining of it already.

There's a U.S. mining company called Molycorp who was purportedly ramping up to mine rare earths. Their stock went from $12 a share to $79 a share in one year. I was thinking about investing in it. Good thing I didn't. Their stock is under a dollar a share now. I suspect there may be political reasons why we're not competing with China on rare earths, but I have no real basis for my suspicion. I've also heard that China's running out of them, so automobile manufacturers are moving away from neo magnets. There may be an opportunity for mining companies in the U.S. to get a good chunk of the market. One big problem is getting the capital to tool up for the mining - it's very expensive.

 

[Downunderwonder]

US companies sold theirl dirty extraction gear to China.

 

[RVBASS]

Thanks for the comments on the speakers, it's interesting where these threads go!