while discussing a new battery technology in a meeting, i found out that a neodymium patent runs out in october, if i remember correctly. hopefully, the more speaker manufacturers will use neodymium instead of the more common and widely used ferrite.

for those of you that didn't know, neodymium has a very high magnetic flux (if that's the way to say it) for its size/weight. for example, kenwood uses neodymium in their dual-mag speakers. the neodymium weight is only 1.2 ounces to power a 6.5 speaker as well as a 15 ounce or greater ferrite magnet would.

so in short, more neodymium means less weight, fewer mounting depth issues, and now, lower cost.



any magnetics experts out there, feel free to correct me if i'm in error anywhere. from my research, neodymium costs about a dollar a gram right now, which is significantly more than ferrite.

 

who currently holds the patent on that?

 

my notes are upstairs, but i'll paste that later tonight.

 

Just about any high end speaker is already using Neodyium. I haven't heard of anyone worthwhile using ferrite in a while. The lower cost may, or may not take effect with the end of the patent. Just because supplies (may) become cheaper doesn't necessarily mean the manufacturers will pass the savings on to the consumer. If we've become so used to paying X amount for Y product uzing Z magnet structure, why would they lose W dollars to save us any amount? I think it would only affect the lower product lines, like you'll seen Jensen offering Neodyium stacked magnets and whatnot.

And also, wouldn't the patent holder be able to renew their patent on the technology? (I'm a bit unfamiliar with the patent process, maybe I'm thinking of copyright)