A magnetostatic loudspeaker is a

dipole In physics, a dipole () is an electromagnetic phenomenon which occurs in two ways: * An electric dipole moment, electric dipole deals with the separation of the positive and negative electric charges found in any electromagnetic system. A simple ...

loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or, more fully, a speaker system) is a combination of one or more speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections (possibly including a crossover network). The speaker driver is an ...

that is similar to an electrostatic loudspeaker but uses high

currents Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (hy ...

instead of using high

voltage Voltage, also known as (electrical) potential difference, electric pressure, or electric tension, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a Electrostatics, static electric field, it corresponds to the Work (electrical), ...

Permanent magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, c ...

s provide a static magnetic field and wires or strips carrying audio frequency currents are bonded to a thin diaphragm. The current flowing in the conductors interacts with the magnetic field and creates sound in much the same way as in a conventional dynamic driver. Because of its dipole structure, this kind of speaker creates sound mostly to its front and back. The impedance of a magnetostatic speaker is often mainly resistive, but in some cases may be so low that the

amplifiers An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power suppl ...

have to be ready to accommodate the low impedance load. Magnetostatic speakers provide good sound quality, and may be very thin, but for producing also lower frequencies with good enough sensitivity, their height and width dimensions must be rather large.The principle behind a magnetostatic speaker
/
HiFi Advice
Magnepan is the main producer of magnetostatic loudspeakers for high fidelity home audio.

References

Loudspeakers {{sound-tech-stub