Beryllium and health.

[Nacho]

Ja ja ja. Good answer. But read that take from jmlab's utopia manual:

The loudspeakers use a pure Beryllium inverted dome tweeter that extends the bandwidth up to 40kHz. Because of the Beryllium potential dangerousness, the material that constitutes the tweeter, some safety instructions described below must be followed by the user of the loudspeakers in order to avoid any risk of this material absorption. However, the risks are extremely limited in its solid form, as the product dangerousness is linked to the inhalation, absorption or contact of vapours or micro-particles.
1. Safety instructions
The Beryllium dome must never be in contact with abrasive material.
You must avoid any contact with the skin or the eyes, any inhalation or ingestion of the whole or a part of the Beryllium dome. The manufacturer underlines that the Beryllium absorption by respiratory, digestive tracts or skin can lead to serious physical troubles, because of its high toxicity for man. We then recommend to the loudspeaker users to carefully keep the tweeter protection grille in place. If the protection grille is removed, the user will have to carefully replace this grille after use. Generally speaking, children must be kept away from loudspeakers and especially from the Beryllium dome.
2. In case of dome damaging
If the Beryllium dome is damaged in any possible way, you must cover it as soon as possible on all its surface with the supplied protection adhesive tape. We recommend that you contact the retailer so that a competent department will take off and replace the tweeter. If the dome is broken, the possible Beryllium particles must be carefully collected with the supplied protection adhesive tape and then be placed in a hermetically sealed plastic bag. It will be sent with the loudspeaker to the retailer. In case of absorption by skin, eye projection or in case of inhalation or ingestion of Beryllium, see a doctor.
3. End of life for loudspeakers - Information
At the end of the loudspeaker life, you must not throw this product in the environment, but you must take it to an adapted recycling center. For more information, please contact us directly to the following address: beryllium@focal-fr.com

[dznutz]

Don't go licking or eating any beryllium domes and you will be fine.

[MyPal]

Originally Posted by dznutz

Don't go licking or eating any beryllium domes and you will be fine.

Beryllium Flavour.

[bart]

Originally Posted by MyPal

Beryllium Flavour.

Steve, too much booze today?

[MyPal]

Originally Posted by bart

Steve, too much booze today?

Nah, Just late night crazy brain fatigue. I don't drink except socially or on holidays. I had some ice cream for desert tonight though!

[junker]

Originally Posted by dznutz

Don't go licking or eating any beryllium domes and you will be fine.

They even give you a seal to apply in the rare case that it was physically damaged until the tweeter can be replaced. I would personally feel very safe knowing that under and normal use you have nothing to worry about, and they went through the extra trouble to advise in cases of catastrophic damage.

You just don't want to eat or breath the tweeter.

Berzelius said it best, "the dose is the poison". Not enough water, you die. Too much water, you dilute and leach electrolytes, and you die.

[dcc]

Ping stopped making Beryllium clubs because of the toxic dangers.

Hope you have grills on your speaker to keep little fingers away from the Beryllium drivers,
they crack like egg shells

[hifikontoen]

I think it is a good question asked by Nacho.

The producers of the speakers should definitively have a good answer,
and their claims should be documented (by research or at least by
experts, both independent of course). And they should give you the documentation (or
references to it).

It is surprising if they have not, since it is in their own interest to assure potential customers of the beryllium being no danger.

Precise warnings should be given (example: kids getting a fraction of beryllium in their mouth etc.) and instruction on what to do if an accident occured.

[MyPal]

In all seriousness, I don't understand why TAD even do it. Product differentiation through the implementation of toxic materials (prone to fragility) doesn't sound logical to me. But here is their argument:

"Both the midrange cone and tweeter dome of the CST are made from the lightest and most rigid metal applicable— the rare element beryllium—offering strength and damping characteristics unequalled by any other diaphragm material.

TAD is the only speaker to employ vapor deposition. Created under vacuum, the pure crystalline structure of TAD beryllium is audibly superior to other drivers."

[piolaxo]

Beryllium is not the only toxic material used in drivers. There are a few manufactures
that use plasma tweeters, Acapella is one of them. Within these plasma tweeters
an electric arc is induced by high current and this arc is modulated by the source.
The arc basically means there is no moving mass and therefore no distorsion,
high output and very extended range.

The caviat is that the arc must be under an exotic gas (Helium) and the ionized plasma
produced by the arc generates toxic materials such ozone or nitrous oxide. With these
drivers one must 'fill the tank' one the gas is consumed.