This allows the driver to react quickly during transitions in music (i.e. fast changing transient impulses) and minimizes acoustical output distortion.
If properly designed in terms of mass, stiffness, and damping, paper woofer/midrange cones can outperform many exotic drivers made from more expensive materials.
Other materials used for diaphragms include polypropylene (PP), polyetheretherketone (PEEK) polycarbonate (PC), Mylar (PET), silk, glassfibre, carbon fibre, titanium, aluminium, aluminium-magnesium alloy, nickel, and beryllium.
The ability of paper (cellulose) to be easily modified by chemical or mechanical means gives it a practical processing advantage not found in other common cone materials.
An ideal surround has a linear force-deflection curve with sufficient damping to fully absorb vibrational transmissions from the cone/surround interface, and the "toughness" to withstand long-term vibration-induced fatigue.
In a phonograph reproducer, the diaphragm is a flat disk of typically mica or isinglass that converts the mechanical vibration imparted on the buttress from the recorded groove into sound.