text: fig1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention . in fig1 , diaphragm 110 is supported by a surround 120 and a spider 125 . an outer edge of the diaphragm 110 is circumferentially attached to an inner edge of the surround 120 . an inner edge of the diaphragm 110 is attached to a bobbin 150 . an inner edge of the spider 125 is attached to the bobbin 150 . an outer edge of the surround 120 and an outer edge of the spider 125 are attached to a basket 130 . the surround 120 and spider 125 preferably restricts the movement of the diaphragm 110 along an axis of the diaphragm 110 indicated by axis 190 . basket 130 supports a magnet 140 , a pole plate 142 and a rear pole plate and pole piece 144 . bobbin 150 is disposed within an annular gap 145 formed between the pole plate 142 and pole piece 144 . a wire coil 155 is wound around the bobbin 150 , the bobbin and coil comprising a voice - coil , and receives an electrical signal representing an acoustic signal . the wire coil 155 generates a magnetic field in response to the applied electrical signal , which interacts with the field produced by magnet 140 causing diaphragm 110 to move in the directions indicated by axis 190 . a dust cover 115 attached to diaphragm 110 prevents particles from accumulating in the gap 145 . a narrow gap is desired for a strong magnetic field in the gap . as the gap is narrowed , however , the requirements for keeping the voice - coil centered while it moves along the diaphragm axis relative to the basket increases . keeping the voice - coil centered at tighter tolerances required by a narrower gap typically requires a stiffer surround / spider suspension system , which requires more force to move the diaphragm at frequencies below the mechanical resonance frequency of the moving structure . in some embodiments , spider 125 is a fiber composite . the fiber may be a woven or non - woven fiber and may be a blend of fibers . examples of fibers that may be used alone or in combination include cotton , polyester , polycotton , aramid , nylon , cellulose , polyphenylene sulfide , polyacrylonitrile , and combinations thereof . aramids include , meta - aramids such as polymetaphenylene isophtalamides , which includes nomex and para - aramids such as p - phenylene terephtalamides , which includes kevlar . the fiber composite matrix material is preferably an elastomer such as , for example , a urethane . further examples of suitable elastomers include silicones , thermoplastic rubbers , and thermoplastic silicon vulcanizate ( tpsiv ) rubbers . fig2 is a diagram illustrating a process for forming a spider . in fig2 , a fiber mat 215 is sandwiched between elastomer sheets 210 . the sandwich is placed in a die 240 and held at a temperature and pressure such that the elastomer sheets flow into the fiber mat and create a formed composite spider 250 comprising fibers 258 embedded in an elastomeric matrix 254 . in some embodiments , the formed composite spider 250 retains a sandwich appearance in that the composite spider has an interior , fiber - rich volume between elastomer - rich external volumes that form the external surfaces of the composite spider . the fiber - rich volume may contain substantially all of the fiber with the elastomer filling the spaces between the fiber . the elastomer - rich volume is substantially all elastomer such that little or no fibers penetrate the surface of the composite spider . the sandwich may be heated indirectly through the die or directly heated by induction heating , for example . die stops ( not shown ) may be used to control a thickness dimension for the formed composite . the selection of the forming temperature and pressure typically depend on the specific elastomer selected and may be constrained by the specific fiber . for example , if the elastomer is a polyurethane such as steven pur mp 1880 available from jps elastomerics corp . of holyoke , mass ., forming temperatures may be selected from a range of 170 - 190 ° c . forming pressures may be selected from the range of 2 - 75 mpa , preferably from the range of 4 - 8 . 5 mpa , and more preferably from the range of 6 . 8 - 8 . 5 mpa . other temperatures and pressures may be selected depending on the specific elastomer selected for the matrix material . examples of composite spider compositions illustrating some of the variations within the scope of the present invention include : a layer of non - woven nomex fiber sandwiched between polyurethane sheets hot pressed at 177 ° c . and 17 mpa ; a layer of non - woven kevlar fiber sandwiched between polyurethane sheets hot pressed at 177 ° c . and 17 mpa ; a layer of non - woven polyester fiber sandwiched between polyurethane sheets hot pressed at 177 ° c . and 17 mpa ; a layer of non - woven polyester fiber such as a lutradur non - woven fiber having a density of about 5 . 3 oz / yd 2 available from freudenberg of durham , n . c . sandwiched between polyurethane sheets hot pressed at 179 ° c . and 17 mpa ; a 50 / 50 polyester / nomex non - woven fiber blend sandwiched between polyurethane sheets hot pressed at 188 ° c . and 65 mpa ; and a 50 / 50 polyester / polyacrylonitrile non - woven fiber blend sandwiched between polyurethanes hot pressed at 188 ° c . and 65 mpa . unlike the typical spider , the elastomer matrix of embodiments of the present invention generally make such a spider air impermeable and can create a pressure imbalance between a front side of the spider and a rear side of the spider as the spider is stretched within the basket . the pressure imbalance may be reduced by providing one or more openings in the basket to allow the volumes above and below the spider to equalize their pressures . the openings may be covered with a screen to prevent dust particles from entering the volume below the spider , lodging themselves in the gap 145 , and possibly affecting the performance of the electro - acoustic transducer . the dust screen adds to the cost of the electro - acoustic transducer that is not usually required in a typical spider . the added cost , however , is offset by the more desired characteristics of a fiber - elastomer composite spider . alternatively , the spider may be vented to allow pressures on each side of the spider to equalize with each other . vents in the spider may include holes or slits in the spider . fig3 is a graph illustrating the stiffness of phenolic - resin - coated - fiber spider samples 350 and of fiber - elastomer composite spider samples 310 . samples of both the typical spider and elastomeric fiber composite spiders were fabricated and tested in the same fatigue testing jig . each sample was fatigue tested under a 22 mm peak - to - peak displacement for up to 500 , 000 cycles . the stiffness at each cycle was calculated as an average of the upward and downward slopes of the force - deflection curve . comparing the typical and fiber - elastomer composite samples in fig3 indicates that the fiber - elastomer composite spiders retain about 80 % of their original stiffness . in contrast , the typical spider retains less than about 25 % of its original stiffness . the high stiffness retention exhibited by the fiber - elastomer composite spider is believed to be desirable and implies that the performance of an electro - acoustic transducer incorporating such a spider should not degrade due to degradation of the spider . having thus described at least illustrative embodiments of the invention , various modifications and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art and are intended to be within the scope of the invention . accordingly , the foregoing description is by way of example only and is not intended as limiting . the invention is limited only as defined in the following claims and the equivalents thereto .