Cone drivers, because of their concave shape, tend to focus their output in a tight beam. The further outside of this beam, the more uneven the driver's output becomes. As such, cone drivers are said to have poorer "off-axis" response. Where a listener sits in relation to the orientation of a cone driver is directly related to how "smooth" or even the frequency response is.

Dome drivers are shaped in a convex configuration. With this type of configuration, it becomes more difficult to maintain the integrity of the pistonic motion. Unlike a cone driver, the voice coil of a dome sits on the outside edge, a configuration that becomes more and more unstable as the size of the cone increases. As such, more accurate tolerances and higher quality construction are needed in the manufacture of dome drivers. They are more expensive as a result.

A balanced dome driver is a combination of the dome and cone. It is a cone driver in that it has a conventional surround with a centered voice coil, and it's also a dome driver in that a significant part of its surface area is convex in shape. Balanced dome drivers offer good off-axis response with a minimum of "beaming", and are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, since they follow a more traditional configuration.