Paper Cones in HiFi?

Reinforced paper cones seems to be one of optimal choices, dont know to which extend slicing the paper etc. is just hype... ?
low-end would be poly-propylene materials... it has a smoother and deeper (comparable to paper), but clearity and precision is very bad - PP simply flexes too much when playing bass, making distortion the rule rather than the exception. Surprisingly many manufactures markets their pp cone woofer as quality - showing of their smooth response curves and low-end fs values... and only very very few gives you any idea of rated distortion and power compression, which is much more important in a bass unit.

from what I've heard aluminium is not optimal when it comes to timbre, i.e. it makes the sound less natural, and Kevlar tend to have a less uniform response curve than paper, but have a deeper fs value, ideal for non-vented enclosures, but who uses that for bass?
Anyways the point being that its a trade off (between many things, where paper still seems to posses the best of each.

I myself have two 15" paper cones - one $50 that sounds like crap compared to my $500 JBL 2226 G 15", but that would be expected - paper cones comes in many varities too...
A.

Used to have a pair of paper cone full range speakers. Spectrums, I think they were Dutch, taken over by Fisher at some point. Great speakers. They had been my grandfather's with an old NAD integrated. Both came out of a screening room at CBS 60 Minutes when they revamp'd. Wasn't sure about the ensemble when they got shipped to me... paper, 25 years old, etc. My intro to hi-fi after my grandfather passed away. Lasted me five years even so, 30 years total, and paper cones are supposed to be easy to destroy. After an hour with them I had been converted.

Bobby's response is beautiful as it is both to the point and technically excellent. Then again, he speaks from years of first hand experience in the field of speaker design and manufacturing, so he should know these things. Obviously, he does : ) Sean
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Tang-Band has a full range 4" driver made from bamboo coming out in May.
Qms = 1.499
Qes = 0.484
Qts = 0.366
BL = 4.80
Mms = 3.49 g

Compared to their W4-655sa 4" paper driver:
Qms = 4.35
Qes = 0.35
Qts = 0.33
Electrical Q being more important to damp than mechanical Q. But TB's typical paper Qms is no lower than 2.80. So the bamboo damps very well indeed.

Puzzlecoat painted on paper cones can improve the sound. Too much can roll off the highs (relatively speaking, as in causing midrange loss) too much.