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| How Speakers Work
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The last couple of decades have seen many dramatic changes in the electronics we use in our audio systems. We have moved from an analogue world of records and cassettes to digital systems that encompass both audio carried on media such as CD, and computer systems. Yet the basic speaker designs have changed very little. In any disco sound system the quality of your sound will always depend on the quality of the speakers that you use. The very best music media recordings played by the very best equipment can still sound lousy if you are using low quality speakers: this is one occasion that you do most definitely get what you pay for.
As DJs we use the term speakers to describe the complete cabinet assembly, however here we are principally concerned with the electro mechanical device that actually produces the sound. Loudspeaker drivers (to give them their full name) are reasonably simple devices that transform electrical energy into air movement (sound pressure waves) by using the basic rules of magnetism. In the last edition of Pro Mobile we looked at how the human ear picks up and interprets these sound pressure waves, and following on from this we will now look at how loudspeakers produce this air movement.
There are two important components in a loudspeaker chassis or driver in terms of getting it to move. These are the voice coil and the stationary magnet. The voice coil is usually a winding of copper (though aluminum is starting to become popular) that is wrapped around a circular drum called a voice coil former or diaphragm. The wire is insulated with a very narrow layer of varnish (or plastic) so that the winding is still one long conductor. The end of the voice coil wire is connected to the terminals on the speaker basket through what is known as the tinsel leads. These are very flexible pieces of braided wire that allow electricity to pass from the terminals to the voice coil.
Written by Mark Weller |
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The full article can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 19, Pages 36 - 39 |
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Copyright EJ Media 2003 - 2010
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