This Week's Specials!

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About Speakers

A speaker is an electromechanical transducer that converts an electrical signal to sound. A speaker system incorporates one or more drivers and additional electronic components. Speakers are the most variable element of an audio system and are important in determining how much you will enjoy Music or Home Theater / HDTV.

A 2-way speaker has two drivers, (1 tweeter & 1 woofer) which accommodate upper frequencies and mid-to-low frequencies.

A 3-way speaker has three drivers, (1 tweeter for high frequencies, 1 mid-range driver for medium frequencies, and 1 woofer for lower frequencies.

Combining one or more drivers into an enclosure to make a speaker system, is both an art and science.

A subwoofer is a woofer driver used for the lowest audio frequencies, usually below 120 Hz. To reproduce very low bass notes without unwanted vibration from speakers cabinet panels, subwoofer systems must be solidly constructed. High quality subwoofers are usually heavy. Many subwoofers have controls relevant to low frequency reproduction. These are known as "active subwoofers". Passive subwoofers require external amplification.

A Crossover is used in multi-driver speaker systems,and separates the input signal into different frequency ranges appropriate for each driver. Each driver receives the frequency range it was designed for, so the distortion and interference between drivers is reduced.

Most speaker systems consist of drivers mounted in an enclosure, or cabinet to provide a place to mount the drivers and to prevent sound waves from the back of a driver from interfering with those from the front. System designers align drivers by moving one or more drivers forward or back, so that the acoustic center of each driver is in the same vertical plane. This may also involve tilting the face speaker back, or providing separate mounting for each driver, or using other techniques which in some instances account for some unusual cabinet designs.

Most speakers use two wiring points to connect to the source of the signal (i.e. the audio amplifier or receiver), by binding posts or spring clips. If the wires for left and right speakers) are not connected 'in phase' with each other (the + and - connections on the speaker and amplifier should be connected + to + and - to -) the speakers will not preform correctly.

Typical Speaker Specifications

Speaker or driver type: Full-range, woofer, tweeter or mid-range.

Size of individual drivers: This number may be the outside diameter of the frame, the diameter of the surround, or the diameter of the cone. It may also be the distance from the center of one mounting hole to its opposite.

Rated Power: Nominal and Peak is the maximum input power before thermally destroying the speaker. A driver may be damaged at much less than its rated power if driven past its mechanical limits at lower frequencies. Tweeters can be damaged by high frequencies.

Impedance typically 4 Ω (ohms), 8 Ω, etc.

Number of drivers (complete speaker systems only)2-way, 3-way, etc.

Crossover frequencies for multi-driver systems: The nominal frequency boundaries of the signal division between drivers.

Frequency response: The output over a specified range of frequencies for a constant input level varied across those frequencies. It often includes a variance limit such as within "+/- 2.5 dB".

Sensitivity: The sound pressure level produced by a loudspeaker usually specified in dB, and measured at 1 meter with an input of 1 watt or 2.83 volts, typically at one or more specified frequencies.