What Is a Coaxial Driver?
A coaxial driver is a loudspeaker design which can offer certain performance-related benefits. First introduced in the 1930s, this type of speaker has experienced a major surge of interest in recent years.
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Definition
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A coaxial driver is a speaker driver where the high frequency tweeter and low frequency woofer share a common axis. In other words, the high frequency tweeter sits inside the woofer. The term coaxial means "sharing a common axis."
Characteristics
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In a coaxial driver, the speaker's frequency response will be symmetrical about its axis. This means that the frequency response observed at a given angle will be identical at that angle in the opposite direction.
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Benefits
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The strongest performance benefit that can be achieved with a coaxial design is to make the crossover transition undetectable. The crossover transition is where the frequencies are routed to the appropriate speaker driver based on how high or low they are (high frequencies belong to the tweeter, whereas mid and low frequencies belong to the woofer). Bear in mind that not all coaxial speakers will have this advantage, as the speaker requires other design considerations to be addressed to make the crossover completely inaudible.
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References
- Photo Credit plastic speaker image by Bosko Martinovic from Fotolia.com
