How Does a Speaker Work to Produce Sound?
Other People Are Reading
-
Connected to a Source
-
Although some speakers can produce excellent quality sound from a virtually indistinguishable receiver, no speakers can produce sound without being connected to some type of source. Usually a tuner, personal media player or television set, the source receives radio waves, reads electronic media or interprets cable signals to produce an electronic version of sound data. The source converts this information into electrical signals, which it sends out over attached speaker wires to the speaker.
Wires Transfer Signals
-
When the source sends a signal, it relies on attached speaker wire to transfer that signal to the destination speaker. The speaker wire is generally copper, which conducts electricity very easily, but the tips and any necessary connectors may be made of gold to ensure high-quality transfer of electrical impulses.
-
Converting Electricity Into Sound
-
When the signal arrives at the speaker, a powerful electromagnet responds to the electrical impulses with minute physical vibrations. These vibrations cause a thin, flexible membrane on the speaker to vibrate at the same frequency, creating vibrations in the air that are received by the human ear as sound. Depending on the speaker quality, the vibrations may be very precise and produce an exceptionally high-quality sound, or the vibrations may be somewhat sloppy to result in a low-quality, possibly even distorted sound.
Different Speakers Reproduce Different Sounds
-
In a home or car audio environment, a tremendous amount of emphasis is placed on the speaker's accurate reproduction of a wide array of frequencies. To help aid in this task, these systems often employ speakers of varying sizes: Tiny speakers, called tweeters, contain only a small membrane and can vibrate at very high frequencies to re-create the highest pitched sounds; midrange speakers, usually sized 6 to 9 inches, re-create sounds in the middle of the audible spectrum, such as voices and brass instruments; subwoofers, usually 8 or 10 inches, or even larger in diameter, vibrate significantly more slowly to re-create sounds at the lowest realm of human hearing.
-
