Audio systems( how do they work?)

[onetwothree4]

Yo peeps . So I be taking stuff apart again and i be doing it with a speaker(audio systems stuff boxes) and i be finding 3 speakers of different sizes most of the time there is one big one and 2 smaller ones.

I think i be hearing that this reason for different size speaker is that it will be easier for bigger speakers to vibrate with lower frequency and vice versa for smaller speakers so it will make better sound.


So then i be wondering how does that work...(low frquency to big speaker.. higher frequency to smaller speaker). and i be finding out something about filters (RC,LC,RL-low,high,bandwith) and all those types

so i be thinking ah maybe that is how the speaker system works and i had a look and nothing...... there was only 1 capacitor soldered to the big speaker and just wires to the other 2; non of that resistor or inductor thingys


Does anyone know the answer?

 

[JimB]

Yo peeps . So I be taking stuff apart again and i be doing it with a speaker(audio systems stuff boxes) and i be finding 3 speakers of different sizes most of the time there is one big one and 2 smaller ones.

I think i be hearing that this reason for different size speaker is that it will be easier for bigger speakers to vibrate with lower frequency and vice versa for smaller speakers so it will make better sound.

So then i be wondering how does that work...(low frquency to big speaker.. higher frequency to smaller speaker). and i be finding out something about filters (RC,LC,RL-low,high,bandwith) and all those types

so i be thinking ah maybe that is how the speaker system works and i had a look and nothing...... there was only 1 capacitor soldered to the big speaker and just wires to the other 2; non of that resistor or inductor thingys

Does anyone know the answer?

Ah Jim lad, I be thinking that it is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"

As for the inductor thingies me thinks that me parrot has eaten them.

JimB

 

[Flyback]

well those speakers themselves, their inductance and resistance, help in the filtering, so the small speaker will end up propagating the higher frequencies, due to its smaller coil inductance.

 

[onetwothree4]

does seem reasonable fly back . i be understand bird ate the rest

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

well those speakers themselves, their inductance and resistance, help in the filtering, so the small speaker will end up propagating the higher frequencies, due to its smaller coil inductance.

Not really - it makes VERY little difference, feed bass to a tweeter and it will be destroyed in seconds (if even that long).

And bass units of course happily accept all frequencies, and many are even full range.

 

[Overclocked]

Yo Dawg, I hurd u lkie info so let me break it down fo sho.

Big speakers use low pass filters and tiny tweeters use high pass filters. Capacitors allow low frequency's to pass while stopping high frequency's. Im guessing that low frequency's dont get transmitted to the tweeter is because of impedance-The bigger speaker has a lower impedance for lower frequency's. You could say it has a higher affinity for lower frequency's.

 

[audioguru]

A woofer is a big speaker used for low frequencies. Its cone is big and its heavy weight causes it to move fairly slowly to produce low frequencies. Its mechanical resonant frequency is low.
A tweeter is a small speaker used for high frequencies. Its cone is small and lightweight so it can move very quickly to produce high frequencies. The lightweight cone causes its mechanical resonant frequency to be fairly high.
A midrange speaker has properties between these two.

 

[crutschow]

Another factor affecting speaker size is that, to achieve similar sound intensities, you need to move more air at lower frequencies than high, so that requires a larger cone at the lower frequencies to move the air without requiring a huge cone excursion. Thus for a high bass volume level the woofer speaker is often 12" to 15" or even larger.
Here's an example of an extreme design (with a corresponding cost).

 

[audioguru]

I bought two Radio Shack Minimus 7 speakers long ago. They used a 4 inch diameter long excursion woofer and a 1.25 inch diameter dome tweeter. They sounded pretty good with a response from about 100Hz to 15kHz.
The woofer resonated at the fairly low frequency of 50Hz in free air but the sealed cast metal enclosure increased the resonant frequency to 120Hz.
I added a port which lowered the resonant frequency to 60Hz and used one at the beach. It sounded great. My portable amplifier produced 4W RMS.

The speaker is rated at 40W but the woofer is stamped "5W Korea". Over the years both woofers got zapped with too much power.

I also have two speakers with 6.5" diameter woofers and two speakers with 8 inch diameter woofers. They all sound great.

I do not have a sub-woofer at home. Instead I use a bass boost circuit so I can feel the very low frequencies.

 

[picbits]

I sold many many Minimus 7 speakers back in the day - my parents still have my last set. I bought them in around 1989 and they sat on the back shelves of many of my cars until being retired to my parents conservatory where they have lived since.

 

[audioguru]

My pair of Minimus 7 speakers also lived in my (very first company) car for about 2 years. Since they are 8 ohms (car speakers are 2 ohms or 4 ohms) then their power was only about 8.5W each from a bridged amplifier output.

 

[ronv]

Ah Jim lad, I be thinking that it is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"

As for the inductor thingies me thinks that me parrot has eaten them.

JimB

View attachment 90338

He looks like a tweeter laddie, so he probably doesn't like woofers.

 

[onetwothree4]

OOOright thank you all

 

[Scotophor]

International Talk Like A Pirate Day is September 19th. On this forum at this time of year posting with "Yo peeps" and "I be" this and "I be" that IMO only makes you seem uneducated.

Re "Does anyone know the answer?": What was the question? The only one I saw was in the title, "Audio systems( how do they work?)" That's a tad on the broad side (no pun intended).

Capacitors allow low frequency's to pass while stopping high frequency's.

Strike that. Reverse it, and you'll be closer to the truth. Capacitors have greater impedance at lower frequencies. A properly selected capacitor in series with a tweeter can protect it from being overheated/overdriven by bass frequencies.

 

[audioguru]

A crossover network should have more than only a single capacitor in series with the tweeter because its cutoff slope is too gradual resulting in:
1) Damage caused by low frequencies.
2) Odd sounds caused by the tweeter producing its resonant frequency.

I use a 3rd-order crossover with a capacitor feeding an inductor to ground and another capacitor that feeds the tweeter. I also add a Zobel RC network to flatten the inductive impedance changes so that the crossover network works properly.