Speakers: Explained.

 Structure:

            The basic speaker design has a motor that drives the speaker back and forth; attached to a cone to translate this movement into pressure waves; that travel through the air.

Working Principle:

            Let's look at each part in depth. The motor, a voice coil, and a magnet work together. To form the speaker motor, the voice coil has a long section of thin copper wire wound many times around a heat-resistant cylinder, called the former. When electricity flows through the copper windings, it naturally generates a surrounding magnetic field. This phenomenon is what makes an electromagnet. An electromagnet can act just like a permanent magnet and yet incredibly, its polarity or the positive and negative pull orientation and magnetic intensity can be changed by altering the supplied electric current. It can instantly be made stronger or weaker, reversed, or turned off completely. A large permanent magnet or natural magnet surrounds the voice coil. This magnet has a top plate and a backing plate with a pull piece through the center. To focus the magnet's field through the gap, an intricate electrical signal flows through the voice coil windings, causing it to move back and forth. As its magnetic field pushes and pulls against that of the permanent magnet, this electrical current is a precise replica of the audio that was originally recorded. In fact, the entire sound is contained in this impossibly detailed signal the cone and suspension. The cone translates voice coil movement into waves that travel through the air. It has its own flexible suspension system which is made up of the surround on the outside and the corrugated spider. At its center, the dust cap keeps debris and unwanted material out of sensitive internal areas. Underneath the dust cap, the voice coil's copper leads attach to more flexible wires; called tinsel leads that can smoothly deform with intense speaker movement, recreating the whole symphony.

Producing of Sounds:

If a speaker only moves back and forth, how does it reproduce an entire symphony of sounds at the same time?

Let's look at basic sound wave operation. Air is an elastic medium meaning that it returns to its original shape. Once an acting force is removed, the speakers push and pull air molecules; making them ram into each other in a domino effect. This wave reaches and moves your eardrum which sends a signal that your brain interprets as sound. You could even say that hearing is just movement detection while it's often easier on paper to draw waves as a bouncy line.

In reality, sound waves are three-dimensional areas of high and low pressure. When we turn up the volume, the speaker pushes harder; sending more forceful waves through the air. The sound waves pushing force is its amplitude. To make high and low sounds, the speaker vibrates faster or slower. The wave rate is its frequency which is measured in hertz or in musical terms, its note pitch from waves to music. A musical instrument produces a unique waveform when played. Just one note has low mid and high-range vibrations; combined into a complex sound wave. The most apparent frequency of a vibrating guitar string may be a G-note and yet many smaller twitches and movements travel through the string at the same time; producing tones that your ear also detects.

One speaker can handle the whole sound like earphones. For example, in large spaces where sound waves need to travel further, some audio setups divide specific frequency ranges between specially designed speakers. A speaker intended for low and slow frequencies has a much different design than speakers made for high and fast frequencies.

 

Stay tuned.

Bye.