An Introduction to Speaker Systems

This week we thought it would be useful to do a "simple" breakdown of how speakers function...

When you look at any speaker they typically have what's called a diaphragm which is made from meshy material, plastic, fabric or paper. The diaphragm covers the face of the cone and this sits around a hollowed out ring at the front of a magnet.

When you think about what a diaphragm does in the human body it's the responsible muscle used for essential breathing; in a speaker system the diaphragm is the essential element for similar vibration and hence production of sound.

In a speaker the voice coil sits in a hollowed out ring at the front of a magnet. When you take the electric signal (sound signal from a device) this turns the coil into a temporary electromagnet attracting and repelling the permanent magnet behind it. This moves the voice coil back and forth impacting the loudspeaker cone by pushing and pulling it. Similar to a drum skin vibration as it's hit the moving cone and diaphragm moving the sound into the air

A speaker converts electrical energy into mechanical energy in a nutshell...

And that, this week is it!