How Do Speakers Work, Like the Mackie HR624MK2 Speakers We Have on Board?
Yoda peeps,
On board the Lennon bus were lucky to have the privilege of listening and mixing our audio through Mackie’s HR624MK2 monitors. Some people might wonder though how a speaker like this works? Well don’t anymore, I’m going to tell ya.
Sound Basics:
To understand how speakers work, you first need to understand how sound works.
Inside your ear is a very thin piece of skin called the eardrum. When your eardrum vibrates, your brain interprets the vibrations as sound—that’s how you hear. Rapid changes in air pressure are the most common thing to vibrate your eardrum. An object produces sound when it vibrates in air (sound can also travel through liquids and solids, but air is the transmission medium when we listen to speakers). When something vibrates, it moves the air particles around it. Those air particles in turn move the air particles around them, carrying the pulse of the vibration through the air as a traveling disturbance. In this way, a vibrating object sends a wave of pressure fluctuation through the atmosphere. When the fluctuation wave reaches your ear, it vibrates the eardrum back and forth. Our brain interprets this motion as sound.
To understand how speakers work, you first need to understand how sound works.
Inside your ear is a very thin piece of skin called the eardrum. When your eardrum vibrates, your brain interprets the vibrations as sound—that’s how you hear. Rapid changes in air pressure are the most common thing to vibrate your eardrum. An object produces sound when it vibrates in air (sound can also travel through liquids and solids, but air is the transmission medium when we listen to speakers). When something vibrates, it moves the air particles around it. Those air particles in turn move the air particles around them, carrying the pulse of the vibration through the air as a traveling disturbance. In this way, a vibrating object sends a wave of pressure fluctuation through the atmosphere. When the fluctuation wave reaches your ear, it vibrates the eardrum back and forth. Our brain interprets this motion as sound.
Differentiating Sound:
We hear different sounds from different vibrating objects because of variations in:
We hear different sounds from different vibrating objects because of variations in:
* Sound-wave frequency - A higher wave frequency simply means that the air pressure fluctuates faster. We hear this as a higher pitch. When there are fewer fluctuations in a period of time, the pitch is lower.
* Air-pressure level - This is the wave’s amplitude, which determines how loud the sound is. Sound waves with greater amplitudes move our ear drums more, and we register this sensation as a higher volume.
A microphone works something like our ears. It has a diaphragm that is vibrated by sound waves in an area. The signal from a microphone gets encoded on a tape or CD as an electrical signal. When you play this signal back on your stereo, the amplifier sends it to the speaker, which re-interprets it into physical vibrations. Good speakers are optimized to produce extremely accurate fluctuations in air pressure, just like the ones originally picked up by the microphone.
Making Sound:
Now we know that sound travels in waves of air pressure fluctuation, and that we hear sounds differently depending on the frequency and amplitude of these waves. We also learned that microphones translate sound waves into electrical signals, which can be encoded onto CDs, tapes, LPs, etc. Players convert this stored information back into an electric current for use in the stereo system.
A speaker is essentially the final translation machine—the reverse of the microphone. It takes the electrical signal and translates it back into physical vibrations to create sound waves. When everything is working as it should, the speaker produces nearly the same vibrations that the microphone originally recorded and encoded on a tape, CD, LP, etc. Traditional speakers do this with one or more drivers.
Now we know that sound travels in waves of air pressure fluctuation, and that we hear sounds differently depending on the frequency and amplitude of these waves. We also learned that microphones translate sound waves into electrical signals, which can be encoded onto CDs, tapes, LPs, etc. Players convert this stored information back into an electric current for use in the stereo system.
A speaker is essentially the final translation machine—the reverse of the microphone. It takes the electrical signal and translates it back into physical vibrations to create sound waves. When everything is working as it should, the speaker produces nearly the same vibrations that the microphone originally recorded and encoded on a tape, CD, LP, etc. Traditional speakers do this with one or more drivers.
Diaphragm:
A driver produces sound waves by rapidly vibrating a flexible cone, or diaphragm.
* The cone, usually made of paper, plastic or metal, is attached on the wide end to the suspension.
* The suspension, or surround, is a rim of flexible material that allows the cone to move, and is attached to the driver’s metal frame, called the basket.
* The narrow end of the cone is connected to the voice coil.
* The coil is attached to the basket by the spider, a ring of flexible material. The spider holds the coil in position, but allows it to move freely back and forth.
Some drivers have a dome instead of a cone. A dome is just a diaphragm that extends out instead of tapering in.
A driver produces sound waves by rapidly vibrating a flexible cone, or diaphragm.
* The cone, usually made of paper, plastic or metal, is attached on the wide end to the suspension.
* The suspension, or surround, is a rim of flexible material that allows the cone to move, and is attached to the driver’s metal frame, called the basket.
* The narrow end of the cone is connected to the voice coil.
* The coil is attached to the basket by the spider, a ring of flexible material. The spider holds the coil in position, but allows it to move freely back and forth.
Some drivers have a dome instead of a cone. A dome is just a diaphragm that extends out instead of tapering in.
Voice Coil:
The voice coil is a basic electromagnet. When the electrical current flowing through the voice coil changes direction, the coil’s polar orientation reverses.
If you’ve read How Electromagnets Work, then you know that an electromagnet is a coil of wire, usually wrapped around a piece of magnetic metal, such as iron. Running electrical current through the wire creates a magnetic field around the coil, magnetizing the metal it is wrapped around. The field acts just like the magnetic field around a permanent magnet: It has a polar orientation—a “north” end and and a “south” end—and it is attracted to iron objects. But unlike a permanent magnet, in an electromagnet you can alter the orientation of the poles. If you reverse the flow of the current, the north and south ends of the electromagnet switch.
This is exactly what a stereo signal does—it constantly reverses the flow of electricity. If you’ve ever hooked up a stereo system, then you know that there are two output wires for each speaker—typically a black one and a red one.
The wire that runs through the speaker system connects to two hook-up jacks on the driver. Essentially, the amplifier is constantly switching the electrical signal, fluctuating between a positive charge and a negative charge on the red wire. Since electrons always flow in the same direction between positively charged particles and negatively charged particles, the current going through the speaker moves one way and then reverses and flows the other way. This alternating current causes the polar orientation of the electromagnet to reverse itself many times a second.
The voice coil is a basic electromagnet. When the electrical current flowing through the voice coil changes direction, the coil’s polar orientation reverses.
If you’ve read How Electromagnets Work, then you know that an electromagnet is a coil of wire, usually wrapped around a piece of magnetic metal, such as iron. Running electrical current through the wire creates a magnetic field around the coil, magnetizing the metal it is wrapped around. The field acts just like the magnetic field around a permanent magnet: It has a polar orientation—a “north” end and and a “south” end—and it is attracted to iron objects. But unlike a permanent magnet, in an electromagnet you can alter the orientation of the poles. If you reverse the flow of the current, the north and south ends of the electromagnet switch.
This is exactly what a stereo signal does—it constantly reverses the flow of electricity. If you’ve ever hooked up a stereo system, then you know that there are two output wires for each speaker—typically a black one and a red one.
The wire that runs through the speaker system connects to two hook-up jacks on the driver. Essentially, the amplifier is constantly switching the electrical signal, fluctuating between a positive charge and a negative charge on the red wire. Since electrons always flow in the same direction between positively charged particles and negatively charged particles, the current going through the speaker moves one way and then reverses and flows the other way. This alternating current causes the polar orientation of the electromagnet to reverse itself many times a second.
Making Sound: Magnets:
So how does the fluctuation make the speaker coil move back and forth? The electromagnet is positioned in a constant magnetic field created by a permanent magnet. These two magnets—the electromagnet and the permanent magnet—interact with each other as any two magnets do. The positive end of the electromagnet is attracted to the negative pole of the permanent magnetic field, and the negative pole of the electromagnet is repelled by the permanent magnet’s negative pole. When the electromagnet’s polar orientation switches, so does the direction of repulsion and attraction. In this way, the alternating current constantly reverses the magnetic forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet. This pushes the coil back and forth rapidly, like a piston. When the electrical current flowing through the voice coil changes direction, the coil’s polar orientation reverses. This changes the magnetic forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet, moving the coil and attached diaphragm back and forth. When the coil moves, it pushes and pulls on the speaker cone. This vibrates the air in front of the speaker, creating sound waves. The electrical audio signal can also be interpreted as a wave. The frequency and amplitude of this wave, which represents the original sound wave, dictates the rate and distance that the voice coil moves. This, in turn, determines the frequency and amplitude of the sound waves produced by the diaphragm. Different driver sizes are better suited for certain frequency ranges. For this reason, loudspeaker units typically divide a wide frequency range among multiple drivers.
So how does the fluctuation make the speaker coil move back and forth? The electromagnet is positioned in a constant magnetic field created by a permanent magnet. These two magnets—the electromagnet and the permanent magnet—interact with each other as any two magnets do. The positive end of the electromagnet is attracted to the negative pole of the permanent magnetic field, and the negative pole of the electromagnet is repelled by the permanent magnet’s negative pole. When the electromagnet’s polar orientation switches, so does the direction of repulsion and attraction. In this way, the alternating current constantly reverses the magnetic forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet. This pushes the coil back and forth rapidly, like a piston. When the electrical current flowing through the voice coil changes direction, the coil’s polar orientation reverses. This changes the magnetic forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet, moving the coil and attached diaphragm back and forth. When the coil moves, it pushes and pulls on the speaker cone. This vibrates the air in front of the speaker, creating sound waves. The electrical audio signal can also be interpreted as a wave. The frequency and amplitude of this wave, which represents the original sound wave, dictates the rate and distance that the voice coil moves. This, in turn, determines the frequency and amplitude of the sound waves produced by the diaphragm. Different driver sizes are better suited for certain frequency ranges. For this reason, loudspeaker units typically divide a wide frequency range among multiple drivers.
So I hope this answers any questions relating to how speakers work. There are many types of speakers out there to choose from and they have different functions based on the task. For Recording studio applications I would suggest using Mackie monitors like we have on the bus because they have proven to be a great monitor at a great price. Visithttp://www.mackie.com/index.html for more information.
