5.1 Surround Sound Speakers

How Speakers Work

Home theatre systems and How speakers work.

Looking for the best speakers in the world? You need to understand how surround sound systems work So whether you are looking for the best car speakers, the best computer speakers or just simply best bookshelf speakers you need to understand how they produce sound.

First we are going to talk about your extraordinary ears before talking about bookshelf speakers. They are not just for ear rings but are there as neat high quality sound receiver using a thin piece of skin called the eardrum.. When that stretched eardrum vibrates from the sound waves like Ringo Starr on his drums, your computer brain interprets the incoming vibrations as sound frequencies moving in the air. External sounds works as a rapid change in air pressure to vibrate your eardrum much like the speaker we will introduce.
When external noises produce sound they vibrate the surrounding air (Surround Sound) Sounds can also travel through liquids and solids, but air is the most common transmission medium when we listen to our speakers. When this high-low- pounding-booming fluctuation wave is channeled to your receiving ear, it vibrates that eardrum as well as the small hair follicles back and forth depending upon the pitches.

How ears hear sounds

We now hear different sounds from different vibrating objects because of area variations in stereo speakers:

1) Sound-wave.
This frequency means that we hear higher wave frequency as the air pressure fluctuates faster in ripples. We hear this as a higher pitch noise. If we receive fewer fluctuations in a designated period of time, the air disturbance pitch is lower.
2) 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 voice microphone works something like our ears do also. It also has a mechanical diaphragm that is vibrated by different sound waves hitting it. In turn the receiving signal from that microphone is sent as an encoded electrical signal transferred to a tape or CD to be reversed later for hearing. When you play these signals back on your Frisby, Creative or Bose stereo system , the amplifier pumps it to the speaker system, which then re-interprets it into physical vibrations. Quality speakers are highly optimized and are more designed to produce extremely accurate fluctuations in air pressure to allow you better sound to your ears.

Lets talk about the speaker system now and its unique creative design to help you sense better sound waves to your ears.
First it has a Diaphragm: See the photo.
A installed driver produces sound waves by rapidly vibrating a flexible cone, or diaphragm like your ear drum.
They consist of a shaped cone- usually made of paper or plastic and even light metal and attached to what is called a suspension.
This suspension or surround is a constructed rim of flexible material that allows the cone to move back and forth and it is attached to the driver’s metal frame we will call a basket.

Loudspeakers

The coil is attached to the basket by the spider which is just a ring of flexible material. This spider material holds the coil in position while it allows it to move freely back and forth.
On some designs the drivers have a dome instead of a cone. A dome is just a diaphragm that extends out instead of tapering in.

Hey! This is cool.

Cool Loud speakers

We recommend: Thank You from 5.1 Speakers

Now that I have your ear on how the speaker is constructed lets dive into the Voice Coil:
Voice coil what?

Don't freak out! It is just basic electromagnet needed for action in wall speakers. Firing a small electrical current through the voice coil changes aids in changing the direction creating a polar orientation that reverses.
In simple terms an electromagnet is a coil of copper wire, cuddled around a piece of magnetic metal such as iron. When you flip the switch an electrical current flows through the wire creating a magnetic field around the coil and magnetizing the iron metal it is wrapped around.

This introduces what is known as a polar orientation in those powered speakers—a “north” end and and a “south” end—and it is attracted to iron objects like music lovers are to the Beatles. This allows you to alter the orientation of the poles.

Now this gives us the the beauty of a set of powered speakers as a stereo signal for those drums, guitars, organs,flutes and voices. It is kept busy constantly reversing the flow of electricity producing different attentive sounds we love. 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 that driver we rapped about before. Now it is time for the amplifier to constantly keep switching the electrical signal it is getting by fluctuating between a positive charge and a negative charge on the red wire. WOW! 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 hundreds of times a second. Are you still with me?

OK! Lets talk about how we get Bruce Springsteen's bellowing sound to our anxious ears from his recorded CD.

Back to that electromagnet which is positioned in a constant magnetic field and is created by a quality permanent magnet. These two slightly different magnets—the electromagnet and the permanent magnet—begin to dance with each other as any two lovers do. Looking at the positive end of the electromagnet we find it attracted to the negative pole of the permanent magnetic field. Are you still with me?
Now the negative pole of the electromagnet is repelled (a cold shoulder) by the permanent magnet’s negative pole. When the electromagnet’s polar orientation switches, so does the direction of repulsion and attraction. (Sounds like dating?) In this way, the alternating current constantly reverses the magnetic forces between the voice coil and the permanent magnet. This creates a bulling effect on the coil moving it back and forth rapidly like a engines piston.

How does speakers work

Now we are creating changes through the magnetic forces being birthed between the voice coil and the permanent magnet and this is moving the coil and attached diaphragm back and forth like a Patrick Swazy dance. That coil now moves or pushes and pulls on the speaker cone. This vibrates the air in front of the speaker, creating all kinds of frequency sound waves.
This determines the frequency and amplitude of the sound waves produced by that pulsating diaphragm. Different driver sizes are better suited for certain frequency ranges and are determined by the quality of the product. Because of this character most loudspeaker units typically divide a wide frequency range among multiple drivers to give you a better sound.

I realize this is a lot of technical mumble jumble with all of its creepy spiders and pulsating magnets sitting in a fruit basket, but you are now better equipped to purchase the speaker surround sound system that best suits you and your friends will never look at you the same when talking stereo speakers.
How do speakers work