Knowing About Woofer Speakers

By Ari Taufan

Designed to produce low frequency sounds which can produce sounds ranging from around 40 hertz up to about kilohertz or even higher, woofer speakers are commonly known for its loudspeaker driver.

Tweeter, the name is derived from a dog bark, is in contrast with woof. Tweeter speakers are designed to reproduce high frequency sounds. A woofer is the electro dynamic driver which uses a cone, surrounded by a magnetic field, and a voice coil to drive. It is the common design of a woofer. The voice coil and the magnet, combination of both makes a linear electric motor. And the coil moves in relation to the frame, causing the coil to pull or push on the driver cone in a piston like way. This is happened when current flows through the voice coil. With the help of an adhesive, the voice coil is attached to the back of the speaker cone. Sound waves are created by the resulting motion of the cone as it moves in and out. It is a challenging task to design and manufacture woofer speakers.

You must keep in mind the following points while designing a woofer; you should control the motion of the cone, so, the sound waves reproduce dependably electrical signal to the woofer voice coil. Controlling the electrical impedance is another a challenging task, which is the measure of opposition to a sinusoidal alternating current. So, you can make possible the use of economic electronic amplifier if this is done. With high commitment and maximum efficiency, an effective conversion of low frequency amplifier signal to mechanical air movement is required by a good woofer speakers design.

With the necessity of using a loudspeaker enclosure to couple the cone motion to the air that it is complicated. Light weight, lack of coloration and stiffness are the three common high quality properties that designers look for in cone, which are as the cone materials have its advantage and disadvantages. Depending on their fabrication and design, exotic

materials such as like magnesium and Kevlar are light and stiff, but they can have ringing problem. Materials like paper (also including the coated paper cones and other various polymers) can be heavier and not as stiff, as they will generally ring less than metal diaphragms.

The structure of woofer speakers is the frame or basket. In the power alignment, it holds the voice coil, cone and the magnet. It is important to avoid extraneous motions, and also to prevent rubbing of the voice coil against the magnet structure in the gap because the voice coil gap is quite narrow. Metal frames have two types, there are cast and stamped. Stamped frame is a lower cost option, usually made of steel. This frame may bend if the speakers are on higher volumes as the disadvantage. Cast frames are more rigid in all directions, but they are more expensive. Cast basket is usually the preferred for higher quality because they have better damping, can have more intricate shapes. The structure of a home audio woofer is been similar by woofer speakers designed for public address and instrument applications.

Check out my other articles at outdoor stereo speakers.