A speaker is that component of the system, or an output device, which takes the electronic signals and changes it into the sound that we would be able to hear. There are a lot of verities of speakers and loudspeakers; for instance, horn loudspeakers, electrostatic loudspeakers, piezoelectric speakers, ribbon and planner magnetic loudspeakers, flat panel loudspeakers, bending wave loudspeakers, distributed mode loudspeakers, plasma arc speakers, digital speakers and much more.
The speaker designs also differ and they very much affect sound quality. Speakers might be remarkable devices but they are not as simple tools as one can guess, especially regarding the mechanism. To know how speakers work, we have to go through the basic understanding of the topics associated with the working of a speaker.
Basics of Sound
Inside the human ears there is a membrane or layer called Eardrum. When it vibrates, the brain considers the source as to be a sound. Change in air pressure, in a quick time, makes sound to hear. When something moves the air particles around it also move; so, when any object vibrates, sound forms. For a speaker to work it needs air as a medium. So, knowing the basics of sound helps in knowing how speakers work.
Differentiating the various sounds
We can differentiate the sound because of two elements, sound wave frequency and air pressure level. Higher wave frequency means air pressure changes faster. We hear the above as higher pitch. And when the opposite happens we hear it as lower pitch. When the amplitude of sound is higher we hear it as a high volume sound.
How microphone works with Speakers
Working of a microphone is more like our ears. It requires a diaphragm to work, which is vibrated when the air pressure is dispersed in an area, making waves. The signal coming from a microphone then gets encoded onto storage medium. Players decode this stored information from the storage medium back to the sound system as an electric signal. It goes through an amplifier, which increases the amplitude. Speaker, in fact, is the ultimate translator of the electric signal. It reinterprets the physical form of electric signal, into the original form picked up by the microphones.
How speaker works in converting the Final Sound
Speakers, which are configured with high capacity components, are capable of translating accurate fluctuations of air pressures, which were earlier caught by the microphones. Speakers use drivers to perform this task. Drivers are designed in such a way that it contains a lightweight diaphragm, which is attached to a fixed frame. A flexible coil of fine wire, which is prepared to move axially through a cylindrical magnetic gap, hangs it.
When the desired electrical signal is applied to the voice coil, it creates a magnetic field caused by the wire, turning it to an electromagnet. Magnetic system of the driver and the voice coil then interacts to form a to and fro motion, making sound. This signal comes through the amplifier, whose objective is to amplify the original captured signal. The speaker is optimized to produce perfect sound captured by the original capturer. How speaker works and the ultimate quality of the speakers depend on the mechanism and components used by the different manufacturers.