There are some things you may not really know about loudspeakers

1. What is a coaxial speaker?

In general speakers, the treble and bass are placed flat on the speaker panel, so their sound centers cannot overlap into a point. In this way, the distance between the treble and bass reaches the listener is different, and this difference will cause phase deviation and affect the correct restoration of the sound image. Coaxial speakers use coaxial units, which are actually a combination of treble and bass. The treble is cleverly placed in the center of the bass diaphragm, so that the acoustic center of the high and low frequencies is guaranteed to be at the same point. , thus solving the problem of phase deviation.

2. What is dumbbell arrangement?

That is, the tweeter is tightly sandwiched between two identical mid/woofers, a bit like two large dumbbells in the middle. The dumbbell arrangement can obtain a sound effect similar to the point sound source, which is conducive to stereo sound image positioning, so this design has become more popular recently.

3. What is a two-wire divider?

Traditional loudspeakers have only one set of input binding posts. The full-band signal from the amplifier is transmitted to the speaker through a set of horn lines, and the high and low frequencies are separated by a crossover inside the speaker. Bi-wiring (dual connection) connects the amplifier and the speaker with two sets of speaker cables, so high, the bass channels are different and do not involve. A two-wire crossover needs to separate the input of the crossover's treble channel and bass channel, so the speaker must provide two sets of terminal posts. Of course, speakers that can be divided into two lines of sound can also use conventional single-wire connection, as long as the two sets of terminal blocks are connected with metal short-circuit pieces that come with the cabinet.

Similar to a two-wire crossover, if three sets of speaker wires are used to transmit treble, midrange and bass separately, this connection is called a triple wire. However, three-line splits are not as common as two-line splits.

4. Is a two-wire crossover necessarily better than a conventional connection?

The main reason for the bifurcation of the two wires is that some speaker lines are suitable for transmitting low frequencies, and some are suitable for transmitting high frequencies. If the transmission is separated, the corresponding cable can be selected according to different needs to achieve the most ideal effect. However, this view is only a family statement, and some people believe that the two lines of separation are not worth the loss.

5. Why is the bass better on big speakers?

The lower limit of the low frequency of the speaker is closely related to two factors, one is the resonant frequency of the speaker unit, and the other is the volume of the cabinet. Unboxed, the low-frequency resonant frequency of the woofer is generally considered to be the lower limit of the unit's effective frequency response. The larger the aperture of the unit, the lower the resonant frequency, so using large speakers will help restore lower low frequencies. In addition, a larger diaphragm area can push more air under the same amplitude, and it is easy to get more low-frequency volume. After the horn unit is packed, its resonant frequency will increase due to the stiffness of the air in the box. The larger the volume of the box, the smaller the influence of air on the unit, and the smaller the rise of the resonance frequency, which is conducive to obtaining a lower comprehensive low-frequency response. On the one hand, large speakers are convenient for the use of large-caliber woofers, on the other hand, the cabinet is larger, so low frequencies are usually better.

6. What are the criteria for evaluating the quality of speakers?

A truly good speaker should have both excellent objective performance indicators and good subjective listening evaluation. Excellent performance indicators include wide and flat frequency response, small distortion, fast transient response, strong sound pressure output capacity, strong power carrying capacity, suitable impedance characteristics, and reasonable sensitivity. What constitutes a good subjective hearing assessment is an "art", and everyone's standards are different. Theoretically, since the speaker is a link in the sound reproduction system (and the last link that has the most obvious impact on the quality of sound reproduction), it should be restored absolutely faithfully. Distorted or embellished and beautified, if it meets or approaches such standards, it is a good speaker. This is the so-called "truth-only" view. But some people think that since speakers are used to reproduce music, sound quality is the standard for testing the quality of speakers. This is the so-called "aestheticist" view. "Aestheticism" allows the speaker to reasonably modify the music signal, and does not care whether the technical indicators are perfect, as long as the sound is "good". The "aestheticist" view is more suitable for those of us who use music as entertainment. However, there is no unified standard for what is "good", whether it is performance or personality, blindly pursuing kindness, it is easy to fall into misunderstandings. Therefore, objectively speaking, even a good speaker recognized as "aesthetic" should be established under the premise of ensuring basic performance indicators.

Can a 7.4Ω speaker be connected to an 8Ω power amplifier?

This is a very common problem and a typical conceptual error problem. The statement "8 Euroamplifiers" itself is incorrect. Questioners may see that some amplifiers are marked with words such as "100W/8Ω", thinking that the output impedance of this amplifier is 8Ω. This is actually a misconception, yes. The explanation is that the output power of the amplifier is 8W with an 100Ω load as a test condition.

Power amplifiers, whether transistor or tubes, are constant-voltage output power amplifiers with very small output impedance. Transistor machines are generally below 0.1Ω, while tube machines are higher, but generally below 1Ω instead of 8Ω. Transistor amplifiers have a strong load capacity. In principle, speakers of any impedance can be connected. Of course, it should be noted that the impedance should not be so low that the amplifier is overwhelmed or even overloaded. For example, connect a pair of 2Ω speakers, if available. Most low- to medium-power power amplifiers will be overwhelming. For tube amplifiers, there is an "best load" problem, that is, when the load impedance is a certain value, the performance of the circuit is the best. The optimal load impedance is usually a few thousand to tens of thousands of ohms, while the impedance of a loudspeaker is only a few. Oh, the difference is too big, so use an output transformer for impedance conversion. The output transformer of the tube machine is generally equipped with different taps. Regardless of the impedance of the loudspeaker, simply selecting a set of taps with the same (or near) value on the output transformer can "map" to the optimal load required by the power amplifier. In summary, when the amplifier is paired with the speaker, there is no need to worry about the impedance of the speaker. Transistor machines can be connected to speakers of any impedance, while tube machines can adapt to speakers of various impedances by selecting the taps of the output transformer.