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through the VC. Since audio is an AC waveform, current flows in one direction and then
changes polarity, the VC moves either forward or backward from its point of rest. The
diagram below shows how the VC is connected to the cone of the speaker. The cone is
the part of the speaker that actually makes the sound by alternately creating an area of
high and then low air pressure.
Magnitude of cone movement:
When an amplifier drives a speaker, it is driving the speaker terminals with AC voltage.
If the volume is at its minimum position, the speaker doesn't move. If the driving
voltage is low, the speaker moves a little. As the voltage increases (when you turn up
the volume), the cone moves further from it's point of rest. Higher power amplifiers can
drive the speaker with higher voltage and therefore produce more SPL (volume).
The following demo shows how the magnitude of cone movement increases when the
volume is increased (and a higher voltage signal is driven into the speaker). Click on the
slider handle to lock and unlock the handle. Move the mouse left or right over the white
bar to change the volume level.
The next diagram shows a detailed view of the voice coil and the magnetic gap.
Please note that speakers DO NOT produce power. A speaker rated at 1000 watts is not
necessarily going to be more efficient than a speaker rated at 50 watts. If they are
manufactured by the same company (so that they are rated by the same standards), the
speaker rated to handle higher power will be able to produce more sound pressure level
because it can be driven with a more powerful amplifier without fear of damage. Many
times, a manufacturers cheapest woofers will be more efficient and may be a better
choice for a low powered system.
This diagram shows how the voice coil position relates to input voltage. You can see
that the voice coil moves above the point of rest when the voltage is positive. When the
voltage is negative, the voice coil is below its point of rest. When the voltage is at 0
volts (ground), the speaker is at its point of rest. You should also notice that the
magnitude of displacement is directly related to magnitude of the input voltage. More
voltage means more displacement. Higher power amplifiers can generate more voltage
at their speaker terminals.
BL:
BL is determined by the flux density (B) in the magnetic gap and the length (L) of voice
coil wire in the gap. A higher BL will generally mean a speaker will have a higher
relative sensitivity (efficiency). This doesn't necessarily mean that all speakers with a
higher BL will produce a higher SPL. Often speakers with very high BLs have a smaller
Xmax.
The diagram below shows two different motors (that's what they're called). Motor 'a' is
what you might find in a speaker with a relatively low power rating and a relatively
short Xmax but its efficiency will be relatively high. Motor 'b' will have a higher Xmax,
higher power handling due to the larger voice coil windings and a lower efficiency. The
difference in the xmax is due to the difference in overall length of the voice coil.
Xmax=voice coil length minus the gap height. The difference in efficiency is due to a
different number of windings in the gap. Remember that the voice coil is an
electromagnet. The current passing through the coil generates a magnetic field which is
distributed along its length. On the shorter voice coil, more of the generated field is in
the magnetic gap producing a slightly stronger motor but with a shorter stroke.
'RE':
This is the DC resistance of the voice coil. It will be lower than the rated impedance of
the speaker. A 4 ohm speaker may have a DC voice coil resistance of 3.3-3.8 ohms.
Resonance:
Free-air resonance is the frequency at which the speaker oscillates most readily. At this
frequency, the speaker can be driven to its mechanical limits with less power than at
any other frequency. Resonance in an enclosure is different and will be covered later.
'fs':
Free air (not in an enclosure) resonance of the driver. All speakers have a resonant
frequency. At this frequency, the impedance increases significantly.
'fc':
This is the resonant frequency in a sealed enclosure. The resonant frequency will tend to
be higher but the impedance will not go as high.
'no':
This is the reference efficiency. It is usually expressed as xdB when driven by one watt
and measured at a distance of one meter. Ex: 89dB/1w/1m. See note below for more
information related to reference efficiency.
Note:
You have to be careful when looking at reference efficiency (sensitivity). You can make
a speaker really efficient by designing the voice coil to fit entirely in the magnetic gap.
This would likely yield a sensitivity of 104 or so. This speaker may work very well if
powered by a low powered amplifier because of the high efficiency but would not be
able to produce high SPL at low frequencies because it would have a very small xmax.
Actually, if the voice coil length was the same as the height of the magnetic gap, it
would have no (zero) xmax.
You can also design speakers for very high power handling and high SPL but those
speakers would likely have a very low reference efficiency. Speakers designed for high
SPL in cars generally have a larger xmax and therefore lower reference efficiency but
would easily out perform the speaker (in the previous example) with the higher
reference efficiency at low frequencies.
Speakers that are designed to operate in very small enclosures are usually less efficient
than speakers designed for larger enclosures. To make the speaker perform in a small
enclosure, the suspension has to be stiff. This will raise the resonant frequency. To get a
lower resonant frequency, they must add mass to the cone of the speaker. This added
mass and the stiff suspension kill the efficiency.
The diagram below is a graph which shows how impedance relates to frequency.
The following demo shows how the speakers respond when testing them with a battery.
When you press the buttons, the battery connection is made and the speakers move in
the direction dictated by their wiring.
NOTE:
I've heard that at least one speaker manufacturer (Gauss) that makes their drivers with
the polarity opposite of the above diagram. Guass is a company that makes drivers for
use in commercial PA cabinets, so you won't likely see them in cars.
Rated Efficiency:
Since there are nearly infinite number of ways to measure the efficiency of a speaker,
many manufacturers will use the method that gives the highest efficiency for their
speakers. To give a more accurate comparison of speakers of equal size, you can enter
the Thiele/Small parameters into the following calculator. Vas is in cubic feet. The fields
which contain 'speaker#1' and 'speaker#2' can be used to enter the model number of
different speakers. They have no bearing on the calculations. They are simply there so
that it's easier to remember what speaker the specs are for.
Note:
The following calculations give only a VERY rough estimate. The output SPL WILL NOT be
precise (for those who can not understand this, I'm sorry). It is here to help newbies
understand how adding speakers or changes in power affect SPL.
It assumes:
All of the speakers being used are the same type and size
All of the speakers are in the same type and size enclosures
The frequency response of your subwoofer system (in the vehicle) is flat
You'll notice that there is no choice for the woofer size. The efficiency of some 10'
woofers will be higher than some 12" woofers (and vice-versa). Refer to the
speaker's spec sheet for its reference efficiency.
If you apply more than their max rated power to the speakers, the speakers would
be driven beyond x-max and the results will be completely meaningless.
Find GUESTIMATED SPL output from your system.
Input Section:
Single cab pickup with speakers behind seat
Car with speakers in trunk and back seat folded up
Car with speakers in trunk and back seat folded down
Car with hatch back
Reference Efficiency? =
Total Power? =
Total Number of Woofers? =
Decibels
89
Watts
100
2
Output Section:
Decibels
Reference Power =
Watt
Decibels
20
Cabin Gain =
15
Output Guestimation =
Decibels
Decibels
0
Return To Defaults
Understand that this calculator is not designed to be 100% accurate. It's just here to
show how the SPL increases or decreases with changes in the system.
Gain from multiple woofers tells how much of a change in SPL you use different
numbers of woofers.
Reference power is the power that the manufacturer used when they measured or
calculated efficiency.
Gain from power is the gain in SPL you get from increasing the power above the 1
watt reference. doubling the power will give you a 3 dB gain if all else remains
constant.
Cabin gain is the reinforcement you get from your vehicle's interior. The values I
chose are from my experience. They certainly won't be accurate for all vehicles.
If you manually enter a cabin gain of zero, and a power output of 1 watt and enter
1 in the 'woofers' field, the output will equal the reference output.
If you set the power back to 1 watt but double the cone area (number of woofers),
you still gain 3dB.
If you double the power to 2 watts and use 2 woofers, you'd get 6dB gain over the
reference efficiency of a single woofer.
Note:
If 'cabin gain' is set to '0', the speaker output is what you'd expect if the woofer were in
its enclosure in the middle of a large open space with no reflective surfaces. Your car
isn't a big open space and it reinforces the overall output of the system. In the vehicle,
the cabin gain will vary with the vehicle (which I guestimated for various vehicles) and
will vary with the frequency (which I don't use in the calculations at all). Like I
mentioned before, this is notgoing to be 100% accurate but... if you had a single woofer
in your vehicle and drove the speaker with a 1 watt low frequency signal, this calculator
could help you predict how your output would change if you added more speakers or
power. The cabin gain would be the difference between the reference given by the
manufacturer and the SPL that you'd actually produce at 1 watt in your vehicle.
Before (above)