Speaker drivers are meant to oscillate back and forth to produce sound and require a design and materials to do so effectively. It makes sense, then, that a speaker would require a bit of breaking-in to reduce the initial stiffness of its construction and to move (and produce sound) more optimally. Do speakers need to…
Whether it’s a cheap pair of computer speakers, a high-end surround sound system, or an arrangement of loudspeakers for live sound venues, you’ll often find grilles or mesh in front of the speakers. However, this is not always the case! Why do some speakers have grilles/mesh and others don’t? Speaker grilles/ meshes are used to…
Popping a crackling in our speakers is sure to raise concerns regardless of what we’re listening to. What causes speakers to pop and crackle, and how do we fix it? Speaker popping and crackling are caused by interrupted electrical current (audio signals) or, in other words, a loose or dirty connection. To fix crackling and…
Speakers (including loudspeakers and studio monitors) are transducers that convert audio signals into sound waves and are often connected to computers (laptops, smartphones, etc.). To fully understand the audio signal flow of speakers in terms of inputs and outputs, we must also comprehend the definitions of input and output devices in computer systems. Are speakers/studio…
If you’ve ever cranked up the volume of your favourite songs in the car, you may have noticed audible speaker distortion. The speakers may have even been distorting without you noticing at all. Why do speakers distort at high sound/audio levels? There are two main reasons why a loudspeaker would distort at high levels. The…
If you’ve ever touched the end of a cable that was plugged into a speaker, you’ve likely heard a buzzing sound. Common examples include handling the auxiliary cable in the car when trying to plug your phone in or handling a patch cord when plugging it into an electric guitar while the amp is on….
Large subwoofers can really make us feel the bass frequencies of music and sound, but smaller speakers may surprise us with the amount of perceived bass they are capable of producing. How do small speakers produce bass frequencies? Small speakers are generally less capable of producing bass frequencies than larger speakers, though several techniques allow…
Magnetic material and magnetic fields surround us in our day-to-day lives, from the refrigerator magnets to the Earth’s magnetic field to the speakers in our homes, on the stage, in our cars, etc. Why and how do speakers use magnets? Speakers are transducers of energy that convert electrical energy (audio signals) into mechanical wave energy…
If you’ve been studying audio and sound, you’ve likely come across the magical term “transducer,” which refers to devices that convert one form of energy into another form of energy. Speakers and headphones are common transducers, and knowing how they work will help us better understand the world of audio. How do speakers and headphones…
If you’ve ever seen a larger speaker producing loud sound, you’ve likely seen noticeable vibrations in the diaphragm. Speakers need to vibrate to produce sound waves, and these vibrations are often imperceptible to the human eye and only perceptible to the human ear. How fast do loudspeakers and headphones vibrate? To produce the entire range…
Generally speaking, there are multiple devices and gain stages before a mic signal is sent to a loudspeaker and projected as sound. However, it is certainly possible to connect a microphone directly to a speaker. How to plug a microphone into a speaker: To plug a microphone into a speaker physically, we must identify the…
So you’ve likely heard that microphones and speakers are practically the same things, only in reverse, but is it possible to turn a speaker into a microphone? The answer is yes! How to turn a loudspeaker into a microphone in 2 easy steps: With these two simple steps, you can turn a speaker into a…
