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high power levels are fed to a woofer for too long, even if not exceeding mechanical limits at any time. Most of the energy applied to the voice coil is converted to heat, not sound; all of the heat is ultimately passed to the pole piece, the rest of the magnet structure, and the frame. From the woofer structure, the heat is eventually dissipated into the surrounding air. Some drivers include provisions for better cooling (e.g., vented magnet pole pieces, dedicated heat conduction structures) to reduce increased coil/magnet/frame temperatures during operation, especially high power level conditions. If too much power is applied to the voice coil as compared to its ability to shed heat, it will eventually exceed a maximum safe temperature. Adhesives can melt, the voice coil former can melt or distort, or the insulation separating the voice coil
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gap and also avoid extraneous motions. There are two main metal frame types, stamped and cast. Stamped baskets (usually of steel) are a lower-cost approach. The disadvantage of this type of frame is that the basket may flex if the speaker is driven at high volumes, there being resistance to bending only in certain directions. Cast baskets are more expensive, but are usually more rigid in all directions, have better damping (reducing their own resonance), can have more intricate shapes, and are therefore usually preferred for higher quality drivers.
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enclosures. They are also usually ill-suited to extended low bass response since the last octave of low frequency response increases size and expense considerably, and is increasingly uneconomic to attempt at high levels as in a PA application. A home stereo woofer, because it is used at relatively low volumes, may be able to handle very low frequencies. Because of this, most PA woofers are not well suited to use in high quality high fidelity home applications, and vice versa.
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higher power, and higher suspension stiffness. Generally, a home woofer used in a PA/instrument application can be expected to fail more quickly than a PA/instrument woofer. On the other hand, a PA/instrument woofer in a home audio application will not have the same quality of performance, particularly at low volumes. A PA woofer will not produce the same audible high fidelity which is the goal of high quality home audio due to those differences.
291:, either passive or active, filters the band of frequencies to be handled by the woofer and other speakers. Normally the crossover and speaker system, including the woofer, are expected to convert the electrical signal supplied by the amplifier to an acoustic signal of identical waveform without other interaction between the amplifier and speakers, although sometimes the amplifier and speakers are designed together with the speakers supplying
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477:, most humans can hear down to about 20 Hz. To accurately reproduce the lowest tones, a woofer, or group of woofers, must move an appropriately large volume of air — a task that becomes more difficult at lower frequencies. The larger the room, the more air the woofer's movement will have to displace in order to produce the required sound power at low frequencies.
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important when the speaker is pushed to extremes: applications requiring high output, amplifier overload conditions, unusual signals (i.e., non-musical ones), very low frequencies at which the enclosure provides little or no acoustic loading (and so there will be maximum cone excursion), or amplifier failure. In high-volume situations, a woofer's
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mechanical damage. Sudden impulse energy can melt a section of voice coil wire, causing an open circuit and a dead woofer; the necessary level will vary with driver characteristics. In normal listening level music applications, the electrical power rating of woofers is generally unimportant; it remains important for higher frequency drivers.
376:(FIR) and other digital techniques, the crossovers for a bi-amped or tri-amped system can be accomplished with a precision not possible with analog filters, whether passive or active. Furthermore, many driver peculiarities (down to and including individual variances) can be remedied at the same time such as in
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There are three types of power handling in loudspeaker drivers, including woofers: thermal (heat), electrical (both covered above), and mechanical. The mechanical power handling limit is reached when cone excursion extends to its maximum limit. Thermal power handling limits may be reached when fairly
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The frame, or basket, is the structure holding the cone, voice coil and magnet in the proper alignment. Since the voice coil gap is quite narrow (clearances are typically in the low thousandths of an inch), rigidity is important to prevent rubbing of the voice coil against the magnet structure in the
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PA system woofers typically have high efficiency and high power handling capacity. The trade-off for high efficiency at reasonable cost is usually relatively low excursion capability (i.e., inability to move "in and out" as far as many home woofers can), as they are intended for horn or large reflex
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introduced the
Philharmonic sound system, which used electronics to overcome some of the problems ordinary woofer subsystems confront. They added a motion sensor to the woofer, and used the signal corresponding to its actual motion to feedback as a control input to a specially designed amplifier. If
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There are many challenges in woofer design and manufacture. Most have to do with controlling the motion of the cone so the electrical signal to the woofer's voice coil is faithfully reproduced by the sound waves produced by the cone's motion. Problems include damping the cone cleanly without audible
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will heat up, increase its resistance, causing "power compression", a condition where output sound power level decreases after extended high power activity. Further heating can physically distort the voice coil, causing scuffing, shorting due to wire insulation deterioration, or other electrical or
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applications are similar in makeup to home audio woofers, except that they are usually designed more ruggedly. Typically, design variances include: cabinets built for repeated shipping and handling, larger woofer cones to allow for higher sound pressure levels, more robust voice coils to withstand
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will generally ring less than metal diaphragms, but can be heavier and not as stiff. There have been good and bad woofers made with every type of cone material. Almost every kind of material has been used for cones, from glass fiber, bamboo fiber, to expanded aluminum honeycomb sandwiches, and
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As electronics costs have decreased, it has become common to have sensor-equipped woofers in inexpensive 'music systems', boom boxes, or even car audio systems. This is usually done in an attempt to get better performance from inexpensive or undersized drivers in lightweight or poorly designed
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In most cases the woofer and its enclosure must be designed to work together. Usually the enclosure is designed to suit the characteristics of the speaker or speakers used. The size of the enclosure is a function of the longest wavelengths (lowest frequencies) to be reproduced, and the woofer
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An important woofer specification is its power rating, the amount of power the woofer can handle without damage. The electrical power rating is not easily characterized and many manufacturers cite peak ratings attainable only for very brief moments without damage. Woofer power ratings become
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applications. Here, the problem is not primarily hi-fi reproduction, but managing the acoustic environment. In this case, the equalization must be individually adjusted to match the particular characteristics of the loudspeaker systems used and the room in which they are used.
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of a loudspeaker's frequency range. In two-way loudspeaker systems, the drivers handling the lower frequencies are also obliged to cover a substantial part of the midrange, often as high as 800 to 1000 Hz; such drivers are commonly termed
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carefully done, this can improve performance (both in 'tightness', and extension of low frequency performance) considerably at the expense of flexibility (the amplifier and the speaker are tied together permanently) and cost. In the US,
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Good woofer design requires effectively converting a low frequency amplifier signal to mechanical air movement with high fidelity and acceptable efficiency, and is both assisted and complicated by the necessity of using a
307:, when the instantaneous input signal falls to zero each cycle, and managing high excursions (usually required to reproduce loud sounds) with low distortion. There are also challenges in presenting to the amplifier an
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Because the characteristics of a loudspeaker can be measured, and to a considerable extent predicted, it is possible to design special circuitry that somewhat compensates for the deficiencies of a speaker system.
404:). Exotic materials like Kevlar and magnesium are light and stiff, but can have ringing problems, depending on their fabrication and design. Materials like paper (including coated paper cones) and various
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to couple the cone motion to the air. If done well, many of the other problems of woofer design (for instance, linear excursion requirements) are reduced.
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All cone materials have advantages and disadvantages. The three chief properties designers look for in cones are light weight, stiffness, and lack of
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response; subwoofers usually handle the very lowest two or three octaves (i.e., from as low as 20 to 80 or 120 Hz).
176:, the name used for loudspeakers designed to reproduce high-frequency sounds, deriving from the shrill calls of birds, "
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techniques, and a poorly designed enclosure can swamp the benefits from any attempt at electronic correction.
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An early version of the now widely used bass-reflex cabinet design was patented by Albert L. Thuras of
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226:(SPL), most humans can hear down to about 20 Hz. Woofers are generally used to cover the lowest
380:'s recent designs. This approach is complex and thus not likely to be used in lower cost equipment.
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The voice coil is attached by adhesives to the back of the loudspeaker cone. The voice coil and the
335:, an oil industry engineer, introduced a line of high end speakers along very much the same lines.
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enclosures. This approach presents difficulties as not all distortion can be eliminated using
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Two P-Audio
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flows through the voice coil, the coil moves in relation to the frame according to
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can fail. Each of these events will damage the woofer, perhaps beyond usability.
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This article is about the kind of loudspeaker driver. For other uses, see
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D'Ambrose, Christoper; Choudhary, Rizwan (2003). Elert, Glenn (ed.).
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Equalization techniques are used in most public address and
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Loudspeaker driver designed to produce low frequency sounds
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distortion so that it does not continue to move, causing
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which is not too far from constant at all frequencies.
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Cross section of a standard loudspeaker, not to scale
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448:Public address (PA) and instrument applications
180:"). The most common design for a woofer is the
162:up to a few hundred Hz. The name is from the
364:Digital filtering crossover and equalization
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184:driver, which typically uses a stiff paper
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127:Learn how and when to remove this message
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166:English word for a dog's deep bark, "
65:adding citations to reliable sources
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368:Computer techniques, in particular
213:Fleming's left hand rule for motors
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568:"Frequency range of human hearing"
239:, has come to be commonly used in
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158:sounds, typically from 20
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550:www.thefreedictionary.com
370:digital signal processing
413:-loaded plastic cones.
374:finite impulse response
32:Woofer (disambiguation)
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347:Equalized loudspeakers
328:Sennheiser Electronics
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592:U.S. patent 1,869,178
487:Loudspeaker enclosure
475:sound pressure levels
454:public address system
452:Woofers designed for
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270:loudspeaker enclosure
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224:sound pressure levels
572:The Physics Factbook
458:instrument amplifier
309:electrical impedance
170:" (in contrast to a
154:designed to produce
61:improve this article
400:(due to absence of
357:sound reinforcement
322:Active loudspeakers
497:Full-range speaker
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299:to the amplifier.
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527:Motional Feedback
316:Bell Laboratories
297:negative feedback
289:crossover network
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611:Loudspeakers
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547:"woofer, n."
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59:Please help
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233:mid woofers
217:sound waves
149:loudspeaker
577:2022-01-22
533:References
433:voice coil
398:coloration
293:distortion
245:PA systems
190:voice coil
87:newspapers
517:Subwoofer
456:(PA) and
333:L W Erath
326:In 1965,
318:in 1932.
237:subwoofer
605:Category
481:See also
442:windings
406:polymers
278:midrange
117:May 2012
76:"Woofer"
502:Tweeter
402:ringing
305:ringing
228:octaves
209:current
207:. When
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101:scholar
18:Woofers
201:magnet
178:tweets
152:driver
141:woofer
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341:servo
108:JSTOR
94:books
411:mica
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168:woof
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