Chapter 1

Introduction

These days, there is no shortage of weather-resistant Bluetooth speakers to chose from.

However, many of these speakers are designed with long-range portability in mind and
less with powering a party. The iLuv Syren Pro aims to serve the latter purpose by
bringing a carefully considered bundle of features to your poolside, all for the low-low
price of $99
The Syren Pro is a speaker youll run into while shopping your local mega-marts
electronics department. The company has broad distribution, so it has designed its
speaker to have broad appeal. We do like the combo of features, including a handle for
carrying the speaker, a switch that allows easy pairing with another speaker for stereo
sound, decent bass output and a generally loud sound signature
The standard dynamic loudspeaker that we know of today was developed in the 1920's
and uses a magnetic field to move a coil or magnet which is connected to a diaphragm.
There are other kinds of speakers/sound amplification devices besides the standard
round speaker, in this article we cover just a few of the entire list: Horns,Piezoelectric
speakers, Magnetostrictive speakers, Electrostatic Loudspeakers, Ribbon and Planar
Magnetic Loudspeakers, Bending Wave Loudspeakers, Flat Panel Loudspeakers, Heil
Airl

Motion

Transducers, Plasma Arc

Speakers,

and

Digital

Loudspeakers.

The dynamic loudspeaker in the photo above outperforms many other types of
speakers, and is lower cost to produce.

1.1 TYPES OF SPEAKERS

.1.Horns
2Electrodynamic_Loudspeaker
3.Flat_Panel_Speaker
4. Diaphragm_Speakers
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INTRODUCTION

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5. Plasma_Arc_Speakers
6. Piezoelectric Speakers
1.Horns: Horns were the earliest form of amplification. Horns do not use electricity.
Thomas Edison, Magnavox, and Victrola all developed advanced and well-performing
horns from 1880 to the 1920's. The problem with horns is that they could not amplify
the sound very much. With the use of electrical amplification in the future loud sound
could be generated to fill large public spaces. Horns remain a novelty for collectors
today.
2.Electrodynamic Speaker:
What is an electrodynamic loudspeaker? A: This is a device that uses an
electromagnetic coil and diaphragm to create sound. This is the most common type of
speaker in the world today.
How

does

it

work?

The modern speaker uses an electromagnet to turn electric signals of varying strength
into movement. The coil of copper wire moves as the magnet energizes. This works
using induction. The coil is connected to a cardboard/paper/vinyl "cone". The cone is a
diaphragm that vibrates along with the coil. Sound is created and amplified by the
diaphragm. There are variations on how to build the speaker. A given speaker is
designed to produce a specific frequency range. Not all materials and construction
designs produce all sounds the same: seetweeter, mid-range, woofer, subwoofer.
Why

did

it

take

so

long

to

invent

the

speaker?

It sounds simple, but to build a speaker one needs to have an understanding of

electricity, radio, sound waves, mechanics, chemistry and physics. Today an engineer is
trained after a few years of college in these areas if they choose. Back in the early part
of the 20th century the basic knowledge of math and frequencies was still being
explored. While the electromagnet part of the speaker was invented early on in the
1860s, it took 40 more years to develop a knowledge of acoustics and materials. C.W.
Rice and E.W. Kellogg finally invented it by solving the final part of the puzzle. The
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INTRODUCTION

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final work was on how to shape the diaphragm and what materials to use. The recent
developments in vacuum tubes in the 1910s helped to do sophisticated control of
frequencies and power regulation.
3. Flat Panel Speakers :Flat Panel Speakers use voice coils or other apparatus
mounted to flat panels to act as the source of sound. The flat panel acts as a diaphragm.
Below are some examples of different designs. Different materials can be used as a
diaphragm, from vinyl to Styrofoam. This is different from a diaphragm speaker in that
the moving voice coil is not wrapped around the same material as the flat panel. The
panel part is adhered to the coil assembly.
Standard flat panel electrodynamic loudspeaker have been difficult to make because it
is difficult to vibrate the entire flat surface evenly while creating good frequency
response. Thus other speaker types have evolved to try to make a flat speaker.
4.Diaphragm Speakers. This speaker is related to the electrodynamic loudspeaker in
that it uses magnetic fields to move an element, however its shape is different. This
speaker has the coil directly mounted on the diaphragm. Below is an example of a flat
panel style diaphragm speaker. The copper coils have been wrapped around the base of
the clear plastic bulges in the photos below. The entire clear plastic sheet below moves
to create sound.
5.Plasma Arc Speakers :Plasma is ionized gas, or current sent through a gas. Plasma is
responsive to electrical fields, therefore you can turn electric signal of sound into an
electric field which manipulates the plasma. The plasma does have mass and will
vibrate creating sound similar to how a diaphragm moves air to make sound. This kind
of speaker is visually quite interesting but limited in sound quality. The speaker has
reliability problems and therefore remains just a novelty.
6.Piezoelectric speakers: Piezoelectric speakers are limited in frequency response
therefore they are only used as tweeters or in small electrical devices like
watches/clocks to make simple sounds. Piezoelectronics are a solid state technology
which makes them durable and good for use as a microphone underwater. These
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speakers are used as microphones in submarine warfare, they can detect other
microphones and hear sounds of other vessels.

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