Following on from our Award Winning* blog post on turntable anatomy we now move to another crucial part of any record setup, speakers!

*The Award was a thumbs up from my supervisor.

Speakers much like turntables are often far more complicated than they first seem to be, but their overall function can be summarized very briefly. Conversely to how a record player at its most basic is a vibration measurement machine, a speaker is a vibration generation machine. Understanding what makes a quality speaker can help you decide on your own pair of speakers. Because there are two main categories of speakers; active and passive that both share a few key components we will first discuss these components. We will then move into the components unique to each type and how the two differ.

Tweeter:

This is the smaller speaker or “driver” in your speaker cabinet, this driver creates the high end frequencies in your music. There are multiple ways to make a tweeter however the majority are “soft dome” which are commonly made of silk or a silk blend. Their small size allows them to accurately reproduce high end frequencies and compared to hard tweeters they often have a smoother, less harsh sound profile to them. Many speakers will incorporate a wave guide around the tweeter which aims to disperse the sound more and give a larger sound stage.

Woofer / Midrange Driver:

This is the larger driver in the speaker cabinet. It’s designed to reproduce all the frequencies below the tweeter as far down as it can go, the larger the driver is typically the lower the frequencies it will be able to reproduce are. This is also the same reason that subwoofers have such large drivers as it allows them to reproduce frequencies even down into sub-bass, for more about subwoofers see our blog post here.

The midrange driver can be made from a number of materials such as cloth, coated / impregnated paper, metal or even kevlar. Each of these materials give their own sonic qualities as well as favoring different styles of music however any good speaker should be able to recreate any style of music but the tonality will vary which is where personal preference comes into play.

Cabinet:

This is the big box that the drivers and other components sit inside, this is most commonly made of wood but can also be made of resin such as the Rega Kyte speakers or other exotic materials. The speaker cabinet material will have an effect on the tonality of the sound however the more impactful quality is the internal size shape of the speaker cabinet, because the cabinet of the speaker is where the reverberation of the drivers occurs a larger internal cabinet will generate better bass response (up to a point, if the cabinet is too large for the woofer then performance will actually suffer). Similarly the internal shape of the cabinet should also compliment the speaker drivers, often internal dividers will be used to shape the path of the soundwaves in order to most effectively build up wanted resonance as well as reducing unwanted resonances.

Bass Port:

Naturally carrying on from the cabinet we move to the bass port, the majority of bookshelf and tower speakers will have a bass port which allows for greater extension into the low end as well as allowing the speaker to fill a larger space with a larger soundstage. This is a hole typically in the back of the speaker cabinet with an internal channel of some form (this can be as simple as a tube or as complex as a meticulously crafted S shape internal guide). Some speakers also put this port on the front to allow for easier positioning of the speakers as if your cabinet is rear ported then you want to have the speakers a few feet from any walls or corners. Some speakers will come with foam bungs that can be used to seal up the bass ports, this allows for easier positioning at the cost of less dynamic bass and reduced bass extension.

Crossover:

Potentially the greatest unsung hero in speakers the crossover is the component that splits out the signal coming from the amplifier so that the right frequencies are fed to the right drivers, this stops your tweeter from trying to play the bass and midrange and allows the woofer to focus on only the frequencies it is best at recreating. As the name suggests this component also handles the crossover point where both drivers work in unison which helps to account for the fact that speaker drivers naturally roll off at the upper and lower limits of their frequency response.

Crossovers also perform a number of other tasks such as smoothing out frequency response, reducing resonant frequencies and tuning the overall tone of the speaker.

Binding Posts:

Most speakers will have binding posts at the back which are used to connect the speaker to the amplifier, most of the time there will only be one pair of binding posts, however some speakers will have two or even three pairs. If there is more than one pair then the speaker can be bi-amped or tri-amped, this is where a separate channel or output on the amp is used for separate drivers in the speaker. For bi-amped speakers this means one channel is used for the tweeter and one for the woofer. Tri-amped speakers will typically have 3 or more drivers and the tweeter, mid-range driver and woofer will all be amped separately. Most of the time these speakers will come with a piece of metal or connection wires that allow the speaker to also be powered with a single channel rather than bi or tri-amping the speaker.

The advantages of bi or tri-amping are many, firstly it gives more power to each individual speaker driver resulting in better dynamics and sometimes greater bass response. There are also arguments that sending these frequencies along different cables rather than through the same channel offers less overall distortion and creates a cleaner, less muddied sound.

Typically multiple pairs of binding posts will only be found on tower speakers however in rarer cases on high end bookshelf speakers they are present.

Powered / Active Speakers:

Although these are technically two different things for the purpose of this blog post we will treat them as the same. In the case of these types of speakers, unlike passive speakers they do not require an external amplifier and instead have amplification built in. Typically this will be in the form of 1 speaker being passive and one being active with them being connected with speaker wire similarly to how you hook up a passive speaker to an amplifier.

The powered speaker in the pair plugs directly into the wall and also has all the various inputs, we’ll go over the few inputs that powered speakers often have, however this varies model to model so make sure to check that the model you buy suits your needs.

  • RCA Line Level Input: This is a pair of RCA inputs that can be used to connect CD players, turntables with phono preamps built in and other analog line level sources
  • 3.5mm aux: This can be similarly to the RCA input be used to plug in analog sources however is mainly intended for sources that themselves have some form of amplification (volume changing) for instance the output of a phone with a headphone jack.
  • Phono input: This often shares its input with the RCA Line Level input in which case there will be a small switch nearby to disable or enable the built in phono stage on the speaker. If enabled this input can be used with a turntable that requires an external phono preamp.
  • Optical Input: This is used for digital sources and will use the inbuilt DAC inside the powered speaker, this is commonly used for CD players with a digital output or TVs
  • Coaxial Input: This is similar to Optical as it is also a digital input however it is often a higher quality input, this may vary model to model though.
  • USB Type B: This is connected to a DAC (digital to analog converter) and is used to connect speakers up to a computer.
  • Bluetooth: Although not a physical input many active speakers offer Bluetooth for streaming wirelessly from smartphones and other bluetooth enabled devices.
  • Subwoofer out: Although this is an output and not an input this is still a critical part of a good powered speaker. Because they completely remove a stereo amplifier from your setup, if you would like to use a subwoofer you will need a subwoofer out on your powered speakers. This is normally in the form of a single RCA jack.

Now that you know the ins and outs of speakers, maybe it's time to get a pair of your own. We stock a wide range of speakers which you can find Here.

For more info on the speakers we sell check out our audio buyers guide Here.