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Speakers are basically composed of a drive unit (speaker), a sound splitter, and a sound box. The design of these three parts is important, and the materials used are also closely related to the sound quality. If one part of the materials is changed and the rest remains unchanged, there will inevitably be a difference in sound. This difference may be very obvious. Some do-it-yourself enthusiasts try different materials to replace the original materials, For example, replacing the splitter with a "compensation grade" capacitor or replacing the original wiring with a fever line can improve the sound quality, while some can disrupt the original sound balance. "The impact of parts on sound quality is an elusive matter. You think replacing replacement parts will improve the sound, but sometimes on the contrary, matching the original several parts with better sound quality or balance may be due to careful testing during design to achieve the optimal matching of parts.". Enthusiasts can conduct their own tests, but once they do, they will lose the warranty service provided by the agent. If you arbitrarily change the original parts, you will of course be responsible for the problems themselves.

The drive unit is commonly known as a horn, and there are several points worth paying special attention to in terms of construction materials. There are several types of materials used for the vibration membrane of electric horns (the vibration membrane or sound basin of mid and bass speakers). The paper vibration membrane has a long history, with its light weight and appropriate damping characteristics. Even though many famous manufacturers insist on using it, the paper vibration membrane is susceptible to moisture, mildew, or deformation, and its surface hardness is low, unable to generate high radiation acoustic velocity. However, it is very suitable for bass speakers with a rich and deep sound. Nowadays, paper diaphragms are mostly used on bass and midrange speakers, and the tweeters with paper diaphragms have almost disappeared.

In the early 1980s, plastic diaphragms began to appear. At first, the BBC used Bextrene for mid range and bass speakers. Later, polypropylene became increasingly popular and became more and more popular. Today, speakers use a large proportion of this material. Polypropylene diaphragms have extremely high anionic properties, are not affected by moisture, and can be molded to any desired thickness and shape. They are light and hard, and have excellent physical and acoustic properties. Polypropylene can also be mixed with other materials to mold diaphragms with higher hardness, such as mixed ceramic powder, glass fiber, or graphite. There are many variations, and there are different opinions as to whether the sound of polypropylene diaphragms is actually better than that of paper diaphragms, Manufacturers using this material boast that it seems to have only advantages but no disadvantages, but some people still believe that the paper diaphragm has a better timbre and that polypropylene has a "plastic" flavor. In any case, polypropylene, a material that has become popular among manufacturers and users, is not limited to use on mid range and bass speakers, and the diaphragm of tweeters is also suitable.

"Metal diaphragms have emerged in the 1980s, but at that time the technology was only in its infancy, revealing many shortcomings, such as dry and hard sound, harsh high pitched sound, and although transient response is fast, the tone is not natural. After years of improvement, the hemispherical metal diaphragms for tweeters first achieved success. The materials include light metals such as aluminum, aluminum alloy, and titanium, which will exert their strengths and avoid their shortcomings. In recent years, metal diaphragms for hemispherical tweeters have become popular,", Even low-cost speakers are used.

As for the excellent performance achieved by using metal diaphragm for mid range and bass units, it is still a matter of recent years. AE (Acoustic Energy) in the UK first made all-metal diaphragm speakers, which received high praise, but the price is expensive. After AE, Monitor Audio has also developed into an all-metal diaphragm speaker, moving this technology to a more mature stage. The advantages of all metal diaphragm loudspeakers are fast sound speed, clean and clean, with a particularly broad treble and high transparency.

There is a circle of edges around the vibration membrane that is connected to the movable frame. It is a flexible material that provides a freely movable suspension for the vibration membrane. There are various materials used, including natural rubber, artificial rubber, PVC plastic, and in the early days, some manufacturers used cloth with paint film. They are all made into wavy shapes or front and back half rolled side dishes to achieve a specified level of flexibility, The bass speaker edge of an air cushion speaker must have a very high degree of flexibility to allow for significant movement. Generally, breathable speakers require a low degree of edge flexibility, which is the main reason for considering which material to use.

Bracket

The work of the speaker bracket is to maintain a stable mechanical structure and provide accurate movement for the vibration membrane. The bracket must be firmly constructed and avoid resonance. Generally, the support materials used for the speaker include steel, aluminum alloy, or magnesium alloy. The steel bracket is made of high pressure, and if the steel material is thick, it is also quite strong. Nowadays, many large caliber bass speakers still use steel brackets, but if the steel material is too thin, it can easily cause resonance, and the manufacturing cost of the steel bracket is relatively low, Therefore, it is widely used in low-cost loudspeakers.


Aluminum or magnesium alloy die-cast supports have better robustness and resonance resistance, and their appearance is also more beautiful and expensive. However, the manufacturing cost of such supports is higher than that of steel frames. Some loudspeakers, especially those made in Japan, although inexpensive, also use alloy die cast brackets, mainly to make their appearance more attractive. In fact, the quality of the speakers is flat.

Voice coil

The speaker voice coil varies depending on the needs of low, medium, and high pitched units. The tweeter voice coil is wound with very thin wires, including copper and aluminum wires. The aluminum wire is lighter in weight and can obtain better transient response, but it is not as good as copper wire in terms of bearing capacity and durability. Medium and low pitched speakers often use copper wire to wind the voice coil, and the copper wire is thicker and can withstand large power. Some bass speakers are wound with two to four layers of voice coil to increase bearing capacity, "Due to the different shapes of copper wires, such as circular, hexagonal, and rectangular cross sections, circular wires are most commonly used. Hexagonal and rectangular wires can be closely arranged without gaps, which can increase heat dissipation efficiency and correspondingly improve power carrying capacity.".

The voice coil of ordinary speakers is mostly wrapped around a paper tube, but paper is not a good thermal conductor and only has the advantage of being light. In order to improve heat dissipation efficiency, some speakers use aluminum or Kapton voice coil tubes. Fixing the voice coil to the tube provides better heat dissipation, significantly increasing the bearing capacity. Recently, more and more speakers use this material.

Generally speaking, horn burning occurs mostly on tweeters, as their voice coils are wound with thin wires and cannot withstand high power. Some speakers are equipped with protective circuitry that automatically cuts off or reduces the current when the input current is too high to prevent damage to the tweeters. The voice coils of mid range and bass speakers are relatively strong and not easy to burn out. Only when the input is too strong, it may cause the voice coils to hit the bottom or deflect.

Magnet

Early speakers mostly used magnesium nickel cobalt (Alinco) alloy magnets, which had the advantages of high strength and easy prevention of magnetic field leakage. Unfortunately, the manufacturing cost was becoming increasingly high, and manufacturers were forced to use iron oxide magnets, also known as ceramic magnets, which also had a relatively high magnetic force, but needed to use large blocks. Some bass speakers had magnets weighing up to 20 to 30 pounds, with strong magnetic field dispersion. Use in flood control areas must be carefully controlled.

There is a rare earth magnet called Samarium Cobalt, which is translated as a Samarium Cobalt magnet in Chinese. Its magnetic force is five to six times that of traditional magnets, so it only needs a small amount to achieve sufficient strength. Clam magnets are very expensive and are more suitable for use in high units, while medium and low tone units are rare.

Sound splitter

A sound splitter is usually composed of three types of components, including an inductor coil, a capacitor, and a resistor. The coil is wound with copper wire, with thin wires in the high pass portion and thick wires in the low pass portion. The coils of the sound splitter are air core and iron core types, depending on different designs. "Condensers have a significant impact on sound quality. Nowadays, polypropylene capacitors are mostly used in the splitters of high-quality loudspeakers, and their quality has been highly noticed by HI FI fans.".

Generally speaking, the parts of the sound scanner for loudspeakers are mostly installed on the circuit board, which is neat and beautiful. However, due to the narrow path, the copper traces on the circuit board may be detrimental to the high current mark. Therefore, some fever level loudspeakers use direct hard wire welding to achieve better sound quality.

Sound box

The main requirement for the sound box materials of loudspeakers is to have good damping characteristics, and to be firm and resonant free. To achieve this goal, designers have used a variety of materials in the past, including chipboard, wood plywood, fiberboard, plastic, and even artificial marble, clay, and metal. Generally speaking, sound boxes often use wood plywood or crushed wood particle laminate, which is easy to cut and manufacture. Nowadays, many more advanced loudspeakers use medium density fiberboard (MDF), which has better performance. Celestion pioneered the use of aviation technology on their SL600 bookshelf speaker, which is made of aluminum with a three-layer structure. The sound box, like the structure of an airplane floor, is extremely sturdy and completely resonant, and that bookshelf speaker is very successful. Another innovative sound box structure is the B&W Matrix, with a skeleton structure inside and sound absorbing latex to achieve pure sound quality.

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