Vonrebel Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 I Keep hearing the RF-7s called or referred to as loud speakers. What is a loud speaker? Meaning why or what makes a speaker a loud speaker? (Other than turning up the volume. If a speakers is not called a loud speaker, what else would it be called? & Why? Louder is better. Without sacrificing claridy and clean BASS. GO KLIPSCH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornEd Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 If fading memory serves... the original term was "loudspeakers" because they where "motors" that moved more air thus making small sounds louder. The term "speakers" is just a shortening of the original term. You will still find the original term in many company names... even on Klipsch vintage Klipsch speakers. HornEd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 Yeah the RF-7,KLF30,Belle,LaScala,K Horns and CF4 are true LOUD speakers.With one watt they sure go LOUD. On a more serious side HornEd is correct. I sure like the LOUD aspect of Klipsch.Hope Klipsch makes some good loud hearing aids when I get old and bald like good ole HornEd. TheEAR(s) Now theears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 Thats the best damn question I have heard in months! I agree with HornED and TheEAR, though I think it is one of those words that has no concret definition. Dictionary definition: "LOUDSPEAKER: A device that converts electric signals to audible sound" Thats what the smart people say it is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klewless Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 Well ... There was a time when a singer had to actually project his voice loud enough to be audible to the audience. I think that a lot of "successful" singers of modern times would not have survived at all without their microphones stuck into their throats. It did not take a lot of thinking to see that the marvelous electro-mechanical invention that made voice louder for performers would be dubed a "loud speaker". That's my opinion. I do not recall ever reading anything about the first use of the term. It may actually have roots in the lowly megaphone. ------------------ John P St Paul, MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 Because they are loud and also: Any speaker available for purchase in the last 70 +/-years is a loudspeaker. In the early days of gramophones,(even before my time),<GRIN>. The pickup needle was connected directly to a thin diaphragm which vibrated in concert with the vibrations of the needle,(which of course vibrated according to information in the record grooves). The speaker had no electronic amplification as it was a purely mechanical device that transferred the vibrations from the pickup's diapragm into the room by disturbing the dead air in front of its own sound wave. Any amplication of those vibrations was created by mechanically feeding these vibrations into the throat of an acoustical horn which amplified the sound mechanically by a process which essentially involved air molecules in front of the throat being excited and having a little more space to work in and having somewhat less restriction,(impedance)and therefore could produce a slightly larger amplitude of change from 0,(ie dead silence). That waveform would then be transferred further along the ever expanding contour of the horn to produce an increasingly louder reproduction of the vibrations produced at the pickup's diaphragm as those sound waves travelled. Of course as these waves continued along through the throat of the horn they steadily lost thrust and by the time the sound waves had travelled the length of the horn they had been reduced significantly in their ability to further excite the air molecules in their path. This was/is because a small amount of energy would be expended in overcoming the inherent resistance to any change of state which exists in any state of matter,and therefore energy is dissipated,(one of Isaac Newton's laws comes into play here). This of course limits the degree of amplification which may occur within a purely mechanical,(or any other) system. At some point the power of the sound wave created will be less than the resistance to change exerted by the air mass in front of that sound wave and therefore the Sound Pressure will at the mouth of the horn be at a maximum and as one moves further from the horn the more SPL will decrease. This same rule still applies even with the very loud speakers available to us today. The Laws of Physics Have Not Yet Been Repealed,(although DubYa is working on it). With the invention of the vacuum tube it became possible to amplify the vibrational amplitude of the pickup needle by a factor of several hundred times and further to increase that signal by way of ever more powerful amplifier circuits by factors of 1000's of orders of magnitude and thus create electrical currents sufficiently strong to move voice coils and the speaker cones attached to them with sufficient force and power such that the very small mechanically produced changes in motion at the level of the needle or other signal source can now be several thousand times as large as the original signal by the time that signal reaches the speaker's voice coil. The voice coil in a speaker resides within a fixed magnetic field and the coil along with the cone to which it is attached will move backward and forward depending upon whether the magnetic field flowing within the coil,(any current flow generates a magnetic field),is at the same or opposite polarity of the magnetic field surrounding the voicecoil. If the coil and the surrounding magnet are both negative or positive the coil will move away from the magnet. If they are at opposite polarity the coil and the attached cone will move toward the magnet. At the point that speakers capable of utilizing electrically/electronically amplified signals and reproducing those signals at high sound pressure levels became available they began to be referred to as loudspeakers. Aren't You Glad You Asked!! <GRIN> ------------------ It is meet to recall that the Great Green Heron rarely flies upside down in the moonlight - (Foo Ling ca.1900) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornEd Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 Well, now I see why you call yourself Ear(s) instead of Eye(s)! Old and fat may be a fair statement... especially for the body that has endured gourmet food and wine for so many years... but the mind just feels young and experienced. I guess it's the young that makes me forget checking my facts first once in a while... but being called "bald" is a new one on me. I let my hair grow as my own protest against the (lack of) Justice system I found in the Texas Courts when the jury ruled for me and a (suddenly wealthier) judge threw out the verdict and ruled for the other side... and it has come in handy for the medieval and Shakespearian festivals in which I have long participated. But as I acquire more forehead with the passage of years, I reflect upon how much more distinguished my many balding bodies seem to appear... and they don't have the hassle of getting their hair caught in the car window. It does help one empathize with the fairer sex though. But, I have to say you are amusing... and defy Webster's definition to be the Forum's eared LOUDSPEAKER!!! Too old, too large and too fuzzy for most folks... HornEd PS: I concur completely with the Great Green Heron version of the serious side of this thread... only I can recall playing the wax cylinders into the Morning Glory horn on my grandfather's Petaluma ranch! Hmm, maybe my mind is trying to catch up with my body. This message has been edited by HornEd on 03-04-2002 at 07:33 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted March 3, 2002 Share Posted March 3, 2002 Klewless, "There was a time when a singer had to actually project his voice loud enough to be audible to the audience. I think that a lot of "successful" singers of modern times would not have survived at all without their microphones stuck into their throats." True,damn true.Most of todays "singers" would die of hunger just a few years ago.With no mics and screaming and shouting in mics they would have to find a day job. HornEd, I wanted to type bold NOT bald. As I clicked on the pic I got scared.Dont you scare me this way.At least have the heart to post a warning.LOL Kids may surf this site and think you are Santa Claus and live all the way up North,see Russian and American submarines surface.You know just to check what you are up to with all the surplus KLF's. TheEAR(s) Now theears Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.