mandi Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Really basic question. We all assume everyone knows the language. Could we go with a thread for a while that helps with basics. Driver - I see someone sitting behind a stearing wheel and really have now idea how this term came about. Oh, and please do not think you will offend me with the real basics. I am someone who answers the question, "what kind of engine you got in that truck?" with "a black one". I just know I like the way it sounds but want to learn more so I can upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 It is my understanding that the term driver comes from the fact that a loudspeaker's voice coil and magnet assembly is a linear electric motor. This linear motor drives a cone or diaphram to produce sound waves. Since linear magnetic motor driver and transducer is a bit long it is shortened to driver. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Good thread: Driver: The sound we hear from a loudspeaker is created when the air in the room is caused to vibrate ( formally referred to as the air column being excited) in such a way as to duplicate as closely as posible the air currents that were created by the original performance. Something is needed to to "drive" those air currents. The drivers are of course the loudspeakers housed within the cabinets. The cabinets are not simply passive boxes used to contain the individual drivers but in fact are designed to assist the drivers to produce as lifelike a sound as is possible. The woofer (s) are large and are best suited to reproducing the lowest frequencies. The woofer is frequently referred to as the bass driver. Typically a woofer will handle the frequencies from 20 0r 30 Hz. up to 400-600 Hz. depending on the design of the speaker. The midrange driver typically handles frequencies in the range from about 500 Hz.( cycles per second ) up to anywhere up to 6000 Hz. The tweeter handles everything above the midrange. Generally speaking the lower the frequency of a driver the larger it is. This is because the lower frequencies require the movement of much more air. The Klipschorn for example if unfolded would have a horn about 48" in diameter and be about 16' in length. The mid horn in a Khorn is a full wave unit and is only about 24" in length while the tweeter horn is about 4" in length. NEXT BATTER! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 So far, so good! I'd like to add driver is often used to differentiate the noise making component from the whole system. It is also used to describe the electro-mechanical part of a horn speaker: compression driver. The air in front of the diaphragm is compressed and forced into the "horn" part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Some speaker companies, including Klipsch, use passive radiators on some of their models to enhance the bass bottom-end of the speaker design. A passive radiator does not actively produce anything, it must be powered by air pressure changes from within the cabinet, which is normally sealed. For instance, when a woofer cone has an inward excursion, that excursion will create an overpressure within the cabinet...this overpressure will cause the passive radiator to have an outward excursion...and vice versa. Although the passive radiator does not move any air on its own, it does move air when an active radiator is working. Another term for a passive radiator is a "drone". The big end of a horn is called its mouth, the small end of a horn is called its throat. The panel that the woofers, tweeters, and midrange drivers are mounted to, or in the case of horns, the mouthes of the horns are mounted to is called the motorboard. The panel that a passive radiator is mounted to is also called a motorboard. In a wooden folded horn, the panel that the woofer that drives the folded horn is mounted to is also called a motorboard. Typically, a three-way speaker system consists of at least one woofer TYPE, one midrange driver and/or horn assembly TYPE, an one tweeter TYPE. For example, a Heresy is a three-speaker, three way system. It has one of each of the tweeter, the midrange and the woofer in each cabinet. Some speakers have two identical woofers, two identical midrange drivers and two identical tweeters in the same cabinet. They are also three way speaker systems, BUT they are also called a six speaker three way system. THere are infinite combinations that have been produced over the years....depending on how many different driver types and the number of each driver type is used. You can have 6 speaker 4-way systems, 4 speaker two way systems, etc. In the heyday of Japanese import speakers during the mid 1970's, there were many 3-way 4 way and 5 way speakers made...some of which had up to 9 speakers in each cabinet. The Bose 901 originally was a 9-speaker, one way system...it had one speaker firing forward and 8 identical speakers firing to the rear for reflecting...although all the speakers in the cabinet were the same as each other, it used a complex equalization box combined with reflections off the wall behind it to give its sound. Most Klipsch speakers are either three-way three speaker systems or two way systems incorporating two or more speakers and/or passive radiators. There are some speakers that are tow or three way speakers that have only one speaker, but that speaker is, in itself a two-way driver or a three-way driver...meaning one voice coil and magnet supply the energy to move a large cone, a small whizzer cone, and a dome tweeter(for instance) on the same speaker frame...these are often called coaxial or triaxial speakers. Jensen is probably the most famous of the manufacturers who have produced coaxial and triaxial speakers over the years...although there are a number of manufacturers who have done this. Some speakers are one-way, one driver speakers...they have only one speaker in the cabinet...that speaker is normally called a full-range speaker....if it is supposed to produce, all on its own, the full range of the musical spectrum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 ---------------- On 2/16/2004 8:21:18 PM lynnm wrote: Good thread: Driver: The sound we hear from a loudspeaker is created when the air in the room is caused to vibrate ( formally referred to as the air column being excited) in such a way as to duplicate as closely as posible the air currents that were created by the original performance. Something is needed to to "drive" those air currents. The drivers are of course the loudspeakers housed within the cabinets. The cabinets are not simply passive boxes used to contain the individual drivers but in fact are designed to assist the drivers to produce as lifelike a sound as is possible. ---------------- So why aren't magnetic planar systems (you know what brand I'm talking about) referred to as "drivers"? They move air the same way traditional cone systems do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRB Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Mandi, BTW - for someone who claims to not know much about audio, you have a pretty nice rig there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 "So why aren't magnetic planar systems (you know what brand I'm talking about) referred to as "drivers"? They move air the same way traditional cone systems do..." Purely a matter of semantics as far as I am concerned. The panels do drive the air around them and therefore are drivers whether or not some may wish to use some other term to describe their function. In any event my understanding of the original post is that this member is looking for help in understanding the terminology we use when discussing audio. Perhaps you could describe to him how speakers of that type reproduce sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 ---------------- On 2/16/2004 9:54:24 PM lynnm wrote: "So why aren't magnetic planar systems (you know what brand I'm talking about) referred to as "drivers"? They move air the same way traditional cone systems do..." Purely a matter of semantics as far as I am concerned. The panels do drive the air around them and therefore are drivers whether or not some may wish to use some other term to describe their function. In any event my understanding of the original post is that this member is looking for help in understanding the terminology we use when discussing audio. Perhaps you could describe to him how speakers of that type reproduce sound. ---------------- Wasn't trying to start a debate, Lyn. Just wanted to clarify that for my own understanding. Meanwhile, I'll be glad to explain the Magnetic Planar system to our guest here. A magnetic planar speaker system functions via electrical transducers mounted on each end of a large plastic sheet. It's very much a direct-driven system - electrical impulses are fed through the sheet, which then vibrates, which moves the air both in front of and behind the sheet, creating sound. Similar to the classic plate reverberation systems used in professional studios, except that the mylar or other such composite material responds instantly to the source and does not continue to vibrate once the source is removed. This type of system has several drawbacks - firstly, it is not an efficient reproduction system. A Magnepan speaker requires quite a bit more power than a Klipsch to generate the same amount of volume. Secondly, the plastic sheets simply cannot drive very low frequencies - a subwoofer is an absolute MUST, whether used for two channel or HT applications. The advantage to the magnetic planar systems is that it is very lightweight and thin, so it doesn't occupy the space demanded by the traditional tower speaker. Some claim that this speaker design also generates more realistic sound due to the lack of crossover networks, but if this were true, then why did Magnepan design and implement a "two way" version, with a crossover network to divide incoming signal between the two sheets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 Within the original the meaning of the word, driver was the part that connected to a horn and produced the sound, basically a magnet, voice coil and diaphragm. Woofers and other direct radiating components are simply loudspeakers. People like to use the term driver for such things for the same reason they like to call patch cables interconnects, and the woofers in speaker system subwoofers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandi Posted February 16, 2004 Author Share Posted February 16, 2004 GRB - I know what sounds good and I can remember going to a few parties as a kid and they had Klipsch speakers. They were awesome and I have always wanted them. I owned a pair of Heresys in 86 which was a joint purchase with a roommate. When we went our ways he took the Klipsch. For some reason I really started wanting some good Audio in the house. If you look on some other posts you will see that I was Klipsch poor a month ago and then came across a couple of good deals. The terms still confuse me and I know that some of you could probably come in and increase my sound quality so I am here to learn. I hate the DVD concert thread. I think I have already spent more money on DVD concerts than I did the Heresys. I am getting my kids to plan concert parties and charge a 2 buck admission so I can go out and buy another DVD, heheheheheh. Let's see this past weekend we spent with Fleetwood Mac, The Boss and NSYNC(girls) Anyway keep the thread going, I am learning alot. I had no idea what the speaker in the back of the Forte really did and now I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 bemp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 He? Thatmust be Canadian for bump. I like Closeau's "bimp" myself/ Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tillmbil Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Yeah, I agree that Mandi has a nice list of recent purchases. That should make tha ole forum members happy. Question though...Does the Forum monitors consider purchases of older klipsch gear a positive? Yes, it does get incidental new speaker sales, but for the most part forum members are buying Heritage speakers. Hmmm...maybe they should bring back alll the Heritage line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 mandi- Don't be afraid to chime in on any thread and ask for a little education when the topic gets over your head. We're all new at something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Mandi - these guys have done a masterful job of hitting all the bases. Just for fun - and un-seriously - when the input to the system exceeds the systems ability to effectively output the iput it produces what is known as distortion!! .....Therefore, after reading this forum for a couple of hours late at night, you lay down to go to sleep and in the silence you hear a ringing in your ears......that is Mental distortion!! LMAO Nice job guys!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandi Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 Mr. P In my case the ringing would mean that I just turned off the stereo. Oh, I think my wife is yelling something at me, it is hard to hear since she is in the next room (the rooms only have a 8 foot opening into each other). I hid the remote and locked the cabinet door so she cannot turn down the volumn. Now I am ROTFLMAO!! I am really just kidding. I do not like my setup for just volumn. I love being able to hear the little instruments clearly. But like I read in another post, it is nice to dust em off once in awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 bemp!Clousseau had a cold and it came out sounding like bimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Back when I worked at Klipsch, PWK had a habit of going into the listening room to do a demo...turning on the turntable while the listeners were situating themselves on the couch...turning up the volume on the amp, then dragging his bare finger lightly across the turntable stylus....to "remove the lint from it"...and watching the reaction of the startled listeners...then calmly explaining..."this doesn't do these horns a bit of damage, after all, you need to shake the dust off the woofers on occassion"...LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRB Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 Mandi, As an also newbie, I do a lot of "listening" on these boards and have learned a lot. Don't know jack compared to some of these guys but as you found out, they are also very willing to pass that knowledge along if you just honestly ask. Great thread by the way guys. One quick additional point. I too got my first Klipsch experience with Klipsch from a great friend (also my Brother in Law) who has a set of K-Horns. We had some parties that were outta control in college with those horns. Actually got the cops called one night and they were going to write us a ticket for having a live band in the back yard, until they figured out it was just his K-Horns! Then they actually asked to come back and listen for a while because they couldn't believe it. They eventually told us to turn it down and left us alone. I think I became sold on Klipsch that night. I'm with you, I don't know much, but I know what I like. And I do like to dust off the furniture occasionally with the Klipsch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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