Theoretical Aspects on Building Loudspeakers

The cabinet

• The bass reflex cabinet, with either circular or square port. This is the most common type of cabinet today, providing low bass but a less defined reproduction.
• The closed cabinet, clean and well defined sound, less low bass though.
• The transmission-line cabinet, with a relatively long tube, representing a compromise between bass reflex and closed cabinet.
• The horn loaded cabinet, with a clean and direct sound. Preferred by only a few enthusiasts, otherwise only in PA systems.
• The band pass cabinet, where the woofer is located inside the cabinet thus restricting the woofer's bass response upwards without employing a crossover. A solution for reasonable priced subwoofers.
• Subwoofer Tuning Using Cabinet, Capacitor and Resistor.

The Crossover

The main parts of the crossover are:
coils - our calculation software,
capacitors - our calculation software,
resistors and a PCB where the components are mounted and wired up.

The crossover should be calculated mathematically correct using the complex calculus something you should spare yourself.

Therefore, we are providing a few tools for you:

• hints regarding the design of a crossover as well as a
• 2 - way crossover calculator

Please bear in mind that an optimum loudspeaker cannot be calculated with these tools alone, since the characteristics of the drivers (frequency rise...) still have to be considered.

We have collected more than 250 design suggestions from all over the world (we have more in our archives) to ensure the best possible sound solution for your specific needs.

The loudspeaker drivers

The three different types of drivers according to frequency capabilities are tweeters, midrange and bass drivers. There are several different driver designs per type. Quite a few exotic types have come up over the years and disappeared again. The classics are still:

• dome tweeter
• ribbon tweeter
• piezo tweeter(reasonably priced)
   
• dome and conedrivers for midrange
• cone drivers for bass

Theory on Cables

• Ohmic resistance
• Proximity effect, increasing the resistance at high frequencies
• Inductance of the cable along the (stranded) wires
• Capacitance of the cable across the (stranded) wires

As long as a good loudspeaker cable is being used the influence on sound quality is - at least theoretically - rather slim.

The quality of the cable affects low signal paths much more.

For low signal paths running over longer distances a symmetrically shielded cable is recommended.

Soldering

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