Developments in Loudspeaker System Design
Martin Colloms, Paul Darlington · 2018
Given the great difficulty encountered using a single drive unit when attempting to satisfactorily cover the whole audible range with good uniformity and directivity, a high-quality speaker will generally comprise a system with more than one driver. A system is usually composed of an enclosure or supporting baffle, several optimized and size-graded drivers, working with a crossover network to satisfactorily blend and control their sound outputs. System design may be viewed as a process for creating a loudspeaker that meets a detailed target specification for performance, judged both objectively and subjectively. Regarding physical and acoustical limitations, loudspeaker designers are still busy working to improve the uniformity of frequency response, observed at not just at one more or less arbitrary axial direction but over a range of angles and distances. Truthful specifications for loudspeaker voltage sensitivity, uncompromised by significant regions of excessively low impedance, are to be strongly encouraged for speaker system design.