Speakers, Subwoofers
 |
In contrast to the more exotic audiophile speakers, monitor speakers used by professional audio engineers are seldom priced at more than $5,000 per-pair.[citation needed]
The cabinet the loudspeaker is made from is referred to as the enclosure. There is a wide variety of loudspeaker enclosure designs, including sealed, ported, transmission line, infinite baffle, horn loaded, and aperiodic. The enclosure plays a major role in the sound of the loudspeaker.
The drivers are the actual sound-producing elements, commonly referred to as tweeters, midranges, woofers, and subwoofers. Driver designs include dynamic, electrostatic, magneplanar, ribbon, planar, ionic, and servo-actuated. Drivers are made from various materials, including paper pulp, polypropylene, kevlar, aluminum, magnesium, beryllium, and vapor-deposited diamond.
The direction and intensity of the output of a loudspeaker, called dispersion or polar response, has a large effect on its sound. Various methods are employed to control the dispersion. These methods include monopolar, bipolar, dipolar, 360 degree, horn, waveguide, and line source. These terms refer to the configuration and arrangement of the various drivers in the enclosure.
The positioning of loudspeakers in the room and of the optimum listening position (referred to as the "sweet spot") is of great importance in producing optimum sound. Loudspeaker output is influenced by interaction with room boundaries, particularly bass response, and high frequency transducers are directional, or "beaming." In addition, audiophiles care a great deal about accurate stereo representation of sound. A typical placement is for the loudspeakers and the listening position to form roughly an equilateral triangle, with the loudspeakers a few feet from the back wall.