Loudspeaker

A loudspeaker (or "speaker", or in the early days of radio "loud-speaker") is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. In other words, speakers convert electrical signals into audible signals. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful.

The most popular speaker used today is the dynamic speaker. The dynamic speaker operates on the same basic principle as a dynamic microphone. When an ac current (i.e., electrical audio signal input) is applied through the voice coil that surrounds a magnet (or that is surrounded by a permanent magnet), the coil is forced back and forth due to Faraday’s law, which causes the paper cone attached to the coil to respond with a back-and-forth motion that creates sound waves. Where high fidelity reproduction of sound is required, multiple loudspeakers may be used, each reproducing a part of the audible frequency range. Miniature loudspeakers are found in devices such as radio and TV receivers, and many forms of music players. Larger loudspeaker systems are used for music, sound reinforcement in theatres and concerts, and in public address systems.