Chapter 4: THE MOVING COIL LOUDSPEAKER The basic moving coil loudspeaker is such a neat application of the physical

laws that it is virtually impossible to make one that does not work. Even a piece of cardboard stuck on a coil immersed in a magnetic field will produce distinctly recognizable sounds. The basic construct is shown in Fig: 6

Fig:6

Nevertheless, this simple assemblage consisting of only four key parts belies the complexity of its analysis. The conversion of an electrical signal into sound takes place in three stages where the electrical output from the amplifier is fed to the voice coil situated within an annular magnetic field. The current reacts with this field to cause motion of the coil, which drives the cone. This, in turn, creates pressure waves in the air at its surface to generate sound. These acoustical electrical, and mechanical stages are now described in detail.

RADIATION IMPEDANCE This is the impedance to the motion of the cone presented by the air at its surface. It comprises a resistive term, Rma, in which the mechanical energy is converted into sound and a mass component, Xma In practice; both of these are very small compared to the mechanical impedance of a practical cone assembly. To analyze the characteristics of Rma, an idealized cone is represented by a flat, circular, ridged piston having no mechanical mass, friction or restoring force. Radiation from one side only is considered and the piston is assumed to be mounted in an infinitely large flat baffle to avoid cancellation from the rear radiation. For all practical purposes the effects of the mass reactance can be neglected. The plots are shown in Fig: 7.

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Fig: 7 Unlike electrical resistive components Rma varies with frequency. The transition frequency, Ft occurs where the piston circumference is equal to half the corresponding wavelength Below Ft, Rma increases in direct proportion to the square of the frequency. Above Ft, after a few minor wobbles, Rma settles down to a steady state independent of frequency.

For those who like knowing the derivation, this is summarized below Rma = ckr2[{(2kr)2/2x4} {(2kr)4/2x4x6} {(2kr)6/2x42x62x8} etc]. Where = Density of air, c = Velocity of sound in air, r = Radius of piston, k = 2f/c, f = Frequency. c = velocity of sound. At this stage, in order to simplify the understanding of the text and all relationships, these will, where appropriate, be reduced to terms of the proportionality of the key terms only. The symbol for proportionality is . Applying this to the above gives; Below Ft, Rma

f 2......Eqn: 1.

Above Ft, Rma is independent of frequency.....Eqn: 2. Ft is inversely proportional to cone diameter. As an example, for a cone of 10 cm diameter Ft will be approximately 2.2 kHz. RADIATED POWER FROM PRACTICAL CONES In practice, the loudspeaker cone is not infinitely rigid and has a significant finite mass, Lm. It. has to be supported by a suspension system, which conventionally comprises a synthetic roll surround at the cone periphery and usually, a corrugated cloth suspension at the rear. These provide the restoring force determined by their compliance Cm. In addition there will be
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resistive components, due to internal friction within the suspension system Rm and electro-magnetic damping, Rme The reactance of Lm and Cm are given respectively by: XLm = 2f.Lm. and XCm = 1/2f.Cm

The total mechanical resistance is given by: Rmt = Rm + Rme Total mechanical impedance is: Zt = [(XLm XCm)2 + Rmt2] Assuming a constant driving force, F, the cone velocity is given by v = F/Zt The resonant frequency, Fs of the loudspeaker is given by: Fs = 1/2(Lm.Cm)1/2...Eqn: 3.

The radiated sound power is then: Pr = v2Rma.......Eqn: 4. The power response of a practical loudspeaker can be divided into three frequency bands: (0 to Fs), (Fs to Ft) and (Ft + ) Band 0 to Fs, is dominated mainly by the reactance Xcm of the suspension compliance: Xcm = Cm. 1/(2.f.Cm) Then from Eqn: 1 Pr

(f2.2f.Cm)2. f2

Eqn: 5.

Therefore, below Fs, Pr varies as the fourth power of frequency At Fs, the reactive terms sum to zero and the cone velocity is determined only by the resistive components. Pr= (F/Rmt}2. Rma....Eqn: 6. Over a limited bandwidth either side of Fs, ratio of the reactive to the resistive components increases. This defines the Q of the speaker the value of which can be adjusted by design to maintain a level power response. This will be fully discussed later. Band Fs Ft With frequency increasing above Fs, the radiated power becomes progressively controlled by the increased mass reactance. Then from Eqn:1
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Pr

F/(2..f.Lm)2.f2.Eqn: 7.
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Therefore, for a specific value of Q, Pr is independent of frequency between Fs and Ft, . This is often referred to as the piston range. Band Ft+ Assuming a ridged cone this is also dominated by the mass reactance but the radiation impedance Rma becomes independent of frequency. Then from Eqn: 2: Pr

F/(2..f2.Lm)2.f .Eqn: 8.

Therefore Pr is inversely proportional to frequency. Although this shows the radiated power to be falling at 6dB/Octave, the actual sound pressure level over an area in front of the loudspeaker may actually rise with increasing frequency due, firstly, to the directivity effect concentrating the available power forwards, and, secondly, at some frequency determined by the concentric wave velocity within the cone, it will start to flex thereby reducing the effective cone area and therefore its mass. This is progressive with rising frequency and can further extend the frequency response.

Directivity The following illustrate the theoretical directivity patterns for an idealized piston of 10cm diameter. Due to cone flexure, these will not be representative of a practical loudspeaker. 0.5 Ft (1.1). 2Ft, (4.3). 3.5Ft, (7.7). 5Ft, (10).

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Cone Flexure Flexure, in conventional cones, takes two forms: radial or Bell modes Fig: 8a, and Concentric modes, Fig: 8b. These are shown below. Both modes can co-exist

Fig: 8a. Radial modes

Fig: 8b. Concentric modes

The Radial or bell modes occur only at frequencies where the circumference is sub-multiples of one half wavelength within the cone. These tend to occur at lower frequencies but are minimized in cones with curved profiles. They are called free modes since they do not follow the driving frequency Concentric flexure occurs at all frequencies above which the cone side is comparable to one quarter of a wavelength. Since these follow the voice coil frequency they are called forced modes. At frequencies corresponding to a quarter wavelength within the cone material reflected waves would return from the cone periphery and interact with the outgoing incident wave to create standing wave resonant modes. Fig: 9. Shows uncontrolled radial and concentric modes in a 15cm straightsided metal cone at a 700hz, b; 2.7 kHz and c, 6kHz. (These pictures were produced around 60 years ago by sprinkling the cone with licopodium powder). a b c

Jordan Manual 2011

Chapter 4

THE CONE SUSPENSION SYSTEM This normally comprises a synthetic roll surround at the cone periphery and a corrugated cloth suspension at the rear. In good design the rear suspension provides the principle restoring force keeping the cone at zero displacement in the absence of a signal. Together with the roll surround it also contributes to the centring of the cone and the coil whilst permitting limited axial displacement. The roll surround is a multi-function component which is required to provide: a) Mechanically stable centring of the cone in the chassis. b) An acoustically opaque seal between front and rear radiation c) Maximum compliance to the axial displacement of the cone. This will also ensure the lowest resonant frequency. d) An essential damping medium to minimise free mode resonances. These requirements are conflicting and it is almost impossible to evolve a perfect material and form to satisfy all of them. There will inevitably be inconsistencies in production and performance.

Jordan Manual 2011

Chapter 4