Electroacoustical Engineering Fundamentals

In this chapter we will develop the basic electro-mechano-acoustical model of a simple cone loudspeaker, detailing how the device attains its frequency region of flat power response and reference efficiency. We will also discuss the basic directional properties of cone loudspeakers under varying conditions of baffling. A number of assumptions will be made based on the physics of the acoustic wave equation, drawing on primary references in the literature as needed. In the way of terminology, a loudspeaker mechanism is generically a transducer, a device that changes power or energy in one form to another. More commonly, loudspeaker mechanisms are referred to as drivers, while the term loudspeaker is generally reserved for the complete system.