From the radio on speakers- The transition From the radio on speakers- Almost everyone in these days owns a loudspeaker, or a “speaker” as they are now called. The transition. You can find them in phones, televisions, radios, and in many more objects. The history of loudspeakers, or “speakers” as they are now known one could say is a fusion of many different ideas and inventions that were built one on top of the other. In order to understand how they work, electricity, radio waves, chemistry, mechanics, and physics need to first be understand. In our age, engineers are taught this during their time in school. However, in the past, many of the concepts that are now commonly known had yet to be discovered. The story begins in the year of 1858 in Germany. A self-taught inventor and scientist, Johann Phillip Reis, started his teaching career in the city of Friedrichsdorf. During this time, he became interested in the applications of electricity and how it can interact with sound waves and started experimenting these principles to create hearing aids. After several years of experimenting, in 1862, he was able to create the first workable prototype of the modern-day telephone. Years later, using Reis’ work as a base, Alexander Graham Bell was able to create the first workable telephone in history. In doing this, he was able to redefine what we understood about communication and even changed the course of human development from then on. From then on, we have different men, such as Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Warner Von Seimens, who each through their own experiments in chemistry and electricity, added a different component to the speaker in order to add applification. Seimens, the creator of the company of the same name, came up with the idea of the electromagnetic coil-driven speaker. Edison and Tesla then came up with the idea of using the horn as a means to amplify the sound coming out of the speaker. Various other companies and inventors continued to invent and improve the design and function of the loudspeaker until finally in 1916, Bell Labs, created the first true electronic vacuum tube amplifier. This was the birth of the first of the modern-day speakers. Speakers first hit the market in 1924, using designs based on the 1880’s early telephone created by Seimens. Also in 1924, a collaboration of 3 different companies, created the first home phonograph or “c”. In 1943, the first Duplex speaker was created by Altec Lansing. This speaker due to the much improved sound quality and performance became a staple in movie theaters. The duplex speaker then became a film house industry standard in 1955 and its design is still being used today. Lastly, in 1954, acoustic suspension was developed by Edgar Villchur and with it, speakers began to have a better bass response and quality. From then, small changes in design and ideas have given birth to all of the range of speakers we now see. How Do Modern Speakers Work? In order to understand how the speaker works, we first need to see what parts the speaker is composed of. · Dust Cap · Cone · Surround · Spider · Voice Coil · Basket · Top Plate · Magnet · Pole · Rear Plate Together these components create what is known as the “driver” of the speaker. A driver is a type of transducer, which means that it is a device that changes one form of energy into another form of energy. In this case, when we connect something to the speaker, such as a phone, the phone sends out electric energy. That energy or current, goes through the voice coil and it creates an electric field that comes in contacts with the magnetic field that’s given of by the magnets inside the speaker. This interaction between the electric field and the magnetic field makes the voice coil move up and down very quickly and vibrate. This vibration of the voice coil makes the cone vibrate and eventually this vibration creates pressure waves in the air that our ears hear as sound. There is honestly much more that can be said about speaker however, if you just want to know the basics of the basics, then there you are. If you feel as passionate about speakers as us, please do go ahead and continue to explore our site and see how you can become a distributor and spread this wonderful gift known as the speaker to many people. We’ll be updating our site periodically with more general and specific information at periodic intervals so please don’t forget to visit us soon.