Speaker Types

Speakers are electromechanical devices that transform electrical energy to sound energy by making its air pistons move back and forth. It generates different degrees of air pressure resulting in different frequencies.
How loud a speaker plays is what we call the speaker sensitivity. It is measured in decibels, widely known as dB. It is usually 1 Watt, 1 meter. If it’s a higher sensitivity rating then it means the speaker is playing louder but with the use of same power as a speaker with a lower rating.

The speaker’s back and rear are usually isolated from each other as in an enclosure. The reason is that what the front of the cone is doing is pushing air, while the bottom is pulling air. If they work at the same time, they would create a canceling effect. That’s why they should never be joined in an open region. Always make sure you isolate the front part with the back one.

Now there are different speaker types in the market. Common speaker types are the Coaxials, Separates, Horns, Midbases, and Subwoofers. Speakers that are built in the same frame are called coaxial speakers or three-way speaker types. It is cheaper than separates, woofers, even tweeters. Plus they’re easier to install. Crossovers are already built-in so you don’t have to worry about a thing. However, coaxial speaker types lack flexibility because of the limited locations where you can install them.

Separates usually comes with a tweeter, a woofer, and most of the time also comes with an external crossover. The woofer is normally seen in the factory hole in your car’s door or kick panel. The tweeters are usually mounted towards the top front corner of your car’s door or another popular location would be in the dash, usually surface mounted or in factory dash holes if provided. However, you can also install teeters in the blank plastic piece on your doors opposite the side mirrors outside.

Horns are speaker types that are very good in directing sound. Horns are highly efficient. Normally, it can be seen under the dash. If you have horns, you can skip the tweeters. Midbases are much lower in frequency. It comes together with a mid and tweeter. It is normally 5, 6 or 8 inches in size.

Subwoofer speaker types are enclosed in boxes except for free air subs which use trunk as enclosures. These are for the bass lovers because they add lower frequencies to the system.