Mid-range speaker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A loudspeaker driver that produces the frequency range from approximately 300–5000 hertz is known as a mid-range. They are also called, less commonly, squawkers.
Midrange drivers are usually electro-dynamic cone types or, less commonly, electro-dynamic dome types, or compression horn drivers.
The diaphragm of a cone speaker is a truncated cone, with the voice coil attached at the narrow end with the spider portion of the cone suspension, and with the cone surround at the wide end. These midranges resemble small woofers. A dome is a usually spherical section with both suspension and voice coil located at the outer edge of the dome. These midranges resemble large dome tweeters. A very few midranges are electrostatic loudspeakers, Heil drivers, planar magnetic drivers, or ribbon drivers.
[edit] Installation issues
Midrange drivers are usually used in three way multi driver speaker systems. And there are therefore special considerations involved in the acoustic join between the midrange and both the low frequncy (woofers) and the high frequency drivers (tweeters). The nature of the drivers on both sides of the midrange, and the midrange itself affect the crossover circuitry which is required for best performance of the speaker system. Crossovers can be either passive (ie, only capacitors, inductors, and resistors) or active (dividing the signal between the drivers before sending it to a power amplifier for each driver), with active crossovers being more expensive, but capable of better performance. Most crossovers are passive and come after a single full range power amplifier.
As well, placement of the midrange (and tweeter) drivers on the enclosure baffle is significant, depending on the size of the cabinet, the crossover frequency (low-mid or mid-high), the material surrounding the midrange and tweeter drivers on the baffle, and the front-to-back location of each driver's acoustic center with respect to the others. Together with grills or covers (if any), each of these aspects affect the performance of both midrange and tweeter drivers and so the loudspeaker system as a whole. The term often used in design circles for some of these effects is the baffle step effect.
