Driver Types

In the last section, we saw that traditional speakers produce sound by pushing and pulling an electromagnet attached to a flexible cone. Although drivers are all based on the same concept, there is a wide range in driver size and power. The basic driver types are:

• Woofers
• Tweeters
• Midrange

Woofer

Tweeter

Midrange

Woofers are the biggest drivers, and are designed to produce low frequency sounds. Tweeters are much smaller units, designed to produce the highest frequencies. Midrange speakers produce a range of frequencies in the middle of the sound spectrum.

And if you think about it, this makes perfect sense. To create higher frequency waves -- waves in which the points of high pressure and low pressure are closer together -- the driver diaphragm must vibrate more quickly. This is harder to do with a large cone because of the mass of the cone. Conversely, it's harder to get a small driver to vibrate slowly enough to produce very low frequency sounds. It's more suited to rapid movement.