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A crossover is an electronics device that takes a single input signal and creates two or three output signals consisting of separated bands of high-, mid-, and low-range frequencies. The different bands of frequencies feed the different speakers, or "drivers," in a sound system: tweeters, woofers, and subwoofers.

Think of a crossover network as an audio traffic cop, directing highs to your tweeters, midrange to your woofers, and low bass to your sub.

Without a crossover, a messy, sonic "traffic jam" results. Your midrange and sub duplicate too many of the same frequencies and your sub wastes time trying to put out high notes it wasn't meant to handle. A "fatal pile-up" could also occur, with your tweets being destroyed by some renegade tractor-trailer of a bass note thumping along in the wrong audio lane.

Because they're essential, you'll find crossovers in some form almost any time speakers are present. For instance, if your home stereo uses a pair of 2-way bookshelf speakers, it uses 2-way crossovers (inside the speaker boxes). Within each crossover, a high-pass filter blocks the lows but passes the high frequency notes to the tweeter, while a low-pass filter blocks the highs and passes low frequency notes on to the woofer.

The crossover "networks" of coaxial, full-range car speakers are usually built into the speakers, and often consist of small electrical components like coils or capacitors. Crossovers for 3-way systems, those systems utilizing tweeters, midrange drivers, and subwoofers, include, besides high- and low-pass filters, "bandpass" filters which play frequencies between two points by utilizing both a high-pass and low-pass in the same filter network. So, for example you could have a midrange driver only playing 100 Hz to 2500 Hz.

Active or passive?

There are two basic kinds of crossovers: active and passive. Passive crossovers don't need power to filter the signal as desired. Active crossovers require power and ground connections, but give you much more flexibility and fine-tuning control over your music.

Active systems

A sound system is termed "active" when each driver (tweeter, woofer, sub) has its own channel of amplification. This dramatically increases the available power, dynamic range (softest to loudest sounds), and your control of the system's tonal response over the whole audio spectrum.

An active crossover gets wired between the receiver and amplifier and cuts out the unwanted frequencies before the amp wastes energy boosting them, so the amp can focus on only the frequencies you want to hear. Active crossovers usually have volume controls on every channel or pair of channels so you can keep all the "voices" of the different drivers in balance. Some active crossovers include other sound-processing features like equalization for further tweaking of the sound to your personal satisfaction.

The only potential disadvantage of an active crossover is that since it requires +12V, ground, and turn-on connections, it presents more of a challenge to install and set up than a passive crossover. But with a little time and care this shouldn't be a problem, and the rewards and advantages of an active crossover make it clear why you'll find one in virtually every competition-level car audio system. Likewise, stereo systems tuned for high-quality sound will make use of crossovers in order to keep the speakers playing clean and clear.

Passive crossovers

A passive crossover doesn't need to get hooked up to a power source to work. There are two kinds of passive crossovers: component crossovers that connect between the amplifier and speakers, and in-line crossovers that fit in between the receiver and the amp.

Component crossovers

Passive component crossovers step into the signal path after the amplifier. They're small networks of capacitors and coils usually installed near the speakers. Component speaker systems come with their crossovers set for optimum performance, and they are simple to install and set up. A full-range signal exits the amplifier and goes to the passive crossover which separates the signal into two parts and sends the high notes to the tweeter and the mid and low notes to the woofer. Most passive component crossovers have optional settings that let you turn down the tweeter some if it seems too loud for the woofer.

Since it is filtering a signal that has already been amplified, a passive crossover wastes power, releasing the unwanted parts of the amplified signal as heat. Also, speakers actually change their impedances when playing which also changes a passive crossover's crossover point, or frequency response, leading to inconsistent sound definition, especially around the vocal regions. (This is another advantage to using an active crossover, which is unaffected by speaker impedance.)

In-line crossover

Besides passive crossovers that operate on speaker-level signals and connect between your amp and your speaker components, there are also in-line crossovers that connect before the amplifier. They look like little cylinders with RCA connectors on each end and simply plug into your amplifier's inputs. In-line crossovers make sure your amplifiers don't waste energy amplifying signals you don't want - like high frequencies to a subwoofer amp. Installing an in-line crossover is a great and inexpensive way to sharpen the sounds of your system, especially in a component speaker system.

In-line crossovers each come set to a specific frequency and can't be adjusted. Another disadvantage of using in-line crossovers is that they react differently to different amplifiers, possibly changing their crossover points unpredictably.

For future upgrades and expansion, go active

If you plan on expanding your system in the future, it's wisest to go with a separate outboard crossover, instead of relying on the ones built into your receiver and amplifier. While these built-in crossovers work well, they don't offer the total system control of an outboard unit. Also, if you ever upgrade your amp, you don't have to give up your crossover.

Tuning your system

Varying your crossover points is one approach to "tuning" your speakers. You can expect this adjustability from just about any active crossover. Setting crossover points also helps define the overall tonality of your system.

Setting your low-pass filter above 100 Hz gives you the type of boom many rap fans are looking for, while pushing it down to 80 Hz tightens up your bass and improves front soundstaging. Because each output channel on an active crossover usually has its own level control, you can even use this component to compensate for varying efficiency or sensitivity ratings among your speakers.

Let there be music

Let's look at an example. Take a simple three-way crossover network:

lowpass filter with a crossover point at 80 Hz;

highpass filter with a crossover point at 3,000 Hz;

bandpass filter with a low crossover point at 80 Hz and a high crossover point at 3,000 Hz.

You hop into your ride, slip in a CD and suddenly a hefty dose of unadulterated Dave Matthews Band is headed straight for your speakers. The lowpass cleans up Carter Beauford's kick drum and the low notes on Stefan Lessard's bass, and passes these tones below 80 Hz to your subwoofer system.

Meanwhile, your highpass sends cymbal crashes and acoustic guitar harmonics to your tweeter, while limiting frequencies below 3,000 Hz. And Dave's vocals, Boyd Tinsley's violin, and other sounds between 80 and 3,000 Hz find their way through the bandpass crossover to your midrange drivers.

The crossover assigns the proper frequencies and levels to the various speakers in your vehicle, the pieces of the sonic puzzle fit together perfectly, and DMB sounds righteous. It's all good.

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A crossover is an electronics device that takes a single input signal and creates two or three output signals consisting of separated bands of high-, mid-, and low-range frequencies. The different bands of frequencies feed the different speakers, or "drivers," in a sound system: tweeters, woofers, and subwoofers.

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Consider each of these scenarios...

Home Studio

Live Music Event

Cinema Sound System

Research what speaker systems would be most appropriate for the above.

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A video covering the basics of Powered and Passive speakers. This is a continuation from my first video about small PA setups. It is meant as an introductory so there may be bits i could've gone further into however for simplicity and getting the fundamentals down, please enjoy the video!

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Why can't bigger cones reproduce high frequencies?

Why do we need a crossover?

What are benefits of a 3-way speaker/crossover system?

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A basic idea of what a cross over is. Passive and active.

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One of the biggest questions home theater and two-channel enthusiasts ask the most is, how much power do I need in an amplifier? We answer the question in this short video.

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Planet Of Tunes - Beginners guide to setting up a project or home recording studio

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Beginners guide to setting up a project recording studio

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Plug and play
OR
Customise your setup

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Audiophiles understand the importance of speakers in a home entertainment set-up. This is arguably the most important decision made when purchasing and assembling the audio components for the system. It is certainly one of the first features shown off when fellow audiophiles drop in for some aural sampling.

When selecting speakers, consumers may find themselves confronted with the option of active speakers vs passive speakers, powered speakers, or some combination. To make life more difficult, not all vendors and experts agree on the usage of those terms. We've attempted to clear up the confusion and spell out some of the strengths and weaknesses.

Defining Active, Passive, and Powered

The terms passive, active, powered, and unpowered are often confused and used incorrectly, or at least interchangeably. The confusion lies in what, specifically, is being addressed with regards to the speaker. When used, these terms are either in reference to speaker amplification or speaker crossover. Hence, active is sometimes used interchangeably with powered, and passive with unpowered. Here's a quick breakdown:

Active Speakers

In an active speaker, the word active commonly refers to the crossover components/system. The crossover components in an active speaker split the frequency band of the audio signal into smaller parts (low, high, and sometimes mid-range), which are then sent to individual speaker drivers designed to handle those frequencies.

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Where active speakers electrical crossover components and powered amplifiers for each driver, these speakers are, themselves, "powered." This is why active and powered are often used synonymously. So, when a speaker is referred to as an active speaker, it is nearly always referring to the crossover components, which by definition require amplifiers for each band, and separate power.

Incidentally, active speakers suitable for home entertainment and home theater solutions most commonly house the active crossover components and amplifiers within the speaker enclosure, but this is not always necessarily the case. In larger home theater settings, the crossover components and amps can be outside of the speaker. With an active speaker system, one will often see "active speaker" with "bi-amp" or "tri-amp" scenario, referring to active crossover and two or three separate amplifiers for the separate drivers.

Bart LoPiccolo, National Sales Manager for Genelec, Inc., takes the definition of active a few steps further, explaining that Genelec's speakers are active because, "they have active electronic crossovers before the amps, they have dedicated amps for each driver, each channel has protection, and there are room response controls per driver." Active speaker proponents like LoPiccolo believe that an active speaker system has certain advantages over a passive system due to the fact that the crossover components, amps, drivers, and speaker enclosures are all manufactured with one another in mind.

Passive Speakers
In contrast to the active speaker, passive speakers feature:

passive crossover components, which split the audio signal and send each band directly to the loudspeaker drivers

audio signals that are driven by a separate, individual amp

components that are typically an arrangement of resistors, capacitors, and inductors, which split the signal and send each frequency part to the drivers

a separate power amplifier that sends the full audio signal to the speaker(s)

Although high-end passive speakers can contain high-end crossover components, LoPiccolo says that, by nature, passive crossover components and passive speakers have some intrinsic drawbacks. "Passive crossover systems dissipate heat, and can lose as much as 30-percent of the amplifier's power," LoPiccolo states. "And as the crossover components heat up, the performance of the speaker changes. So a movie may sound differently toward the end than it did in the beginning," he continues.

It is important to understand that a consumer integrating a passive speaker system into a home theater or home entertainment solution might be assembling the various components by piecemeal. In this manner, the consumer is left with the task of matching an amplifier for the particular passive speakers selected, or vice versa. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage to a passive speaker scenario. One has the freedom to upgrade the amplifier, or swap it out at any time, where in an active speaker scenario the amps are part of the speaker package. What you hear is what you get, generally speaking. But, the manufacturers of amplifiers don't know what speaker system will be matched with their product, which is why amplifiers are "over-built" to accommodate a wide range of speakers, a move that results in more expensive and more power consuming amps.

Powered Speakers

Here is where things can get muddied. A powered speaker is technically one that has its own amplifier built into the speaker, and therefore plugs into a nearby outlet. However, a powered speaker is not necessarily an active one, as the crossover components within a powered speaker can be passive. Powered speaker systems have the advantage of being a bit more streamlined, compact, and portable-most speaker systems designed for desktop home computers, laptops, single-room application, wireless multi-room application (like Sonos), and easy all-in-one iPod-docking-and-speaker-solution fall into the "powered" speaker category. But unsuspecting consumers can get fooled into thinking that a powered speaker is better than a passive speaker. In truth, a powered speaker can still have the "amp-passive crossover-driver" chain characteristic of any passive speaker scenario.

"Powered speakers can cut costs, and reduce clutter," says Logan Pabor, Distribution Manager at Audioengine, a powered speaker manufacturer. The built-in amplifier feature of a powered speaker solution enables wireless speaker scenarios, and eliminates the needs for additional, expensive components. "Set-up is much easier, and there are no external components," adds Logan.

Conclusion

It would be inviting widespread criticism from all sides to claim one technology as superior over another in the active vs passive speaker vs powered or unpowered speaker debate. Certainly there are pros and cons to each system, and ways of perfecting (as nearly as possible) one system to "match" the performance of another. As with most such debates, the comments from those with experience are often as informative as the facts themselves.
This article was originally published on February 23, 2015 and was updated on September 28, 2015.
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Active Speakers vs Passive Speakers: Which to Use? - Electronic House

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Audiophiles understand the importance of speakers in a home entertainment set-up. This is arguably the most important decision made when purchasing and assembling the audio components for the system. It is certainly one of the first features shown off when fellow audiophiles drop in for some aural sampling.

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If you've ever shopped around for studio monitors or PA loudspeakers, chances are you've come across the terms 2-way and 3-way. These two terms are pretty straightforward - they designate the number of speakers featured in the monitor. While that might seem simple, there's a lot more going on that just the number of speakers. Below, we take a closer look at these type of systems and things to think about when deciding between the two.

The Benefit Of 2-Way And 3-Way Speaker Systems

The reason behind creating monitors and loudspeakers with individual speakers handling a certain range is because different sound waves are better produced by different sizes. For example, bass frequencies require a large movement of air, a task better handled by a large speaker (known as a woofer). On the other hand, high-end frequencies require a very fast movement of air, which gets harder to do the larger the speaker size. Therefore, speakers that handle the high-end frequencies (known as tweeters) tend to be relatively smaller than woofers. In a 3-way system, a speaker that handles the midrange is added. This mid-range speaker is smaller than the woofer but larger than a tweeter. While there are monitors out there that use a single speaker, you will get much better results by using a 2-way or 3-way system, with each speaker focusing on reproducing its own range.

Understanding Crossovers

In order to split the audible frequency range between different speakers, crossovers are used. But because they can't divide these ranges into nice little packages that start and stop at a specific frequency (instead they taper off at both ends), there will be an overlap at the adjacent ranges of two speakers.

In order to get good output from the overlapping frequency range, both speakers need to be finely tuned to contribute a precise amount of output. Too much or too little combined output and the balance of the sound reproduction will be thrown off. Because of this, how the crossover is set up is crucial to the overall sound quality of a 2-way or 3-way speaker system.

2-Way Versus 3-Way

Naturally, you might suspect that because a 3-way speaker has an extra speaker involved, that it should sound better than a 2-way system. The reality is - it depends. Although it makes sense that splitting up the job between three instead of two speakers should provide better sound reproduction, you have to take into account several other factors. For example, how well the crossover is set up, the quality of the components, the design of the cabinet and how the speakers are matched to each other. Because of this, you don't have to look too hard to find a high-quality 2-way system that can outperform a mediocre 3-way system. You also need to consider the application you will be using them on. For more information on 2-way versus 3-way systems, check out the video below:

Because of all of the factors that go into speaker system design, the reality between which is better has to be taken on a case by case, speaker by speaker, basis. If you will be deciding on a certain speaker system based on reviews or general word of mouth, we highly suggest you take into account what type of music or audio they were listening to along with the location of their setup. But in the end, there's no better way than by trying them with your own ears and setup. And in case you didn't know, we offer 45-day satisfaction guarantee on all of our items so you don't have to worry about being stuck with a bad speaker set if they don't pan out. Trust me, the last thing you want to do is spend your hard earned money on something you'll just regret.

Hopefully, the information above has given you a good grasp on 2-way and 3-speaker systems and how one is not always inherently better than the other. If you have any questions regarding the purchase of a 2-way or 3-way loudspeaker or any other piece of gear, don't hesitate to chat with one of our friendly PAL pros by using the live chat feature below or by calling us toll-free at 1 877-671-2200!

You can browse our selection of speaker systems by using the links below:

Your Turn to Sound Off!

What type of speaker system do you use in your own setup?

Let us know in the comment section below!

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A Closer Look At 2-Way And 3-Way Speaker Systems

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If you've ever shopped around for studio monitors or PA loudspeakers, chances are you've come across the terms 2-way and 3-way. These two terms are pretty straightforward - they designate the number of speakers featured in the monitor. While that might seem simple, there\'s a lot more going on that just the number of speakers.

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What is the frequency range of human hearing?

What types of graphs help us understand speaker specifications?

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The Secret Behind The Industry's Most-Cited Spec.

Here's a quick quiz: which of these two speakers sounds better: Speaker A with a frequency response range of 45Hz to 18kHz or, Speaker B with a range of 20Hz to 25kHz? The truth is there's simply not enough data in these numbers to know anything of value. Taken out of context and without other data, a simple set of numbers don't tell you much about real world sound quality. But people make audio buying decisions based on published specifications, such as the frequency response spec, everyday. I'd like to demystify the process for you; let you in on a little industry secret about "The Frequency Response Spec."

My Frequency Response
The Frequency Response specification attempts to describe the range of frequencies or musical tones a speaker can reproduce, measured in Hertz (known to old-timers as "Cycles per Second"). The range of human hearing is generally regarded as being from 20Hz, very low bass tones, through 20kHz (20,000Hz), the very highest treble. Presumably a speaker that could reproduce that range would sound lifelike. Alas, it is no guarantee. The most important determinant of a speaker's frequency performance is not its width or range, but whether it's capable of reproducing all the audible frequencies at the same volume at which they were recorded.

You don't want the speaker to change the "mix" of tones; that would ruin the timbre of voices and instruments, making them sound unnatural. Ideally, you want the sounds that are on the recording to be reproduced as they were recorded, without the speaker changing the sound. To say it another way: if you made a recording of all the audible tones at the same volume and played that recording through a speaker, you'd want all the audible tones to come out at the same volume. In fact, that's one way of measuring speakers. A signal that's comprised of all frequencies at equal volume is fed into a speaker that sits in a room with no reflective surfaces. A calibrated microphone is placed in front of the speaker and feeds the speaker's output into a machine that plots the frequency vs. amplitude as shown in Figure A.

Now take a look at the graph in Figure B. That's the frequency response of the Erehwon Model 10, with drivers and tweeters made of pure Unobtainium ("Half the carbs, all the sound!"). The flat line on the graph indicates that the speaker is "flat"; it reproduces all the musically relevant tones at the same volume. That doesn't mean that a "flat" speaker will play all recorded sounds at the same volume - bear with me here - it means that it will treat all sounds equally; it won't impose its will on the music but will allow you to hear the music as it was recorded. Flat is good. Flat response means that the speaker reproduces sound accurately.

Too bad that the Erehwon Model 10 doesn't really exist, and neither does Unobtainium. Today's technologies allow speaker designers to get closer to the "flat" ideal than ever before, but they still fall far short of "perfection." So if a frequency range spec is not adequate, what is?

Frequency Response In Context
A big improvement would be a frequency response number that also includes the amplitude tolerance, expressed as "XHz-YkHz +/- 3dB." This tells you that the amplitude of the speaker's response relative to frequency does not deviate more than 3 Decibels from the center line. The "plus or minus 3dB" spec is regarded as a standard of sorts. The theory is that 3dB differences are "just perceptible," so a speaker whose response curve lies within that tolerance window is a reasonably accurate speaker. Let's see if that idea holds water.

Take a look at Figure C. This speaker has response that can be specified as 20Hz-20kHz +/- 3dB. Take a look at Figure D; it, too, can have the exact same specification as Speaker C! Do you think they will sound similar? NOT! They won't sound even remotely like one another. Speaker C will have "one note" bass and will make voices and other instruments sound unnatural, but Speaker D will sound smooth and more natural.

If I had to choose strictly by the response curves, I'd choose speaker D because its amplitude variations are smoother and gentler. In contrast, speaker C's amplitude variations are more extreme and "spikey." Experience has shown speaker designers that those rapid changes in response produce a sound that is more fatiguing, less pleasing and subjectively less accurate.

Now look at the response of the speaker in Figure E. This speaker exhibits a smooth response curve with low amplitude variations so you'd expect a fairly natural sound; however, the bandwidth of these errors is very broad, and experience has shown us that even low volume variations are audible if they cover a broad range of frequencies. In this case, Speaker E would have rich bass, prominent treble and be somewhat recessed or "laid back" in the midrange. Audiophiles call this "The Smile Curve." It's not the desirable trait it sounds like but it's a very "sellable" trait to naive buyers.

My Response To Frequency
Now that you know the importance (and limitations) of amplitude variations in frequency response graphs, you might ask: "does the frequency range tell us anything at all?" Yes, it does. As long as you know the amplitude tolerance (+/- 3dB), the frequency response range or width tells you how high or low the speaker goes. A speaker rated as 20Hz - 25kHz +/- 3dB will play lower bass and higher treble sounds than a speaker that measures 40Hz - 20kHz +/- 3dB. I wouldn't bet money that it would be the better, more enjoyable speaker, but at least I'd know something of value.

And now that you know how to interpret these numbers, you're ready to run right out and buy a speaker just by looking at the response curve, right? I wouldn't recommend it. Despite many advances in technology over the past 20 years, frequency response measurement is an imperfect science. The same speaker measured by two different labs may yield different response graphs. And some companies just plain cheat when they publish response curves. If it looks hand drawn, it probably was. ( Yes, the graphs were hand drawn for illustration purposes.)

The Third Dimension
So far we've talked about frequency (the X axis of the graph) and amplitude (Y axis) but we left out an important third dimension: time. When a speaker responds to an impulse, for example a rim shot - "THWACK!" - it should start instantly and stop the instant the instrument stops making sound. If the speaker keeps vibrating or resonating and making sound after the source sound stops it's changing, or "coloring," the sound of the original recording. And that's bad.

Figure F Figure G

Figure F shows a bandwidth limited impulse signal. You can see that it starts and stops abruptly. Figure G shows that same impulse coming out of a speaker. You can see that the sound persists after the impulse input has stopped - it resonates or "rings." The speaker is changing the timbre or character of the original recording. In order to see to what extent and at which frequencies the "ringing" is happening, we use a sophisticated computer algorithm called MLLSA (affectionately called "Melissa" by engineers who don't date much) to measure the response of a speaker in frequency, amplitude and time. Figure H is a MLLSA spectral decay graph of a prototype speaker. The third axis of this graph is time, so graph lines closest to you are measurements taken later than the ones in the back. Think of it as a series of slices with each slice being a frequency response graph taken at a different point in time.

If we were to measure the perfect speaker the MLLSA graph would look like a straight line in back with no lines in front. Real speakers fall far short of this ideal and continue to resonate after an impulse has stopped, such as in Figure H. Figure I is a Polk LSi9, and we can see that the speaker stops responding sooner in the midrange than the speaker pictured in Figure H, indicating that the LSi9 is a better sounding speaker.

Figure H Figure I

While no measurement technique can fully describe the subjective sound of a louds peaker, MLLSA and other frequency response measurements are of great help to Polk engineers in developing better sounding speakers. Only a fool would design a speaker based on measurements alone and only a total fool would design a speaker based solely on subjective listening. A speaker that might sound good on a particular recording may in fact be flawed - it may have what is commonly called a "euphonic coloration." It may be pleasing to the ear under certain conditions, but it sure ain't right.

We use both measurements and subjective listening to design and evaluate speakers. The measurements save us time and are a great help in pointing us in the right design direction, avoiding mistakes that may come back to bite us later. The measurements give us a means of selecting which experimental designs are worth listening to. But we have to be satisfied with the total subjective experience before a new design becomes a Polk Audio speaker. We spend countless hours listening to music and movies. Several experienced listeners have to listen to a proposed design and sign off on the sound before a model can even go into production. The Project Manager, Systems Engineer, VP of Engineering, Product Line Manager, and especially Matthew Polk, all have to agree that the prototype delivers the kind of rewarding listening experience that you expect from Polk Audio.

What's Your Frequency?
You now know the secret: a frequency response specification is a very weak predictor of the actual performance of a loudspeaker. A frequency response chart can be more helpful, but it's missing the important time measurement. You now know to look for overall curve smoothness and to avoid rapid swings in amplitude. Some magazines and review sites publish MLSSA graphs of reviewed speakers, and now you'll understand how to interpret them. More power to you!

No matter how adept you might be at interpreting frequency response data, it should only be one data point among many in choosing a speaker. There is so much more to a speaker's performance than just its response - like its dispersion and imaging, dynamic range and detail resolution as well as size, cosmetics and price. Looking at good frequency response data can help you eliminate speakers with obvious and obnoxious errors. Once you've eliminated the boom & tizz pseudo-fi speakers, you can settle down to careful listening and making a more informed choice.

How Polk Specifies Frequency Response
Polk Audio publishes two frequency response specifications: "Overall" and "-3dB." "Overall" describes the frequency range limits of the speaker within an amplitude drop off of 9dB. Any frequency reproduced more than 9dB down from the rest of the frequencies will contribute little to the sound. The "-3dB" spec describes the frequency range limits of the speaker within an amplitude drop off of 3dB.

I just wrote this big article making the case that these kinds of numbers are not terribly useful in making buying decisions. So why does Polk use them? For better or for worse, these numbers are the norm in the audio industry. To not publish them would leave an impression that our products were not competitive. A better question would be: why don't we publish frequency response and MLSSA graphs in addition to the simple numbers? We feel that these graphs would not be meaningful to the vast majority of consumers. It takes years of working with measurements and loudspeakers before you get a good sense of how the graphs correlate to subjective sound quality. Incorrect interpretation of graphs can easily lead to misinformation and bad choices. Finally, the variation in measurement techniques can make comparing graphs from two different labs or manufacturers unreliable and misleading.
By Paul Dicomo, Polk Audio - Marketing Manager

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Understanding Speaker Frequency Response - ecoustics.com

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Here's a quick quiz: which of these two speakers sounds better: Speaker A with a frequency response range of 45Hz to 18kHz or, Speaker B with a range of 20Hz to 25kHz? The truth is there's simply not enough data in these numbers to know anything of value.

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Consider the different scenarios you would need near field, midfield or far field speakers.

Write a list of these...

Then research the speakers you might buy for these scenarios

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Nearfield vs midfield

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article: nearfield vs. midfield monitors - right you? phil o'keefe

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Article: Nearfield vs. Midfield Monitors - Which is Right for You?

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Read article: nearfield vs. midfield monitors - which is right for you? by Phil O'Keefe published on Dec 7, 2015 at HarmonyCentral.com

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What situations are you likely to use near field monitoring?

What situations are you likely to use far field monitoring?

Write you answers on your word document

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Near Field Vs Far Field - www.AcousticFields.com

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Please visit http://www.acousticfields.com for more information. Near field listening is sitting close to the speakers to minimize room sound. Far field listening is sitting farther away from your speakers which brings more of the room reflections into play. The goal is to have the definition, separation, and image of near field listening while sitting farther away.

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Positioning of near field speakers for the most effecting listening environment.

Triangular set up between the speakers and you ears

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In pairs,

Describe, in your own words, how a speaker works - write down your answer in a word document

- what are the components in a speaker?
- what doe each of them do?

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Basic description of how a speaker works

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1. Monitoring and why we need it
2. Nearfield and midfield speakers
3. Frequency Responses and full range
4. Two-way, three way and crossovers
5. Passive vs Active?
6. Understanding Power Ratings