Newbie's question about speaker technology!

 

newbie_in_audio
Unregistered guest
Newbie's questions:

1) Is there any different between Stereo Speakers and HT Speakers?

2) Can we use Stereo Speaker with HT av system and Ht speaker with Stereo Amplifier, viceversa? Does it affect on the sound quality?

3) Does Speaker Technology change with the time frame? eg. 90s,2000s speakers technologies should be better than 70s,80s speaker system technologies. is it correct?

4) If so, we should buy the new speakers with the modern technologies instead of buying a second hand old speakers for using with current amplifier systems and av receivers, shouldn't we?

Thanks in advance.
 

Silver Member
Username: Touche6784

Post Number: 352
Registered: Nov-04
no, yes, no, not really but materials do a little bit, not necessarily, i have second hand speakers with brand new reciever and works wonders.
stereo has nothing to do with speakers. stereo is a description of how the data is being interpreted. our eye sight is stereo, hearing stereo.(could be wrong with the last couple sentence so dont burn me for it) only speakers that are specialized are center speakers and dedicated surround speakers. you can technically use the same speakers for all channels, but who has room to or any practicality to try and use a floor stander as a center or surrounds. an amplifier is an amplifier nothing more. reason that they have multi channel amps i presume is to fit all the amps in one package. there are mono amps also but that doesnt mean you can only use them for mono applications. speaker technology i dont think has changed that much. speaker design methods may have changed with the advent of computers and laser technology for measuring resonance and stuff. they still use foam or rubber surrounds, paper, kevlar, polymers for woofers, and still using textiles, metal or ploymers for tweeters. any well built speaker or component should be able to last for years. paul, a frequenter on the forum had a pair of cerwin vega floorstanders that lasted him 20 years and probably could have gone longer before needing a recon. the only thing that may have changed in components would be DACs and HT encoders since DTS as well as prologic II and 6.1 and 7.1 has become the common place.
 

Silver Member
Username: Petergalbraith

Rimouski, Quebec Canada

Post Number: 488
Registered: Feb-04
My current main speakers are 32 years old. They are due for a crossover upgrade but sound fantastic to me regardless.
 

newbie_in_audio
Unregistered guest
Christopher and Peter,
Thanks for your explanation.

As I am very new in this subject, what are the first order crossover and second-order crossover?
Does these orders make different in the sound output?
Someone says the older speakers are designed and built on the first-order only and the new systems are designed and built on the second-order. Is it correct?

What things should be I aware before I buy the second hand speakers?
 

Gold Member
Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 3708
Registered: May-04


"Someone says the older speakers are designed and built on the first-order only and the new systems are designed and built on the second-order. Is it correct?"

Don't believe anything else this person tells you about audio. Read this thread for more information pertaining to your question:

https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-audio/56618.html

Also:

http://sound.westhost.com/site-map.htm

http://lp2cd.com/audio_terms/a/index.html


Bookmark these pages.




 

Silver Member
Username: Touche6784

Post Number: 359
Registered: Nov-04
dont be so worried about the crossover design. i myself dont really know the exact differences except that the higher order the crossover, the greater the separation on time domain there is(did i get that right peter?) also the lower order the crossover, ie first order, the much more expensive it is. most speakers with first order crossovers are quite expensive. there are some on the forum that swear by first order crossovers since they dont screw up the waveform. the safest used good speakers i would say are B&W 601s. there are lots of them on ebay. you should be able to get a pair for about $350.
 

newbie_in_audio
Unregistered guest
Jan V., Thanks so much for your links. You are the great.
I will go to the links and read the informations as you suggested.

Chris, Thank you for your reply too. you said B&W 601s are the safest used good speakers. How is it safe compared with the other used speakers? How can I know the used speaker is the original one (no reconditioned one)? The good speakers are lasted for many years. So what parts should I need to check it (used speaker) before buying? Voice coil, magnet, Cone or just the sound quality?
 

Gold Member
Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 3716
Registered: May-04


By defintion a first order X-over is the simplest possible, It can be as simple as nothing more than a capacitor on the tweeter and a woofer designed to roll off the upper frequencies by mechanical design. This is the type of X-over you'll find in many inexpensive speakers. It can work quite well if the designer has control over the manufacture of the drivers.

Where first order X-overs become more complicated is when the designer wants to do frequency shaping. Then additional components are added to raise and lower specific regions of the drivers response. The more components there are in a X-over, in general you can assumme the amplifier will need more of its power to slug through the resistos, capacitors and inductors. A speaker with such a X-over typically will require more power to begin to sound good, despite whatever the sensitivity spec indicates.

For the most part a speaker either works or it doesn't. Rubbing voice coils are a symptom of a speaker that doesn't work. Check the cabinets for physical damage. Beyond that, just listen.


 

Silver Member
Username: Petergalbraith

Rimouski, Quebec Canada

Post Number: 510
Registered: Feb-04
Jan wrote:

The more components there are in a X-over, in general you can assumme the amplifier will need more of its power to slug through the resistos, capacitors and inductors. A speaker with such a X-over typically will require more power to begin to sound good, despite whatever the sensitivity spec indicates.

Well, that defies logic!

Actually, some very expensive crossovers use a bunch of parts to present an even impedence load to amplifiers. It's possible to double the price and part number of crossovers to to make them an easier load for tube amplifiers. So there goes that theory.
« Previous Thread Next Thread »



Main Forums

Today's Posts

Forum Help

Follow Us