Other Speaker Parts & Components

Audio Speaker Parts and Components

When an audio speaker suddenly stops working, you will need to quickly find a replacement part or component in order to restore it to its former glory. Whether that part is a tweeter, crossover, or woofer, many parts are available, so you can get the replacement you need to fix your speaker.

A high-quality speaker has many intricate speaker parts that work together to create accurate representations of the full audio spectrum. You don't necessarily need to know all of the different components, but understanding the basic parts of your audio device is a good idea. The most common terminology and sections you'll hear referred to are the tweeter and the woofer, and the cabinet kits will include everything you need to repair general sections like the tweeter, the woofer, and other specific areas depending on the ordered kit.

• Cabinet: The cabinet is the outer casing of any speaker. This casing has multiple functions with protection from the elements and containment of interior parts as its main functionalities. Inside the cabinet, you'll find every segment that actually makes the speaker produce audio. The cabinet can also provide resonance or sound dampening to produce the truest sound quality possible. Repair on this section needs to be careful as repairing wood can be a very delicate process.
• Woofer: The woofer is the segment of a speaker that produces low frequencies. This is the large cone you'll see in all speakers.
• Tweeter: The tweeter is a much smaller cone that's usually made from fancy alloys and produces higher frequencies. In some systems, only a woofer and tweeter are included. In others, a mid-range cone is also included.
• Driver: The driver is potentially the most underrated component of a speaker. This small device converts electrical impulses into actual vibrations that the speaker can put out. Without the driver, there would be no sound. This segment is generally replaced instead of repaired.
• Crossover: The crossover is a specific electronic part that is put before or after the driver. What the crossover does is split the frequencies coded in the electrical signals into low, mid, and high frequencies. The crossover then sends the appropriate signal to the different speaker parts  the high frequencies to the tweeter and the mids and lows to the woofer (or the mids to a mid-range cone if present). These are not generally repaired but are replaced.

Once you understand your way around a speaker in terms of the speaker parts and components, you'll quickly start to understand how power and audio are routed through. Different speaker parts correspond to different sounds and power sources. Here are some distinct audio frequencies and power routings that correspond to certain parts.

• For general audio playback: In order for the electrical signal to get transcribed to sound, you need to have a working fuse for the system. You'll also need a driver, which transfers electricity to pulses of pressure for the speaker. Both of these are necessary for high-quality audio.
• High-frequency sound when playing audio: A tweeter is absolutely necessary to achieve proper high-frequency audio quality. Without a tweeter, your audio device may not accurately represent the song playing.