A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer; a device which converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. The most widely used type of speaker in the 2010s is the dynamic speaker, invented in 1925 by Edward W. Kellogg and Chester W. Rice. The dynamic speaker operates on the same basic principle as a dynamic microphone, but in reverse, to produce sound from an electrical signal. When an alternating current electrical audio signal is applied to its voice coil, a coil of wire suspended in a circular gap between the poles of a permanent magnet, the coil is forced to move rapidly back and forth due to Faraday's law of induction, which causes a diaphragm attached to the coil to move back and forth, pushing on the air to create sound waves. Besides this most common method, there are several alternative technologies that can be used to convert an electrical signal into sound. The sound source must be amplified or strengthened with an audio power amplifier before the signal is sent to the speaker.
An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a live musical performance, typically in a room with good acoustics. It is widely agreed that reaching this goal is very difficult and that even the best-regarded recording and playback systems rarely, if ever, achieve it.
JBL is an American company that manufactures loudspeakers. There are two independent divisions within the company – JBL Consumer and JBL Professional. The former produces audio equipment for the consumer home market while the latter produces professional equipment for the studio, installed sound, tour sound, portable sound, and cinema markets. JBL is owned by Harman International Industries, a subsidiary of South Korean company Samsung Electronics.
Bang & Olufsen (B&O) is a high-end luxury Danish consumer electronics company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets, and telephones. It was founded in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, who designed a radio to work with alternating current, a product of significance at a time when most radios were still running on batteries.
MartinLogan is an American company producing conventional subwoofer speakers as well as floor-standing, wall-mounted, and in-wall hybrid speakers using electrostatic loudspeaker and planar magnetic thin film loudspeaker technology.
Celestion is a British designer and importer of loudspeakers.
Founded by David Hafler and Ed Laurent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1955, Dynaco was an American hi-fi audio system manufacturer popular in the 1960s and 1970s for its wide range of affordable, yet high quality audio components.. Its best known product was the ST-70 tube stereo amplifier. They also manufactured other tube and solid state amplifiers, preamplifiers, radio tuners and bookshelf loudspeakers. Dynaco was liquidated in 1980, and the trademark is now owned by Radial Engineering Ltd.
Naim Audio is a British hi-fi manufacturer based in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1973. Following a 2011 merger with French loudspeaker manufacturer Focal, Naim is owned by VerVent Audio Group, a French company.
Bowers & Wilkins, or B&W, is a British company that produces audio equipment, most notably loudspeakers. B&W was founded in 1966 by John Bowers at Worthing, West Sussex, England. Currently, B&W, while still based in Worthing, is part of the B&W Group Ltd., which also includes audio equipment manufacturers Rotel and Classé.
Powered speakers, also known as self-powered speakers and active speakers, are loudspeakers that have built-in amplifiers. Powered speakers are used in a range of settings, including in sound reinforcement systems, both for the main speakers facing the audience and the monitor speakers facing the performers; by DJs performing at dance events and raves; in private homes as part of hi-fi or home cinema audio systems and as computer speakers. They can be connected directly to a mixing console or other low-level audio signal source without the need for an external amplifier. Some active speakers designed for sound reinforcement system use have an onboard mixing console and microphone preamplifier, which enables microphones to be connected directly to the speaker.
Cambridge SoundWorks was a Massachusetts-based consumer audio manufacturer and retailer.
Diatone was a division of the Japanese electronics manufacturer Mitsubishi Electric which made loudspeaker drivers and home and studio loudspeaker systems. It was founded in 1945 to manufacture monitor speakers for NHK and was closed down in 1999. The Diatone brand currently sees limited use on aftermarket car stereos and speakers manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric exclusively for the Japanese domestic market.
Polk Audio is a manufacturer of audio products best known for their home and automobile speakers. The company also produces a wide range of other audio products such as amplifiers and FM tuners. The company is headquartered in San Diego, California and in 2006, was acquired by Directed Electronics. Polk Audio has also introduced smart speakers powered by the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Edgar Marion Villchur was an American inventor, educator, and writer widely known for his 1954 invention of the acoustic suspension loudspeaker which revolutionized the field of high-fidelity equipment. A speaker Villchur developed, the AR-3, is exhibited at The Smithsonian Institution's Information Age Exhibit in Washington, DC.
THIEL Audio was an American privately held high performance loudspeaker manufacturer founded in Lexington, Kentucky, but now based in Nashville, Tennessee. Thiel Audio products are distributed to over 30 countries. All products by the founders were designed and built in their 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) facility located in Lexington. Thiel ceased operations in 2018.
KEF is a British loudspeaker manufacturer with international distribution. It was founded in Tovil, Maidstone, Kent in 1961 by electrical engineer Raymond Cooke and named after Kent Engineering & Foundry with which it originally shared the site. Its founder, Raymond Cooke, was created OBE by Elizabeth II in 1979.
The NAD 3020 is a stereo integrated amplifier by NAD Electronics, considered to be one of the most important components in the history of high fidelity audio. Launched in 1978, this highly affordable product delivered a good quality sound, which acquired a reputation as an audiophile amplifier of exceptional value. By 1998, the NAD 3020 had become the most well known and best-selling audio amplifier in history.
Vifa is a Danish consumer electronics company that designs and manufactures high-end audio products. It was founded in 1933 by N.C.Madsen, manufacturing driver units for many high-end brands until 2014, when it made a transition into making its own wireless speakers. It launched a line-up of Bluetooth systems in 2014 and 2016 which are named after the capital cities of Scandinavian nations.
