A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A speaker system, also often simply referred to as a speaker or loudspeaker, comprises one or more such speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections possibly including a crossover network. The speaker driver can be viewed as a linear motor attached to a diaphragm which couples that motor's movement to motion of air, that is, sound. An audio signal, typically from a microphone, recording, or radio broadcast, is amplified electronically to a power level capable of driving that motor in order to reproduce the sound corresponding to the original unamplified electronic signal. This is thus the opposite function to the microphone; indeed the dynamic speaker driver, by far the most common type, is a linear motor in the same basic configuration as the dynamic microphone which uses such a motor in reverse, as a generator.
A public address system is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound source or recorded sound or music. PA systems are used in any public venue that requires that an announcer, performer, etc. be sufficiently audible at a distance or over a large area. Typical applications include sports stadiums, public transportation vehicles and facilities, and live or recorded music venues and events. A PA system may include multiple microphones or other sound sources, a mixing console to combine and modify multiple sources, and multiple amplifiers and loudspeakers for louder volume or wider distribution.
A sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers in enclosures all controlled by a mixing console that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience. In many situations, a sound reinforcement system is also used to enhance or alter the sound of the sources on the stage, typically by using electronic effects, such as reverb, as opposed to simply amplifying the sources unaltered.
JBL is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. JBL serves the customer home and professional market. The professional market includes studios, installed/tour/portable sound, music production, DJ, cinema markets. The home market includes high-end home amplification/speakers/headphones as well as high-end car audio. JBL is owned by Harman International, itself a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
Celestion is a British designer and exporter of professional loudspeakers.
Bowers & Wilkins, commonly known as B&W, is a British company that produces consumer and professional loudspeakers and headphones. The company was founded in 1966 in Worthing, West Sussex, England. In October 2020, it was acquired by Sound United, a holding company who owns several other audio brands.
Berghain is a nightclub in Berlin, Germany. It is named after its location near the border between Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain in Berlin, and is a short walk from Berlin Ostbahnhof main line railway station. Founded in 2004 by friends Norbert Thormann and Michael Teufele, it has since become one of the world's most famous clubs and has been called the "world capital of techno."
Crest Audio, Inc is an American company that produces professional sound equipment, including audio mixers, power amplifiers, and loudspeakers. Crest Audio was founded in the late 1970s by Jean-Pierre Prideaux in California. Dallas Music Industries (DMI) acquired Crest Audio in the 1980s and subsequently, Crest Audio was acquired by Peavey Electronics in 1999, and has since been based in Meridian, Mississippi. The company has an international network of distributors.
Cabasse is a French audio manufacturer founded by Georges Cabasse (1928-2019) in 1950. It is mainly known for its home loudspeakers but has also produced professional audio speakers for studio recording or sound reinforcement in theatres and power amplifiers. The company is now part of a larger group called Veom Group.
Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios, radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate audio reproduction is crucial. Among audio engineers, the term monitor implies that the speaker is designed to produce relatively flat (linear) phase and frequency responses. In other words, it exhibits minimal emphasis or de-emphasis of particular frequencies, the loudspeaker gives an accurate reproduction of the tonal qualities of the source audio, and there will be no relative phase shift of particular frequencies—meaning no distortion in sound-stage perspective for stereo recordings. Beyond stereo sound-stage requirements, a linear phase response helps impulse response remain true to source without encountering "smearing". An unqualified reference to a monitor often refers to a near-field design. This is a speaker small enough to sit on a stand or desk in proximity to the listener, so that most of the sound that the listener hears is coming directly from the speaker, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings. Monitor speakers may include more than one type of driver or, for monitoring low-frequency sounds, such as bass drum, additional subwoofer cabinets may be used.
Meyer Sound Laboratories is an American company based in Berkeley, California that manufactures self-powered loudspeakers, multichannel audio show control systems, electroacoustic architecture, and audio analysis tools for the professional sound reinforcement, fixed installation, and sound recording industries.
SpeakerCraft is an American manufacturer of custom-installed audio/video and home theater products based in Petaluma, California.
John Meyer is a pioneer in the sound reinforcement industry. In 1979 he founded Meyer Sound Laboratories with his wife, Helen Meyer.
Focal-JMlab is a French company that has designing and selling high fidelity audio systems since 1979. Based in Saint-Étienne, the company manufactures loudspeakers for the home, speaker drivers for automobiles, headphones, and professional monitor loudspeakers.
Community Professional Loudspeakers is an American manufacturer of loudspeakers and sound reinforcement equipment. The company has been located in the Philadelphia area since its inception in 1968, and has occupied its present location in Chester, Pennsylvania since 1981.
David W. Gunness is an American audio engineer, electrical engineer and inventor. He is known for his work on loudspeaker design, especially high-output professional horn loudspeakers for public address, studio, theater, nightclub, concert and touring uses.
Monitor Audio is a British company that specialises in designing and manufacturing loudspeakers and sound systems.
Thomas J. Danley is an American audio engineer, electrical engineer and inventor, the holder of multiple patents for audio transducers, especially high-linearity, high-output professional horn loudspeaker systems. Danley first gained notice in the 1980s with his novel servomotor-driven subwoofer systems used to reproduce very low frequencies in concert tours and theme parks. In 2000 he advanced the implementation of multiple-entry horns in 2000 with several designs led by the SPL-td1, a seven-driver loudspeaker. In 2005, he started a new company, Danley Sound Labs, through which he patented further technologies and produced a wide variety of loudspeaker models based on these technologies.
A reverb effect, or reverb, is an audio effect applied to a sound signal to simulate reverberation. It may be created through physical means, such as echo chambers, or electronically through audio signal processing. The American producer Bill Putnam is credited for the first artistic use of artificial reverb in music, on the 1947 song "Peg o' My Heart" by the Harmonicats.
