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SPEAKER ABCs

When computers were originally released they had onboard speakers that generated a series of different tones and beeps. As multimedia and games became popular, higher quality computers speakers began to be released for more higher quality sound effects and music.

Computer sound cards today are not powerful enough to power a nice set of speakers. Today, good quality speakers are self-powered, relatively small in size to fit on desks or on the side of monitors and contain magnetic shielding.

Speakers are generally rated in Frequency response, Total Harmonic Distortion and Watts.

The Frequency response is the rate of measurement of the highs and lows of the sounds the speaker and produce.

The THD, or Total Harmonic Distortion, is the amour of distortion created by amplifying the signal.

The Watts is the amount of amplification available for the speakers.

The below illustration is how a standard pair of computer speakers may be setup.

As shown in the above picture, the right speaker is the location of where all the connections are connected. Generally, the other speaker will have only one cord that physically attaches to it and the opposite end connecting to the right speaker. Also, the right speaker connects to the computer sound card and also is the speaker which will generate the power as it has the power cord also connected to it. Finally, the above example also illustrates how the power button may be also located next to the connections.