JOURNAL

OFTHEAUDIOENGINEERING
SOCIETY APRIL1964,VOLUME
12, NUMBER
2

Interrelation of Speaker and Amplifier Design*

VICTORBROCINERANDDANIEL R. YONI_ECKLINGI-IAUSEBI

H. H. Scott, Inc., Maynard, Massachusetts

ArLticipated improvement of performance has motivated amplifier designs using no audio

transformers, particularly in speaker-amplifier combinations. However, direct coupling to the
speaker involves several problems that may not all be obvious to the amplifier designer unfamiliar
with speaker theory. This paper analyzes some of the pitfalls to be avoided.

INTRODUCTION What kind of matching is involved? Impedance matching

IN THE continuing search for better sound reproduction equal

it is necessary to analyze the system performing this
function and not only the individual final links of the chain:
the amplifier and the loudspeaker. In order to see what
improvements are possible and what limitations there are,
one must determine not only the capabilities of the ampli-
tier and the loudspeaker separately .but also the effect of
one upon the other,
Efforts to improve ampli,fiers have recently been applied
mainly to transistorized amplifiers. Lower power consump-
tion has been obtained, which is of great importance in
portable equipment. Class B operation of the output stage
has been used to attain efficiency and has greatly reduced
standby power. Reduced power consumption has also de-
creased ampi[tier weight--another important achievement
for portable equipment,
MATCHING AND EQUALIZATION
In recent years, an idea of the 1920's has been revived
whereby an ampi[tier and a loudspeaker comprise acom-
plete integrated system) The principal advantage claimed
is that the amplifier and speaker are matched to each other,
*Presented October 1963at the Fifteenth Annual Fall Convention
of the Aud/o EngineeringSociety,New York.
1. Daniel R. von Recklinghausen, "Misma.tch Between Power Am-
plifiers and LoudspeakerLoads", J. AudioEng. Soc. 6, 220 (1958).
means tothat
the nominal load impedance
the nominal impedance required by the ampli-is
of the loudspeaker
tier. This is easily accomplished with separa{e components.
The major improvement that can be made in such a corn-
bination is that the ampi[tier can :be designed to correct
certain deficiencies that the loudspeaker might have. It
must ,be remembered, though, that frequency response cor-
reetion is possible only .to a moderate degree. If a loud-
speaker system has a marked lack of response in a given
frequency range, boosting the amplifier response in that
region will certainly improve the overall frequency re-
sponse of the system; however, the power output capability
of the amplifier restricts the degree of improvement, and
the maximum audible volume of the loudspeaker system
may actually be decreased. I.f the loudspeaker system has
sharp resonance peaks, it is theoretically possi.ble to corn-
pensate for those by a sharp dip in response of the ampli-
fier. In practice, this is not very repeatable in production
because the loudspeaker resonance and a.bsorption reso-
nance in the amplifier may vary in different units and also
change with temperature, resulting in an overall response
having a dip followed by a sharp peak, or vice versa. It is
not only the frequency response of the ampli_tier that can
be used for correction of the frequency response of the
loudspeaker system, but also its internal impedance. The
impedance curve versus frequency of a speaker is certainly
not flat, and any finite impedance of the amplifier will af-
fect the overall frequency response.

124
 INTERRELATION OF SPEAKERAND AMPLIFIER DESIGN 125;

J - the maximumoutput voltagelimitationstill exists but the

· _A,s,sro_-_
-L since a current
output transistor
withis any
basically
given aload
current
impedance
amplifier.
is limited
Here,

'/ _'- J ..... .-___iF

Z-. ' __
xx_'{ _M_L
C_o_
°_ themselvesby
primarily andtheany fixed resistors
saturation that of
resistance maythebe transistors
placed in,
..... ' ' series with the transistors to limit current to a safe value.

_[_ Tp _ product of maximum available voltage and maximumavail-

' _ _[_)_o]--' _,
--- .t_ able current output
Maximum is a maximum. Customarily,
power of an a tube when
amplifier occurs amplifier
the

/ x_ ,I ......... _-_
_ _ isratedatsuchapoint. (PointCinFig.
amplifier is usually rated and operatedl at
b.) a Atransistor
higher im-
o }' .._f_o,o_ o_e--....._ _ pedance point because operating such an amplifier at its

_----E_ E-d_ )
_ E_ (............. Eb_Ep-_= maximum
L
._ E_, output
-
sistors. Since capability
a speaker causes
is not overheating
a purely of load
resistive the tran-
and
(:_;_°_:_) _ may at certain frequencies be an almost purely reactive
_*) _)
load, it is also well to analyze the performanceof ampli-
Fro. 1. Maximum possible current swing vs voltage across the load tiers with purely reactive loads. Here, it is found that the
with R_ variable, performance of a tube amplifier is not drastically changed.
A transistor amplifier, in this case, behaves rather like a
This raises the question of how a loudspeaker and an
amplifier are really matched, and how matching should be

the
ties amplifieras
with variousa blackbox
resistive and
and analyzeits output capabili-
reactive loads. Previous %T e_ _ ,o r_ c_ zf_.
accomplished. For this purpose, it is useful
work on this subject 2 has analyzed tube amplifiers, to although
consider _,__w'_W_L ,, *'
i_ 1 _t:l
:_uF__-+, I _?_
_

transistor amplifiers are actually easier to analyze. F .... 1 _ ]

J2L- I
_ lr_'+M'l
_ _'_--
AMPLIFIERLOADING % '_ _
M_aD]
r_ CMS I I
As shown in Fig. 1, a tube amplifier is limited in its _,t-- ,[
available output power primarily 'by two factors: maximum Fro. 3. Top: Mobility analog circuit of a direct-radiator speaker
instantaneous output voltage and maximum instantaneous and amplifier. Bottom: Circuit with electrical quantities referred to
the mechanical side and with approximate radiation mobility for low
output current. The current-voltage diagram of such an frequencies.
amplifier is practically a rectangle. The maximum output
voltage is definitely limited by the power supply voltage, fixed resistor in series with a voltage generator, thereby
and the maximum current is limited by the current the permitting considerably higher reactive volt-ampere output
output stage can deliver at zero bias. (It is assumed that than a tube amplifier under similar conditions.
grid current is not permitted to flow.) In a transistor am-
plifier, such a current-limiting mechanism does not exist SPEAKERCHARACTERISTICS

_ A speaker impedance is, as the name indicates, not a

.o pure resistance; it varies with frequency, and has peaks
,, and dips. Figure 2 shows a typical impedance curve, show-
,,;_o.._ ina both magnitude and phase of the impedance. A slope
_° rising with frequencyis equivalentto an inductivecom-
' ponent, and a falling impedance is equivalent to a capaci-
_.,o tivecomponent.
",_ _ J _ ,o This frequency-varying loudspeaker impedance is, of
,o //.- ,o_ _ course, the result of reactive loudspeaker elements. Figure
_o__ 3 showsa "circuit diagram"of a singledirect-radiatorloud-
. speaker in a closed box. Actually, this circuit diagram is
°J \ / ° _ completely valid only for low and mid-frequency perfor-

I /,xx //f / .......

.......... _°_._
'°} _ mance
i.e., all of a loudspeaker.
elements moving atIt the
is drawn on the mobility
same velocity basis,
are connected
J , --_', ....... aooo _ooo ioooo to a common point and an ideal transformer transforms
........ ;........ 70_ ;70......
..... this velocity into an electrical voltage, and vice versa.
Fxo. 2. Typical loudspeaker impedance curve. The resistor re represents the radiation resistance of the
2. Frederick V. Hunt, Electroacoustics. Analysis of Transduction loudspeaker--the element through which acoustic power is
(New York, John Wiley & Son, Inc.). produced. From this diagram, it is possible to predict the
126 VICTOR BROCINER AND DANIEL R. yon RECKLINGHAUSEN

integrated sound pressure vs frequency response of the
loudspeaker. The response is the ratio of the equivalent
voltage (integrated sound pressure) across the radiation
resistance r2 with the input voltage. The impedance of the
loudspeaker can also be determined by dividing input
voltage by input current, and the efficiency of the loud-
:speaker can be calculated. With most loudspeakers of the
.direct radiator type, efficiency is considerably less than
mutely flat; if those two frequencies are separated by a
factor of 10 to 1, then the voltage appearing across resistor
r2 is approximately one-tenth of the input voltage. Since
one-tenth of the input voltage corresponds to one one-
hundredth of the input power, such a loudspeaker would
then have efficiency of 1%, which is certainly not an un-

loudspeakeris very nearly equalto the electricalvoicecoil

resistance R_. In an ideal loudspeaker without mechanical II
losses (r:_s) and infinite compliance (CMs) the radiation
resistance (re)and the equivalent capacitance representing _.11
100%,
the massand
of the
at mid-frequencies
cone and voice coil
the (MD)
input form
impedance
an R-Cof low-
the _:i _ !!''_'l/_
_DII
pass filter with a low turnover frequency. The mass of the
air (M_) and the equivalent mechanical resistance of the (cc) (b)
voice coil and generator form a high-pass filter with a Fro. 5. Possible connections between speaker and amplifier, a.
higher turnover frequency. Between those two turnover Series dc-connectedstage; b. Parallel dc-connectedstage.
frequencies, the response of the loudspeaker will be approxi-

usual value. This illustrates the type of compromise that

r?% has to be made between the efficiency and frequency re-

.o
-_ab _ooI {'___12_Ek_
k._t_ n r2),_,o _" M_,_2r + BJZ_a_[_"_2
j sponse of aturnover
apart the loudspeaker. It is readily
frequencies seenlower
are, the that will
the farther
be the
point where the two curves intersect. The "gain-bandwidth
-5_bb
_r.d aD isa_
tlqcu, ...... _hEL.r_s product" remains constant while moving mass and speaker

.q -.. size are varied. The gain-bandwidth product itself is pri-

-_odb 4o ,'j
"_.' 4ff_/-_--
"'"'_.._-_ product of active voice
marily determined by thecoilpower
lengthof and
the flux density
motor, in the
i.e., by the
Y -bxk_- airgap. The compliance of the box and of the suspension
v _ucL
r_s "<_,,_ of the loudspeaker modify the low-frequency performance
-_sa_ 3 _ as shown in Fig. 4, where the individual high-pass and low-
_F_CT
0FC_s pass networks described above are also shown.
(UNDERDAIdPED)

-'Zodb t
uo_._ AMPLIFIER OUTPUT CAPABILITIES
NF.Gt._.CT_NG
r_S _NDc_: As shown above, there is an optimum load impedance
_,,-ow _a_mO_C,_St_,G_._ASS_,Lr_R) for the amplifier. Optimum performance of the overall
;_[_+a_ _r ll_ ) system results when the speaker impedance is equal to the

_'-_ [ ) -1r_ painful way to match these impedances is by using a

u¢l matching transformer. This is the usual procedure with
at2 _[_ optimum load for
tube amplifiers. Withthetransistor
amplifier. The easiest
amplifiers it is and
desiredleast
to
r_ << _B_2* a_ eliminate the output transformer, and thus the loudspeaker
itself must have the proper impedance.
AT h_Gh_RE.QOENO_,
(Low-_,_5Fa.T_R) M Mo >> M t
The practical range of load impedances for which ampli-
%_ _ - tiers can be designed is limited. Tube amplifiers without

_ I _ r_ optimumvaluesfroma
and 20,000 ohm. Transistor
fewohm
amplifier
to 50load
ohm,as
impedances
determined
have
c by the type of circuit, supply voltage, and output power
e_k _ _*_ ¢'rol!l output transformers require loads in the range between S00
capability. Impedances of dynamic direct-radiator loud-
Fro. 4, Eg _ amplifier open-circuit voltage; Rg _ amplifier source speakers seldom range lower than a couple of ohm or higher
resistance; L _ voice coil inductance; Rr, : voice coil resistance;
/o _- force -_- Bli; Uc _ voice coil velocity; M.u_ _---mass of voice coil
than 50 ohm. Before the advent of transistors, loudspeakers
and diaphragm; r._,s : mechanical responsiveness of suspension : with voice coil impedances as high as 500 ohm were manu-
1/(mechanical resistance); C_ts _ mechanical compliance of suspen- factured. However, production difficulties due to breakage
sion; Z,ua :mechanical radiation mobility for one s,.'de of diaphragm; of fine wire prevented these designs from being commer-
: 1/(mechanical radiation impedance); M_ _ acoustic mass; and
r_ _ acousticresponsiveness), cially practical. Ribbon and electrostatic loudspeakers
 INTERRELATION OF SPEAKER AND AMPLIFIER DESIGN 127

basically have special impedance characteristics and usually R.... RD

include a built-in matching transformer for conversionof E,___= J_ R.... L

their basicof impedance
pedances to a more
these loudspeakers withusable
their value.
matchingThetrans-
im- -_'
t---v_ I-_'-_
, _, _-_o _._
formers show more variation with respect to frequency than _ ' ____, ', _

do those of direct radiator loudspeakers. __ , __-Eo _

What designs are available for direct connection between ' T _.. /
speaker and amplifier? Output stages may be series or R.... R,
parallelpush-pullconnectedwith respectto the dc supply. (a) (b) (c)
The basic circuits are shown in Fig. 5. Fro. 7. Development of amplifier-load combinatien in series push-
The parallel-connected power stage requires an output pull circuits.
transformer or center-tapped choke to permit connection
to the speaker. However, for the purpose of analysis, nected circuit of Fig. 7c (shown with the RD's replaced by
transformers are ruled out, even those in disguise. A device transistors in Fig. Sa). If Rsat is assumed to be equal to
for overcoming the difficulty is a loudspeaker with a center- zero, a total supply voltage of 2ED is required and the maxi-
tapped voice coil. Figure 6 shows how this makes possible mum power output is given by P.... 8--(2Eo)2/8Rr, =
Eoe/2Rl, s .
By an entirely analogous process the circuit of a standard
+ parallel dc push-pullstage can be developedas shownin

', of one of the currents so that a sinusoidal current can flow

Fro. 6. Parallel dc-connected
center-tapped voice coil.
j ' in the ultimate load.
- If transistors (or devices) identicalin rating to those of
the previous example are used, I.... : Eo/(RL-I-R_t) must
1_--]_o_,,i _ Fig. a. Here, a transformer is required to invert the phase
be maintained as before, the total supply voltage required
is ED (or one-half of the previous voltage), and the load
resistance must be quadrupled. The total power consump-
output stage using a speaker with tion from the supply remains the same as before and so
does the output power, which is given by

a transformerless amplifier with parallel dc-connected out- P ......, = Eo-°/2R_ _ 2Eo2/RLp.

put transistors. At first sight, this seems an excellent cir-
cuit, with the supply voltage requirements of a transformer-
coupled output stage and no net dc in the voice coil,
CONVENTIONAL PUSH-PULLAMPLIFIERS
In order to analyze the various amplifier-load combina-
tions, it is necessary to remember the basic function of
an amplifying device (be it a transistor or a tube) which
is to act as a controlled time-varying impedance (RD)
between a supply voltage and a load impedance (RL), as
CENTER-TAPPEDSPEAKERCIRCUIT
Thus, if a parallel dc push-pull stage (without output
transformer) is now connected to a center-tapped loud-
speaker, the load resistance of each half voice-coil must be
equal to RL if the same supply voltage ED is used and I,,._.
is maintained as before. Again, power input and power
output remain as above: P., .... = Eo2/2R_, remembering

seen in Fig. 7a. If the resistance RD is controlled so that (a) R,, _o (b)
a sinusoidal Class
single-ended currentA flows in Rn,
amplifier the basic circuit
is completed. of a
The saturn- LF,_"
_,,, _?_-- _z_ ]_,_
,o t .... ,
__ _ !
tion resistance Rs_t of the device is an inherent device [-_'______+__[77 _ "o j__ __qlliLl_! _,o_ I
characteristic
lng resistors. and includes wiring and other external limit- _---* I t_, _-[- _,_,
[__'_" i_
_Zf___ tll_· 1..... I
The maximum instantaneous current Im_._in the transis- _
tot (or other device) is limited by device capabilities. In
this circuit, it is I...... z Eo/(Ri-+-R_t), where ED is the dc _.... _o(C) _-. ?) (e)

such a way that a half-sinewaveshaped current occurs, _'_'i 'i_

this stage acts as one-half of a push-pull circuit. To corn- - - - I
bine two such stages (appropriately controlled) in series
supply
(see Fig.voltage.
7b), theWhen the resistances
two load resistance RD is controlled
RL may in
be replaced _ III[I_'_ . ':ii/_o:ff_
L_" ,_J _fll_i__
L_' l_r _ J
by one single resistance RL, since current flows in each Ro Ftc. 8. Devekpment of amplifier-lead ccmbinatien in para!Icl push-
only half the time. This results in the standard series con- pull circuits.
128 VICTOR BROCINER AND DANIEL R. yon RECKLINGHAUSEN

portant disadvantage of using a loudspeaker with a center-

- E°_-4----_I } a' o_ The reduction of loudspeaker efficiency is the most im-
c_- c_ tapped voice coil in a transformerless parallel dc push-pull
necessarily apparent
R__ _v-.q_._. I b_- amplifier circuit. This factor is not
to the amplifier designer. Alternately, if the loudspeaker
designer desired to operate his loudspeaker at full effective-
(o.) (b) ness and did so by adding a center-tapped choke without
Fro. 9. Parallel push-pull amplifier with center-tapped speaker, changing loudspeaker impedance, he would create amplifier
overload problems.
that RL is the resistance of half the voice coil and each half- Of the parallel dc push-pull amplifier-loudspeaker corn-
coil receives power half the time. binations, only the transformer (or choke) coupled version
The addition of an autotransformer or center-tapped will provide optimum results when properly matched. This
choke (of Fig. 9b) to the circuit of Fig. 9a then, in effect, is a major design consideration when the combination is to
connects both voice-coil halves in parallel, with each half provide optimum performance while restricted by an avail-
receiving power at all times. This doubles peak current I,,,_ able supply voltage of low value.
input power and output power P,,a_ because the effective
load resistance is one-half of the previous load resistance. THE AUTHORS
Thus, the addition of an autotransformer to the circuit of
Fig. 9a converts this into a standard parallel dc push-pull
circuit and raises ac and dc electrical power by 3 db. There-
fore, transistors can be damaged by excessive peak current.
For proper operation of the transistors, load resistance in
each connection will have to be chosen so that Im_ is not
.exceeded and the power increase cannot be realized.
What about the acoustic output of a loudspeaker with
two separate voice coil halves? If it is presumed that this
loudspeaker is essentially a "normal" loudspeaker with V. BROCINER D.R. RECKLINGFiAI3'SEN
only an electrical center tap added to .the voice coil, the Victor Brociner, a native New Yorker, received a B.S. in
rest of the loudspeaker structure being unchanged. Figure 10 Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University in Radio
In 1937 he and two associates formed the Philharmonic
1931.
shows the equivalent circuit of such a loudspeaker. Since Company which pioneered in the high fidelity field, manu-
a considerable effort is required to analyze such a circuit facturing a wide-band high-fidelity
radio-phonograph. After
in detail, a simplified analysis will be presented. World War II Mr. Brociner formed his own company, market-
When connected so that both electrical generators %/2 lng high-fidelity amplifiers and loudspeakers. In 1958 he
are identical and operate simultaneously, this loudspeaker joined University Loudspeakers, Inc., as staff consultant, and
in 1960 became director of engineering there. Since May,
operates identically to that of Fig. 3. If, as in a practical 1963, Mr. Brociner has been at H. H. Scott, Inc.
loudspeaker, the coupling between voice coil halves is rela- Mr. Brociner is a member of the Audio Engineering Society,
tively small, opening one of the generator connections (as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the
is done alternately in the circuit of Fig. 9) will cause only Acoustical Society of America and the Radio Club of America.
one-half the velocity to be developed across the radiation ·
resistance r2. In this case the electrical power input is re- Daniel R. yon Recklinghausenwas born in New York, N. Y.,
duced to one-half its former value, since the current is un- in 1925 and received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1951.
changed, but ,flows in only half of the voice coil. In effect, Previous to receiving his degree, he was employed at Rhode
one-half of the motor (Bl/2) is disconnected, thereby reduc- Schwarz, Munich, Germany and the Research Laboratory of
ing the loudspeaker efficiency .to one-half its former value. Electronics, the High Voltage and Acoustics Laboratories of
The reduction in efficiency is not accompanied by an in- M.I.T., doing development work on uhf and shf meters and
crease in the bandwidth of the loudspeaker, generators, reverberation devices and recording and studio
facilities. He joined H. H. Scott, Inc., in 1951 as project en-
gineer responsible for the development of sound analyzers,
R9 '_-_, t.
T I:1 D.t:I tuners, amplifiers and other acoustical instruments. In 1955

__ · · _ _, he becamechiefengineer.
Committee of the Institute of High Fidelity Manufacturers and
a member of the IHFM Amplifier Standards Committee. He
z , · s._:J has been a member of Panels 4 and 5 of the National Stereo-
_A T M,,_ 'Cr_s_ r_s
g,, phonic Radio Committee and was chairman of subcommittees
, 4.1 and 5.4, N.S.R.C. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma
X, and Etta Kappa Nu. He is a Fellow o,f the Audio Engineer-
.__Ti__, __:j_ ! i Mr. yon Recklinghausen is chairman of the Tuner Standards
- lng Society, a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and
Fro. 10. Mobility analog of a direct radiator split voice-coil Electronics Engineers and various IEEE professional groups.
speaker and amplifier combination.