When it comes to correlating how the parameters of a speaker translate into music reproduction, well, the details are often somewhat sparse. One speaker characteristic that’s often overlooked when searching for new subwoofers or woofers is Q. This unitless number is a key component in describing how the suspension and motor work to control and damp cone oscillation at its resonant frequency. Different Q values affect efficiency, frequency response and, ultimately, sound quality. It’s not an intuitive topic, but understanding Q factor is crucial to picking the best bass solution for your car audio system. This is a full-propeller-beanie discussion, but it’ll be time well spent.
What Is Speaker Q?
If you’re an audio aficionado, then you may have heard of speaker specifications called Thiele/Small parameters. These specifications can be used to simulate and predict the low-frequency performance of a loudspeaker. Three of the specifications relate to a topic called Q. Q (or quality factor) is a unitless number that describes how underdamped an oscillating circuit is. A higher Q value means that the circuit or system has low damping and will ring or resonate for longer.
Here’s an analogy that might help you understand. Do you know those springy little door stoppers that kids like to play with? They go boing when you flick them. In the right setting, they’re somewhere between entertaining and amusing. After a few dozen flicks, they become annoying. They have a high Q factor. They bounce back and forth for a few seconds after the initial input (a flick of your finger) is applied.
If you were to apply a piece of electrical tape to the top of the door stopper, it would act to damp the vibrations. The effect would lower the Q of the spring system, and the resonances (vibrations) would stop faster.
For most mechanical or electrical circuits, a Q of 0.5 is considered to be optimally damped. A Q of 0.3 would be over-damped, and a Q of 0.7 would be under-damped. A tuning fork, for example, has a Q of roughly 1,000.
For the purposes of this discussion, we are going to look at a typical door woofer (6.5-inch) to evaluate how different Q factors affect frequency response. The perfect speaker would have a flat frequency response that’s determined by its Thiele/Small parameters. It would look like this:
Qts is the Thiele/Small parameter that defines the total Q factor of a speaker. The value takes into account both the mechanical and electrical Q factors of the driver, equally.
Most car audio speaker manufacturers don’t fully understand the relationship between Q and frequency response, or they choose to ignore it to deliver a certain “sound.” Unfortunately, when it comes to truly high-end speakers, tailoring the frequency response of the system should be left to an equalizer built into a digital signal processor, and not a characteristic built into a speaker.
Here are the benefits of using a higher-Q door woofer: They are more efficient in the upper bass and midbass region. The extra energy stored in the suspension is released and adds to the output, typically in the region focused around 140 to 160 Hz. If you’re designing an audio system without a subwoofer, the extra bass can be of some help in making the system sound fun.
The drawback is that the extra energy that is stored and released by the suspension is distortion. It’s sound that wasn’t in the original recording. Remember, the suspension of the speaker is a spring. You don’t want it to continue to resonate back and forth after the signal goes away. That back and forth motion not only affects the frequency domain but the time domain. Sounds continue to ring out after the original input is gone. In subwoofers, this is often what’s described as being boomy. In a door woofer, it’s sloppiness. Conversely, a properly damped speaker is often described as sounding “tight” or “fast.” Since speed can’t change, these descriptions are limited in their accuracy.
Shopping for Great Woofers
If your car audio system includes a subwoofer (and it really should), then you’ll want to search for a door woofer that has a low Q. Some 6.5-inch woofers like the Audison Thesis TH 6.5 II and Audiofrog GB60 have Qts values under 0.5. The Morel Supremo MW6, Hertz MP 165P.3, and Focal ES 165 KX3 woofers also have relatively low Qts values. Lower values (0.4 to 0.5) are better, and you’ll want to avoid anything above 0.6 if you have a subwoofer and want properly damped midbass performance.
Drop by your local specialty mobile enhancement retailer and talk to them about how best to upgrade your car audio system to deliver amazing bass and midbass performance and accuracy.
In physics and engineering, the quality factor or Q factor is a dimensionless parameter that describes how underdamped an oscillator or resonator is. It is defined as the ratio of the initial energy stored in the resonator to the energy lost in one radian of the cycle of oscillation.
) is a unitless number that describes how underdamped an oscillating circuit is. A higher Q value means that the circuit or system has low damping and will ring or resonate for longer.
The Q parameter stands for quality, and controls the shape of the EQ curve. High Q values use steeper curves, which affect a smaller range and allow you to pinpoint specific frequencies. Low Q values affect a wider range of frequencies and tend to sound more gentle when used subtly.
You want a speaker that sounds great and that starts with picking the right materials for each part of the speaker. You've got to consider what to use for the voice coil, the magnet, the basket, the cone (or diaphragm), the grille, the suspension elements, and the enclosure.
A high q ( > 0.7) causes a bump at the bottom followed by a faster drop. A low Q ( < 0.7) causes the bass to roll off more slowly but without the hump. A lot of smaller speakers use bump at the bottom to make them sound better. A Q of 0.7 is often referred to as optimally flat.
The Q factor is a measure of the quality and characteristics of resonance in a system. In the context of speaker sound, the Q factor represents the sharpness or width of the frequency response curve.
Due to bottom bracket size, minimum chainline guidelines and chainstay length, there is an acceptable range for Q-factor, which is typically between 150mm and 170mm. Road bikes tend to have a narrower Q-factor (150mm), while mountain bikes tend to have a greater Q-factor (170mm).
In equalizers, Q is the ratio of center frequency to bandwidth, and if the center frequency is fixed, then bandwidth is inversely proportional to Q—meaning that as you raise the Q, you narrow the bandwidth.
Lower values (0.4 to 0.5) are better, and you'll want to avoid anything above 0.6 if you have a subwoofer and want properly damped midbass performance.
But as the waves reverb off of surfaces, the sound quality diminishes. This means that to hear the best quality sound from your audio system, you want to make sure that your speakers are aimed directly towards the seating area.
A low Q due to a high resistance in series with the inductor produces a low peak on a broad response curve for a parallel resonant circuit. A high Q is due to a low resistance in series with the inductor. This produces a higher peak in the narrower response curve.
The 4 ohm speaker has a higher power handling capacity than the 8 ohm speaker. When used in conjunction with an appropriate amplifier, they have the ability to produce higher sound volumes with less distortion.
The speaker's sound is characterized by its accuracy and neutrality, making it a great choice for audiophiles who value a faithful reproduction of the original recording. The speaker's cabinet is well-built and features a modern design with a high-quality finish.
Systems like QSound rely on the fact that a sound arriving from one side of the listener will reach one ear before the other and that when it reaches the furthest ear, it is lower in amplitude and spectrally altered due to obstruction by the head.
The Q in EQ stands for "quality factor" or "bandwidth." EQ, or equalization, is a process used in music editing to adjust the balance of frequencies within a sound.
“Q is a relation of bandwidth. The number of octaves (or fractions of an octave) over which the signal is affected by boosting or cutting. In EQ circuits, bandwidth and Q describe the same thing, but use different (and inverse) scales: the higher the Q, the lower the bandwidth, and vice versa.
In physics and engineering, the quality factor or Q factor is a dimensionless parameter that describes how underdamped an oscillator or resonator is. It is defined as the ratio of the initial energy stored in the resonator to the energy lost in one radian of the cycle of oscillation.
Introduction: My name is Arielle Torp, I am a comfortable, kind, zealous, lovely, jolly, colorful, adventurous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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