JBL Flip Speaker A Technological Advancement

City College of New York
Ms. Maryam Alikhani
English 21700: Writing for Engineering April 16, 2018

A Speaker’s Voice

My voice breaks through the silence Like a bird whistling
Its fine melodious tune Through a quiet forest.

Pop, rap, rock, jazz, funk I can perform them all I can sing like Brittany Or rap like Biggie.

Headphones envy me
My sound waves pierce through the room While their voice is like a faint whisper Only head by one.

You can turn me up
And my voice will roar like a lion But don’t ever turn me down
I cannot stand being silent.

FIGURE 1

INTRODUCTION

Necessity breeds invention and the invention of the loudspeaker arose from the need to generate larger volumes to greater audiences. The earliest forms of sound amplification were horns, usually made from thin strips of tin or copper curved outwards. The first form of loudspeaker did not use electricity. One of the first individuals to develop a fully functional horn was Thomas Edison as depicted in Figure 1 standing next to an initial prototype of the technology. The narrowest part of the horn or the throat is

farthest away from the mouth. As sound is inputted into the throat, it outputs a louder sound. This horn speaker provided a way to record audio for entertainments, record keeping, and also voice radio.

Created around 1880, this device was considered revolutionary but also impractical. The horns were unable to amplify sounds to a practical extent and therefore were only used in small scale settings. Only through electrical amplification could sound be generated to fill up larger spaces.

The horn speaker was very quickly replaced by an electromagnetic speaker. An individual named Werner Von Siemens first introduced the idea of the electromagnetic speaker. Siemens created a design that utilized a coil to amplify sound, however due to the lack of sufficient knowledge concerning sound and electricity, Siemens was unable to materialize this idea. Only in 1924 was the first effective design of the modern electrodynamics speaker created.

Chester W. Rice and Edward Washburn Kellogg constructed a design comprised of a mobile coil that significantly increased sound quality and volume. The innovation created a speaker with better dynamic range in frequencies along with a louder and crispier sound. After this innovation, many different variations of these speakers were made. Some of these innovations include flat panel speakers, plasma arc speakers and piezoelectric speakers.

Technical Description Summary

A modern day version of the loudspeaker innovation is the JBL Flip. The JBL Flip is one of the many modern speakers based on Rice and Kellogg’s electrodynamic speaker design. This device utilizes an electromagnetic coil and diaphragm to create sound. Based on Figure 2, this

produce a specifically powerful frequency range.

speaker uses an electromagnet to turn electric signals into movement. The electromagnet is like a machine that takes in something and produces something else. The coil of copper wire moves as the magnet energizes due to a process known as induction. The coil is connected to a cone, or a diaphragm that vibrates along with the coil. Diaphragm is the heart of a speaker where sound is created and amplified. The JBL Flip is designed to

FIGURE 3

Loudspeakers work by turning electric power in to a sound that people can understand what they are hearing. Figure 3, is a diagram of the components of a basic JBL Flip. The yellow piece in Figure 3 is an electromagnet and the orange piece is a coil. An electric signal is sent through the coil depending on the desired sound. This creates a magnetic field in the electromagnet inside the coil. Located to the

right of the electromagnet is a magnet which is red and blue in Figure 3. This magnet has fixed poles so as the electromagnets poles are flipped the magnet will either attract or repel the coils. This happens so quickly is causes the cone located to the left in the image to vibrate. This cone behaves similar to a drum and produces a sound.

Technical Description Parts

1. Magnet: The magnet is broken up into two pieces that are oppositely placed. This creates a radial field from the magnets.
2. Magnet Structure: The magnet structure is the component which holds the magnets in place and enables the magnets to create a standing magnetic field that the coils can bounce off of.

3. Voice Coil: The voice coil is composed of an electromagnet that is wrapped around by a coil. Depending on the direction and wattage of current the voice coil component will align the poles to either attract or repel the magnet. This causes the voice coil to vibrate.
4. Spider: The spider supports the voice coil and allows it to vibrate.

5. Basket: The basket is like the backbone that holds the speakers components together and keeps important parts like the magnets from moving. The basket is much like a frame which keeps all the part together.
6. Cone: As the voice coil vibrates the cone produces sound waves depending on the oscillation. 7. Dust Cover: The dust cover, behaving like a thin shell around the other components protects them from small particles like dust.

8. Terminals: The terminals are where the voice coil receives its power. It contains positive and negative leads.
9. Suspension: The suspension holds the cone in place like suspenders and pulls it back into place while the voice coil in moving allowing the cone to vibrate.

Shape, Features and Function

The JBL Flip speaker is one of the many types of speakers JBL produces. The JBL Flip is a portable, cylindrical speaker comparable to the size a small water bottle. It is 175mm in length, 68 mm in diameter and weighs about 515 grams. The speaker comes in various colors such as light blue, black, gray, red and more. The speaker’s exterior is made of nylon fabric giving the user a very rugged experience. The Flip has the following buttons on the side: Bluetooth pairing, volume buttons (up and down) and a pause and play button. Adjacent to those set of buttons, there is a power button and a JBL connect plus button. The power button has five led lights to indicate different battery life. The connect plus button allows one to connect to multiple JBL connect plus speakers all at the same time. This is a newer innovation for the JBL Flip series to create increase range for bigger audiences. Close to the power button, there is a sealed flap with auxiliary port and a micro-usb port for charging.

Conclusion

The JBL Flip is an innovation created from necessity. This invention is an integral part of sound production. Its design and construction greatly influence the character of sound as we know today. A loudspeaker without the components as described previously is like a guitar without its strings. It takes the strings to transfer the energy from the body of the guitar to the surrounding environment. Similarly, the components of the loudspeaker allow for it to function properly.

References

1. Woodford, C. (2008, February 2). Loudspeakers. Explain That Stuff. Retrieved from http://www.explainthatstuff.com/loudspeakers.html
2. Normandin, M. W., Normandin, S. (2015). History and Types of Speakers. History and Types of Loudspeakers. Retrieved from http://www.edisontechcenter.org/speakers.html
3. Seamount, C. (2017). How Loudspeakers Word. The Physics of Loudspeakers. Retrieved from https://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/webproj/212_spring_2017/Christopher_Seamount/ho wloudspeakerswork.html
4. M. Luz III, R. (2000). How Speakers Work. 2.972 Reports On How Things Work. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/2.972/www/reports/speaker/speaker.html