What are Thiele/Small parameters?
Thiele/Small parameters are electro-mechanical measurements that are used to mathematically predict the low-end response of a woofer. They were first developed by Neville Thiele and Richard Small. Thiele/Smalls measure such things as the woofer’s moving mass, magnet strength, resonant frequency and damping. These characteristics are used to predict the behavior of a given speaker in different loudspeaker cabinet designs. Computers have pretty much taken over the measurements, but we like to keep a hands-on knowledge of T/S parameters, so here are some of the Thiele/Small parameters explained: • Fs – is the free air resonant frequency of a speaker. • Qes – “Q” is the mathematical ratio of the amplitude vs. the bandwidth of a resonance peak curve. This T/S is the measurement of the electrical “Q” of a speaker, having to do with electrical impedance. • Qms – This is the measurement of the mechanical “Q” of a speaker, and has to do with cone motion. • Cms – is the “compliance” (or “un-stif
