I think this calls for PS Audio to make a speaker with 50 thousand divers in it so each if them can be dedicated to a specific frequency. ;)

This video has literally made me a better mixer!! I now think about how my Eq decisions are affecting the movement of the speakers, rather than just what sounds better, and the results are better translation!! Thank you 🙏

Another way to answer the question is that according to mr. Fourier, ALL sound is made of lots of simple and perfect sine waves at different frequencies all piled on top of each other.

GREAT explanation!!! I never really thought about that in detail. I appreciate the person who asked the question AND I appreciate you for elating it. Awesome! I'm less ignorant on that matter. 😁.

Wow, that's the exact question I was here for, glad I found the video!

Interesting question! Fascinating that a woofer can reproduce low and high frequencies at the same time. And everything between. But actually the answer on this question is the same for why our ears can hear different frequencies at same time.

i knew the answer to this and have a engineering degree, but i still finished the video for the sheer joy of hearing good teaching. love it

I’ve always had this question. Great explanation.

Paul has this incredible knack of making extremely complex concepts absolutely understandable to oafs like me. Well done and thank you! ;0)

I searched youtube specifically to find the answer to this question, and this exceeded my expectations. Thanks for the beautiful explanation.

Best answer to this particular question I have heard. Makes it easy to understand.

Great vid Paul! Explained a few things I've been wondering about for a long time

Paul you are so funny and pleasant to watch, even on subjects I already know / understand, I enjoy listening to your explanations. Keep it up, and long live to you.

I loved hearing your explanation. I must confess I had no idea how it worked.

This is the kind of man i want to be when i'm older! peppy and running like a machine. 😂🤣🤣

Awesome, thanks for the easy to understand explanation! This is a question I had last year and couldn't find the way to express it to get an answer, but you made it very clear to me.

Excellent explanation! So when is the PS Doppler defeating driver going to be available?

Absolutely love this explanation. Was perplexed too. Thanks Paul

you did a great description and demonstration thank you so much

This has been my favorite Q&A so far. I’ve always wondered this myself.

frequencies and how they create multiple sounds it blows my mind. i feel the answer is so simple that is too good to be true

I love this man so much. I think I'm just gonna binge these videos, learned a lot from this one.

WOW! This explanation is really good! I'm mind blowned.

Great video. I’ve been wondering this for 30 years. Can’t believe I never thought to ask Paul. 👍

Your ear can pick up multiple frequencies at the same time even though it's a single device that is reacting to the sound pressure wave. All of those multiple noises are baked into the soundwave, it's just how sound works, it's actually quite mindblowing when you think about it.

This is exactly the answer I was looking for, I had this exact same question and could not get a simple answer, thank you very much!!!!!

thank you for the wonderful explanation - this has been a true mystery for my entire life

I'd upvote this video 10 times if I could, just for the explanation of Doppler distortion.

Great question, i’ve also wondered about about it for a long time now. Thanks Paul for choosing that question and great explanation of the mystery behind a single woofer or driver in general. 👍🏼

Great question, I'd never thought about that before!

One of your best videos yet.

That brings to another level of question. I think speakers don't play the exact separate sounds from the source. I mean it didn't play musical instruments separately apart. They just play the harmony of the sound that's been recorded from the source (mixed). Sometimes something we think so simple turns out to be underlyingly complicated yet amazing.

Very good explanation!

I am a professional drummer for 45 years so subwoofers are my thing ill tell you each piece of my new budget av system. My net text i just cant get enough of ask Paul i take notes each show

Brilliant explanation.

Looks like you weren't alone this time :) Great videos by the way. Very informative.

Thank you Paul, I just posted this question on some other clip this week

Thank you very much for this perfect explanation, exactly what I was looking for.

Nice explanation!

I've always wondered this myself! Great video, keep it up and live forever :)

no, THANK YOU! I've always wondered about this issue. great explanation

Multiple frequencies playing at the same time on the same speaker diaphragm can be explained on the basis of the waveform stimulated by the input. Same applies to the eardrum. Multiple frequencies stimulate it as a "waveform" at each instant in a continuous stream of different changing waveforms over time. waveforms

It was a great explanation. I do wish you'd have mentioned the Fourier Transform. It was one of the coolest things I learned in my engineering undergraduate and you explain things so well. It feels a shame not to tell everyone else. But you explained the principal of the Fourier Transform without having to dive into calculus.

You simply must love this guy!

fantastic answer. I really liked the info about doppler distortion. Makes me feel good about my speaker choice.

although i will never buy or hear your companies speaker, it a pleasure seeing your videos sir

Nice and clear explanation. I really love it, Awesome

The best answer yet! Without having to go to the equations, transforms and mathematics. Understanding the equations and theory is one thing but, the visualization of how the signal is converted into multiples sounds coming from the same surface is not as easy. Great!

I've been wondering this myself. Great video, Paul.

Great explanation P

Ive often wondered about this n been baffled. Thank you for a great explanation!

As much as I love Paul that video didn’t help me....I’ve always wondered about this question and still do,.....give it another shot Paul. Lol. Keep up the great work.

Great explanation. Never understood before now.

Very nice video! I'm 17 and I find you super funny, keep it going! :)

Great explanation!

Great video!

Actually a visual of the waveform is a critical part of that explanation...

I finally understand. Thanks!

Good to know I am not the only one who has been wondered about this 🤯

Great video because i notice when you match your two excursion peak by setting appropriate filter it sound cleaner.

I never thought about a single cone reproducing multiple frequencies at the same time before, but once you asked the question, I couldn't stop thinking it must be impossible! Also didn't think about Doppler distortion before (though I've hard the term, just not in reference to speaker cones reproducing multiple frequencies). Thanks for the education.

it was a great question and a great break down of the answer

I understand that the larger drivers (which have a movement range in inches) have doppler distortion.. But do dynamic driver headphones also have doppler distortion? Their range of motion is so very small (less than 2 or 3 millimetres, isn't it?)

Each ear has one tympanum. That tympanum is analogous to a speaker diaphragm. If our ears are able to use one vibrating sheet (tympanum) to transfer various and multiple frequencies to the rest of our auditory systems, speakers should be able to do the same thing.

Ich liebe es, wie er diese Frage absolut fühlt

If you want to see what those multiple frequency patterns look like look up vibration modes of a membrane, drum heads and speaker cones, in our case.and thanks for reminding me about dopler distortion, a reminder that transducers are so important, pickups, mics, cartridge, speaker.those are the things that make the biggest difference. Good one ,Paul.

I am putting together a home theatre system thanks to you i am getting into stereo love your show your like my stereo college professor love ps audio and you Paul

A single driver causes doppler distortion: KEF speakers just entered the chat!

These are great, thank you for sharing the knowledge that you have gathered throughout your life's journey. Some lessons cost more than a money can buy, but you offer them to us all for the low low price of a few moments of our attention. So my question is this, what lesson has you benefited most from and which bit a knowledge cost the most? Any advice for us yet to make our mark in this life?

Thank you!

Really thank you very much!! This is a doubt I have had a lot of time. Suscribed, first video I see from you. Hope you have psychoacoustics videos.

IVE ASKED THIS IN SO MANY FORUMS. MIND BLOWN What is inside a tube of stripy toothpaste? I tried everything to mess up the stripes.

To be technically correct regarding the Doppler distortion, it is related to acceleration, not distance. I stationary train whistle at 1 mile away has the same pitch as it would if right in front of you. it is the change in distance over time that makes for the Doppler effect, and a slower change in distance has less Doppler effect than does a fast change in distance.

If I had you as a professor, I wouldn't have failed out of school. Lol keep it up.

To some degree the Questioner was right, just a typical speaker doesn't produce all the frequencies at one time, they miss huge chunks of the signals. This is the premise of Hi Fidelity, the engineers and designers that make these systems have overcome huge challenges to bring audio reproduction to life.

That was a good one - signed, Moose and Squirrel.

Have you ever worked with The Slow Mo Guys. Their high speed camera could capture what you described in this video.

I love this guy

Thank Superposition. Or Fourier. And... thank you Paul!

Excellent non tech (layman's) explanation. Thank you 😊

It is VERY EASY to have a visual using Audacity Just as Paul was explaining, think of the higher pitched tones riding voltage of the lower frequencies, naturally each is riding the lowest. Think of it like a surfer riding a wave on his surf board and jumping up and down at the sametime. Of course that would cause the surfer to fall off but anywho. Not the same concerning the electrical signals that the woofer, mid and tweeters deal with hopefully that gives a different explanation in addition to Paul's.

Your explanation for the use and understanding speakers are very good I want to know the roll of Damper in Diffrant speaker

Two thumbs up . The industry started with full range drivers and along came filters / crossovers . The same can't really be true for tweeters they cannot handle the long throw of the lower frequencies and would rip the soldered leads out . Since the travel at higher frequencies is almost micro . As speakers get older the caps often fail causing full signals into mids and tweeters . Since I'm a Klipsch fan, lots of mods for the heritage speakers that would lower or raise the crossover points . Back in the day Speakers had selectable crossovers it allowed listeners to tweak their speakers on the fly . I always felt that crossing over before the amplifier stage was best , why amplify unwanted signals ? Downside more amplifiers plus side more power more accuracy more detail etc...

Like sine waves superimposed on a scope but using sound instead. Cool!

Isn't what you hear the combination of many frequencies? So unless a test Freq, don't we hear the combination, not a single Freq?

In a live situation, if two drums are played in opposite phases, will I hear nothing?

No one: Paul going: Oompa loompa de de de

Good question

thank you

Yes its realy great question and thanks for answere

Best and funniest answer I've seen in a long time 5:32

Hi Paul I want to be part of your team. I am an audio enthusiastic and I just started as a hobby when I was just 13 years old. I have assembled many solid state amplifiers and tube amplifiers. I am 55 years old now, but ready to work hard. I am from India and currently a VICE PRESIDENT in one of the company in India which is in to IT services. But my passion is audio amplifiers and speakers. I am a diploma Engineer in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Hope you will read my comment.

One of these days; I'll solder outputs on each of my 10 band eq and use ten amps and 20 drivers and that will be awesome.

Thank you for the video! What I wanna know is more like when it comes to mixing music, focusing on just one speaker. When you you are listening to a song in head phones and you hear let's say the vocals and they feel like they are coming from the center of the speaker and you also hear background vocals that feel like they are coming from a wider ring on the speaker, what is that? and how can you control that?? (Panning doesn't always work using one speaker)

Appreciate the video, I got your point at 4:41

Thank you Mr Rodgers, I mean Paul :-)

This is a great example, but I think you missed an opportunity to tie it all together at the end by providing the "a-ha!" moment. That being the fact that, ultimately, the speaker is simply mixing all of these freqs together into a new waveform that represents the summation of all the other waveforms present.

thank you so much .this was my question too. but i have also another ? about this. is there any limit to a speaker? i mean how much frequencies that one speaker produce at same time?

FINALLY someone answers this

The velocity relative to the observer is what determines the frequency shift: up or down, moving toward or away respectively. The distance to the train coming and going has no effect on the frequency (sort of: see next). However (here is the sort of), Paul's 'yowling' train whistle is about right assuming you are 40 or so feet away from the tracks. Even thought the train is maintaining a constant velocity relative to the tracks, as it approaches the velocity vector toward you decreases as a function of yours distance to the track from a perpendicular line from the track and distance to the whistle on the train. Your distance to the track is fixed but the distance to the train is constantly decreasing as well as its relative velocity toward you. The angle formed by a perpendicular line from the track to you and from you to the whistle is also decreasing and as this angle becomes zero (the instant the whistle passes by) the velocity vector to your location is zero and the Doppler shift will be zero (i.e. SIN of 0 angle is 0). And, this is reversed as the whistle move passed. Cheers, Mark