The etymology of woofer and tweeter

[CapMan]

Just why, when and who?


And if you were naming them now what words would you use instead in the 21st century (and why)

This is a right side of brain activity so may not suit everyone

 

[CapMan]

I’ve been thinking on this for a while and can’t come up with anything better - harder than it sounds !

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

What about squawkers - less commonly used these days (the term not the driver)

 

[kemmler3D]

Just why, when and who?

I always imagined it came about when salesmen had to some up with an intuitive way to describe frequency ranges to people with no experience speaking in those terms. I have no idea, though.

And if you were naming them now what words would you use instead in the 21st century (and why)

This is a right side of brain activity so may not suit everyone

I'd just go with "treble driver", "mid driver" and "bass driver". I think most people know what treble and bass are, more or less.

For users familiar with languages other than english - what are tweeters and woofers known as in your language, i.e. how do they translate literally into english?

 

[Jim Taylor]

This is what the Etymology Dictionary Online says about "woofer". Note the date.

woofer (n.)

"loudspeaker for bass notes," 1935, imitative.

For users familiar with languages other than english - what are tweeters and woofers known as in your language, i.e. how do they translate literally into english?

All I know is "tieftoner" (deep toner) and "hochtoner" (high toner) from German. I have found that most languages understand "woofer", although they may have a native phrase for "bass driver".

 

[Keith_W]

It strikes me as odd that "tweeter" and "woofer" have distinctive names based on animal sounds that indicate what frequencies they will reproduce, but "subwoofer" and "midrange driver" don't.

How about "Moo-er" for subwoofers and "Baa-er" for mids?

Yeah I know they sound vaguely ridiculous. But I am vaguely ridiculous myself

 

[Jim Taylor]

It strikes me as odd that "tweeter" and "woofer" have distinctive names based on animal sounds that indicate what frequencies they will reproduce, but "subwoofer" and "midrange driver" don't.

Please see post #3; "squawker" for midrange driver. And yes, I can vouch for it having been used.

Jim

 

[muad]

I guess Boomer is already taken

 

[EERecordist]

OED you are are only hope!

 

[CapMan]

How about "Moo-er" for subwoofers and "Baa-er" for mids?

Perhaps the type of dog doing the woofing has to be introduced for these - subwoofer = basset woofer , mid woofer = beagle woofer , which means a tweeter would become a chihuahua woofer

 

[Keith_W]

Perhaps the type of dog doing the woofing has to be introduced for these - subwoofer = basset woofer , mid woofer = beagle woofer , which means a tweeter would become a chihuahua woofer

That could open up a whole new lingo for subjective descriptions! e.g. "your beagle woofer sounds like a daschund!!!" or "making a beagle woofer cover chihuahua woofer frequencies is like taking the beagle woofer to the vet".

 

[CapMan]

That could open up a whole new lingo for subjective descriptions! e.g. "your beagle woofer sounds like a daschund!!!" or "making a beagle woofer cover chihuahua woofer frequencies is like taking the beagle woofer to the vet".

Brilliant

Request to our host - could his next speaker review be done in the style of dog sounds.

 

[CapMan]

All I know is "tieftoner" (deep toner) and "hochtoner" (high toner) from German. I have found that most languages understand "woofer", although they may have a native phrase for "bass driver".

The more I think about it the weirder the choice seems, especially with the simple, informative elegance of the German!

Imagine the sales discussion @kemmler3D talked about earlier …

Punter - “well what does this big one do”
Sales person - “oh that makes a sound like a dog barking”
Punter - “right , I see. And the little one”
Sales person - “imagine a bird singing”
Punter - “great, I’ll take two.
Sales person - “Have you thought about cables?”

Imagine the sales person’s delight. They realise that if they can sell something that makes a sound like a dog and bird , they can bullshit any amount of nonsense and people will buy it.

A whole industry is born

The end.

 

[Waxx]

in french they call a subwoofer a "haut-parleur de graves" (speaker of heavy) and tweeter "haut-parleur d'aigus" (speaker of sharp), altough most younger people just use the english term, even in a full french sentence

 

[Keith_W]

in french they call a subwoofer a "haut-parleur de graves" (speaker of heavy) and tweeter "haut-parleur d'aigus" (speaker of sharp), altough most younger people just use the english term, even in a full french sentence

I can imagine them saying "le woofeur" or "le tweetierre" in a really posh way.

 

[Waxx]

I can imagine them saying "le woofeur" or "le tweetierre" in a really posh way.

non, ils dites twieteur also, the same like the called the social network before someone took it over and changed it.