Dipole speaker

A dipole speaker enclosure in its simplest form is constructed by mounting a loudspeaker driver on a flat panel.

The term dipole derives from the fact that the polar response consists of two lobes, with equal radiation forwards and backwards, and none perpendicular to the axis.

It also results in high frequencies being reflected from any rear wall, which can enhance the naturalness of the sound in typical listening rooms by creating more diffuse reverberation, though in theory it could detract from stereo localization.

This implies that cone motion at the lowest frequencies will be larger at the same output level than in a more usual enclosure, and that power handling will be accordingly limited.

All of these variations are characterised by a "figure-of-eight" radiation pattern in which the loudness falls towards the sides of the enclosure where interference between front and back waves is maximized.