A full- or wide-range driver is a speaker driver designed to be used alone to reproduce an audio channel without the help of other drivers and therefore must cover the audio frequency range required by the application. These drivers are small, typically 3 to 8 inches (7.6 to 20.3 cm) in diameter to permit reasonable high-frequency response, and carefully designed to give low-distortion output at low frequencies, though with the reduced maximum output level. Full-range drivers are found, for instance, in public address systems, televisions, small radios, intercoms, and some computer loudspeakers.

In hi-fi speaker systems, the use of wide-range drivers can avoid undesirable interactions between multiple drivers caused by non-coincident driver location or crossover network issues but also may limit frequency response and output abilities (most especially at low frequencies). Hi-fi speaker systems built with wide-range drivers may require large, elaborate or, expensive enclosures to approach optimum performance.

Full-range drivers often employ an additional cone called a Whizzer: a small, light cone attached to the joint between the voice coil and the primary cone. The Whizzer cone extends the high-frequency response of the driver and broadens its high-frequency directivity, which would otherwise be greatly narrowed due to the outer diameter cone material failing to keep up with the central voice coil at higher frequencies. The main cone in a Whizzer design is manufactured so as to flex more in the outer diameter than in the center. The result is that the main cone delivers low frequencies and the Whizzer cone contributes most of the higher frequencies. Since the Whizzer cone is smaller than the main diaphragm, output dispersion at high frequencies is improved relative to an equivalent single larger diaphragm.

Limited range drivers that are also used alone usually appear in computers, toys, and clock radios. Compared with a wide range of drivers, these drivers are less sophisticated and expensive, and they may be seriously affected to accommodate very small installation locations. This is the basis for later portable outdoor speakers