Friday 29 November 2013

A Description Of The Signal-To-Noise Ratio In Wireless Speakers For Computers

By Linda Cullmann


It is easy to be puzzled by the terminology that cordless loudspeaker suppliers employ in order to describe the performance of their models. I am going to explain the meaning of one regularly used parameter: "signal-to-noise ratio" in order to help you make an informed decision whilst buying a brand new a pair of cordless loudspeakers.

When searching for a pair of wireless speakers, you initially are going to check the price, power amid additional fundamental criteria. Yet, after this initial selection, you are going to still have several products to choose from. Now you will concentrate more on a number of of the technical specifications, such as signal-to-noise ratio and harmonic distortion. One important criterion of wireless speakers is the signal-to-noise ratio. To put it simply, the signal-to-noise ratio describes how much hum or hiss the loudspeakers will add to the audio signal. This ratio is generally shown in decibel or "db" for short.

A technique to do a straightforward check of the noise performance of a set of wireless speakers is to short circuit the transmitter audio input and then to crank up the cordless loudspeaker to its maximum. After that listen to the loudspeaker. Usually you are going to hear two components. The first is hissing. In addition, you are going to regularly hear a hum at 50 or 60 Hz. Both of these are components which are produced by the wireless loudspeaker itself. After that compare several sets of cordless loudspeakers according to the following rule: the smaller the amount of static, the higher the noise performance of the wireless speaker. On the other hand, bear in mind that you have to put all sets of cordless loudspeakers to amplify by the same level to evaluate different models.

When looking at the wireless speaker specification sheet, you want to look for a pair of wireless loudspeaker with a large signal-to-noise ratio number which suggests that the wireless speakers output a small amount of hiss. Noise is produced due to a number of reasons. One factor is that today's cordless loudspeakers all utilize elements like transistors and resistors. Those components are going to generate some amount of noise. Because the built-in power amp overall noise performance is mostly determined by the performance of elements situated at the amplifier input, suppliers are going to try to pick low-noise elements whilst designing the amplifier input stage of their wireless loudspeakers.

A different cause of hiss is the wireless audio transmission itself. Typically models which utilize FM style transmission at 900 MHz are going to have a comparatively large level of noise. The amount of static is also dependent upon the amount of wireless interference from other transmitters. Modern products will usually employ digital music broadcast at 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. This kind of audio broadcast offers larger signal-to-noise ratio than analog type transmitters. The level of static depends on the resolution of the analog-to-digital converters as well as the quality of other parts.

A lot of today's wireless loudspeakers have built-in power amps that include a wattage switching stage which switches at a frequency around 500 kHz. This switching noise can cause a certain level of speaker distortion yet is usually not included in the signal-to-noise ratio which only considers noise in the range of 20 Hz and 20 kHz.

Producers measure the signal-to-noise ratio by means of setting the built-in amplifier such that the full output swing may be realized and by feeding a test tone to the transmitter that is normally 60 dB below the full scale of the speaker amplifier. Then the noise-floor energy is calculated in the frequency range between 20 Hz and 20 kHz and compared with the full scale signal energy.

Frequently you are going to find the term "dBA" or "a-weighted" in your wireless speaker parameter sheet. A weighting is a technique of showing the noise floor in a more subjective manner. This technique was designed with the knowledge that human hearing perceives noise at different frequencies differently. Human hearing is most perceptive to signals around 1 kHz. Though, signals under 50 Hz and above 13 kHz are barely heard. An A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio weighs the noise floor according to the human hearing and is usually higher than the unweighted signal-to-noise ratio.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment