To help you select an audio amp, I will explain the term "signal-to-noise ratio" that is regularly used in order to explain the performance of audio amplifiers. When looking for an amp, you first are going to check the price, power among additional fundamental criteria. However, after this initial selection, you will still have numerous products to choose from. Next you will concentrate more on a few of the technical specs, like signal-to-noise ratio as well as harmonic distortion. Each amp is going to make a certain amount of hiss and hum. The signal-to-noise ratio is going to help quantify the level of noise produced by the amp.
Once you have chosen a range of amplifiers, it's time to explore a few of the specs in more detail to help you narrow down your search to one product. Each amplifier is going to generate a certain amount of hiss as well as hum. The signal-to-noise ratio will help compute the level of noise produced by the amp.
Whilst looking at the amplifier spec sheet, you want to look for an amp with a large signal-to-noise ratio number which indicates that the amplifier outputs a small level of hiss. There are a number of reasons why power amplifiers is going to add some form of hiss or other unwanted signal. Transistors and resistors which are part of every modern amplifier by nature produce noise. Typically the elements that are located at the input stage of an amp are going to contribute most to the overall hiss. Thus suppliers usually will select low-noise elements whilst designing the amp input stage.
In order to help you evaluate the noise performance, amp manufacturers show the signal-to-noise ratio in their amplifier specification sheets. Simply put, the higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the smaller the amount of noise the amplifier produces. There are several reasons why power amplifiers will add some form of noise or other unwanted signal. Transistors and resistors which are part of every modern amplifier by nature produce noise. Because the amplifier overall noise performance is mostly determined by the performance of components located at the amplifier input, makers will attempt to select low-noise components when developing the amp input stage.
The most widespread method for measuring the signal-to-noise ratio is to set the amplifier to a gain that enables the maximum output swing. Subsequently a test tone is input to the amplifier. The frequency of this signal is generally 1 kHz. The amplitude of this signal is 60 dB underneath the full scale signal. After that, the noise floor between 20 Hz and 20 kHz is calculated and the ratio to the full-scale signal computed. The noise signal at different frequencies is eliminated through a bandpass filter throughout this measurement.
Time and again you will discover the expression "dBA" or "a-weighted" in your amp specification sheet. A weighting is a method of expressing the noise floor in a more subjective fashion. In other words, this method tries to express how the noise is perceived by a human. Human hearing is most sensitive to signals around 1 kHz whereas signals under 50 Hz and above 14 kHz are hardly noticed. The A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio is typically larger than the unweighted ratio and is published in a lot of amplifier specification sheets.
Once you have chosen a range of amplifiers, it's time to explore a few of the specs in more detail to help you narrow down your search to one product. Each amplifier is going to generate a certain amount of hiss as well as hum. The signal-to-noise ratio will help compute the level of noise produced by the amp.
Whilst looking at the amplifier spec sheet, you want to look for an amp with a large signal-to-noise ratio number which indicates that the amplifier outputs a small level of hiss. There are a number of reasons why power amplifiers is going to add some form of hiss or other unwanted signal. Transistors and resistors which are part of every modern amplifier by nature produce noise. Typically the elements that are located at the input stage of an amp are going to contribute most to the overall hiss. Thus suppliers usually will select low-noise elements whilst designing the amp input stage.
In order to help you evaluate the noise performance, amp manufacturers show the signal-to-noise ratio in their amplifier specification sheets. Simply put, the higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the smaller the amount of noise the amplifier produces. There are several reasons why power amplifiers will add some form of noise or other unwanted signal. Transistors and resistors which are part of every modern amplifier by nature produce noise. Because the amplifier overall noise performance is mostly determined by the performance of components located at the amplifier input, makers will attempt to select low-noise components when developing the amp input stage.
The most widespread method for measuring the signal-to-noise ratio is to set the amplifier to a gain that enables the maximum output swing. Subsequently a test tone is input to the amplifier. The frequency of this signal is generally 1 kHz. The amplitude of this signal is 60 dB underneath the full scale signal. After that, the noise floor between 20 Hz and 20 kHz is calculated and the ratio to the full-scale signal computed. The noise signal at different frequencies is eliminated through a bandpass filter throughout this measurement.
Time and again you will discover the expression "dBA" or "a-weighted" in your amp specification sheet. A weighting is a method of expressing the noise floor in a more subjective fashion. In other words, this method tries to express how the noise is perceived by a human. Human hearing is most sensitive to signals around 1 kHz whereas signals under 50 Hz and above 14 kHz are hardly noticed. The A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio is typically larger than the unweighted ratio and is published in a lot of amplifier specification sheets.
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