Are you searching to get a brand new amp for your home loudspeakers? You may be dazzled by the amount of options you have. In order to make an informed choice, it is best to familiarize yourself with popular specs. One of these specs is called "signal-to-noise ratio" and is not frequently understood. I will help explain the meaning of this expression. Once you have chosen a number of amps, it is time to investigate several of the specs in more detail in order to help you narrow down your search to one model. An important criterion of power amps is the signal-to-noise ratio. To put it simply, the signal-to-noise ratio describes how much hum or hiss the amp will add to the audio signal. This ratio is usually described in decibel or "db" for short.
One method in order to do a simple check of the noise performance of an amplifier is to short circuit the amp input and then to crank up the amplifier to its utmost. Subsequently listen to the speaker that you have connected. The hiss which you hear is generated by the amplifier itself. Make sure that the volume of the amplifiers is set to the same amount. Otherwise you will not be able to objectively evaluate the amount of noise between several amps. The general rule is: the smaller the amount of static that you hear the higher the noise performance.
You can do a simple comparison of the amp hiss by short circuiting the amplifier input, setting the gain to maximum and listening to a loudspeaker attached to the amplifier. The hiss which you hear is produced by the amp itself. Ensure that the gain of the amplifiers is set to the same amount. Otherwise you will not be able to objectively evaluate the amount of hiss between different amplifiers. The general rule is: the smaller the amount of noise which you hear the better the noise performance.
If you favor an amp with a small level of hissing, you can look at the signal-to-noise ratio number of the data sheet. The majority of producers are going to show this figure. Amplifiers with a high signal-to-noise ratio will output a small level of noise. One of the reasons why amps produce noise is the fact that they utilize components such as transistors as well as resistors that by nature generate noise. Mostly the components which are situated at the input stage of an amplifier will contribute most to the overall hiss. Thus producers usually will choose low-noise components when designing the amp input stage.
The signal-to-noise ratio is measured by inputting a 1 kHz test signal 60 dB underneath the full scale and measuring the noise floor of the amplifier. The volume of the amplifier is set such that the full output wattage of the amp can be realized. Subsequently, the noise floor between 20 Hz and 20 kHz is measured and the ratio to the full-scale signal computed. The noise signal at other frequencies is removed via a bandpass filter throughout this measurement.
Often you are going to find the term "dBA" or "a-weighted" in your amplifier spec sheet. A weighting is a method of showing the noise floor in a more subjective manner. This method was developed with the knowledge that human hearing perceives noise at different frequencies differently. Human hearing is most responsive to signals around 1 kHz. Then again, signals under 50 Hz and higher than 13 kHz are barely heard. Therefore an A-weighting filter will amplify the noise floor for frequencies which are easily perceived and suppress the noise floor at frequencies that are hardly perceived. Most amps are going to have a larger A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio than the un-weighted ratio.
One method in order to do a simple check of the noise performance of an amplifier is to short circuit the amp input and then to crank up the amplifier to its utmost. Subsequently listen to the speaker that you have connected. The hiss which you hear is generated by the amplifier itself. Make sure that the volume of the amplifiers is set to the same amount. Otherwise you will not be able to objectively evaluate the amount of noise between several amps. The general rule is: the smaller the amount of static that you hear the higher the noise performance.
You can do a simple comparison of the amp hiss by short circuiting the amplifier input, setting the gain to maximum and listening to a loudspeaker attached to the amplifier. The hiss which you hear is produced by the amp itself. Ensure that the gain of the amplifiers is set to the same amount. Otherwise you will not be able to objectively evaluate the amount of hiss between different amplifiers. The general rule is: the smaller the amount of noise which you hear the better the noise performance.
If you favor an amp with a small level of hissing, you can look at the signal-to-noise ratio number of the data sheet. The majority of producers are going to show this figure. Amplifiers with a high signal-to-noise ratio will output a small level of noise. One of the reasons why amps produce noise is the fact that they utilize components such as transistors as well as resistors that by nature generate noise. Mostly the components which are situated at the input stage of an amplifier will contribute most to the overall hiss. Thus producers usually will choose low-noise components when designing the amp input stage.
The signal-to-noise ratio is measured by inputting a 1 kHz test signal 60 dB underneath the full scale and measuring the noise floor of the amplifier. The volume of the amplifier is set such that the full output wattage of the amp can be realized. Subsequently, the noise floor between 20 Hz and 20 kHz is measured and the ratio to the full-scale signal computed. The noise signal at other frequencies is removed via a bandpass filter throughout this measurement.
Often you are going to find the term "dBA" or "a-weighted" in your amplifier spec sheet. A weighting is a method of showing the noise floor in a more subjective manner. This method was developed with the knowledge that human hearing perceives noise at different frequencies differently. Human hearing is most responsive to signals around 1 kHz. Then again, signals under 50 Hz and higher than 13 kHz are barely heard. Therefore an A-weighting filter will amplify the noise floor for frequencies which are easily perceived and suppress the noise floor at frequencies that are hardly perceived. Most amps are going to have a larger A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio than the un-weighted ratio.
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