It is easy to be perplexed by the terminology that cordless loudspeaker manufacturers employ in order to describe the performance of their models. I will clarify the meaning of a usually utilized specification: “signal-to-noise ratio” in order to help you make an informed decision when getting a new a set of cordless speakers. While trying to find a couple of wireless loudspeakers, you first are going to check the price, power amongst other basic criteria. However, after this initial choice, you will still have a number of models to choose from. Now you are going to focus more on a few of the technical specifications, such as signal-to-noise ratio in addition to harmonic distortion. Every wireless loudspeaker will produce a certain amount of hiss and hum. The signal-to-noise ratio will help compute the level of noise produced by the loudspeaker.
You can make a simple assessment of the cordless loudspeaker noise by short circuiting the transmitter input, setting the loudspeaker gain to maximum and listening to the speaker. The noise that you hear is generated by the cordless loudspeaker itself. Next compare several sets of cordless speakers according to the next rule: the smaller the level of noise, the higher the noise performance of the cordless loudspeaker. Though, bear in mind that you have to put all sets of cordless speakers to amplify by the same amount to evaluate several models. While glancing at the wireless loudspeaker spec sheet, you want to look for a couple of cordless speaker with a high signal-to-noise ratio number which suggests that the wireless outdoor speakers available from Amphony Corporation output a low level of noise. There are several reasons why cordless speakers will add some form of noise or other unwanted signal. Transistors and resistors which are part of each modern cordless loudspeaker by nature make noise. Typically the elements that are located at the input stage of the built-in power amp are going to contribute most to the overall hiss. Therefore suppliers normally are going to select low-noise components while developing the cordless speaker amplifier input stage.
The wireless transmission itself also will cause static which is most noticable with products which employ FM transmission at 900 MHz. The level of hiss is also dependent upon the amount of cordless interference from other transmitters. Newer types are going to generally employ digital audio broadcast at 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. The signal-to-noise ratio of digital transmitters is dependent mostly on the kind of analog-to-digital converters and other components which are utilized along with the resolution of the cordless protocol. Most modern cordless speakers have built-in power amplifiers that incorporate a wattage switching stage that switches at a frequency around 500 kHz. This switching noise can result in some level of speaker distortion yet is generally not included in the signal-to-noise ratio which merely considers noise between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. The most common method for measuring the signal-to-noise ratio is to couple the wireless speaker to a gain which permits the maximum output swing. Next a test signal is input into the transmitter. The frequency of this signal is usually 1 kHz. The amplitude of this signal is 60 dB underneath the full scale signal. Next, only the hiss in the range of 20 Hz and 20 kHz is considered. The noise at different frequencies is removed via a filter. After that the amount of the noise energy in relation to the full-scale output wattage is computed and shown in decibel.
Frequently you will discover the term “dBA” or “a-weighted” in your wireless loudspeaker spec sheet. A weighting is a technique of expressing the noise floor in a more subjective way. This technique was designed with the knowledge that human hearing perceives noise at different frequencies differently. Human hearing is most sensitive to signals around 1 kHz. However, signals below 50 Hz and higher than 13 kHz are hardly heard. An A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio weighs the noise floor according to the human hearing and is normally higher than the unweighted signal-to-noise ratio.