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Tuesday 17 July 2012

Some Technical Suggestions For Finding A Set Of Wireless Loudspeakers

By Lisa Stein


It is easy to be baffled by the language that wireless speaker suppliers use in order to express the performance of their products. I will explain the meaning of a usually utilized spec: "signal-to-noise ratio" in order to help you make an informed decision while getting a new a couple of cordless speakers.

Whilst searching for a pair of cordless speakers, you initially are going to check the cost, wattage amid additional basic criteria. Yet, after this initial choice, you will still have a number of models to choose from. Next you are going to concentrate more on some of the technical specifications, like signal-to-noise ratio in addition to harmonic distortion. An important criterion of wireless loudspeakers is the signal-to-noise ratio. To put it simply, the signal-to-noise ratio describes how much hum or hiss the speakers will add to the audio signal. This ratio is usually shown in decibel or "db" for short.

One way in order to perform a simple assessment of the noise performance of a set of cordless loudspeakers is to short circuit the transmitter audio input and then to crank up the wireless speaker to its utmost. Then listen to the loudspeaker. You will hear some amount of hissing and/or hum coming from the speaker. This noise is generated by the wireless loudspeaker itself. Next compare different sets of wireless loudspeakers according to the following rule: the lower the level of noise, the higher the noise performance of the cordless speaker. On the other hand, bear in mind that you should put all sets of wireless loudspeakers to amplify by the same level to compare several models.

While glancing at the cordless speaker spec sheet, you want to look for a set of wireless loudspeaker with a large signal-to-noise ratio number which indicates that the cordless loudspeakers output a low level of static. There are numerous reasons why cordless speakers are going to add some form of hiss or other unwanted signal. Transistors and resistors which are part of every modern wireless loudspeaker by nature create noise. As the built-in power amplifier overall noise performance is mostly determined by the performance of components located at the amplifier input, manufacturers are going to attempt to choose low-noise components while designing the amp input stage of their cordless speakers.

A different cause of noise is the cordless music transmission itself. Typically types that utilize FM type broadcast at 900 MHz are going to have a fairly large amount of noise. Other cordless transmitters are going to interfer with FM type transmitters and result in further hiss. As a result the signal-to-noise ratio of FM type cordless loudspeakers varies depending on the distance of the speakers from the transmitter plus the level of interference. To steer clear of these problems, newer transmitters use digital audio broadcast and typically transmit at 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. The signal-to-noise ratio of digital transmitters depends by and large on the kind of analog-to-digital converters and other components that are used in addition to the resolution of the wireless protocol.

Most latest cordless loudspeakers have built-in power amps that include a power switching stage which switches at a frequency around 500 kHz. This switching frequency is also hiss that is part of the amplified signal. On the other hand, modern cordless loudspeakerspecs usually only consider the hiss between 20 Hz and 20 kHz.

The signal-to-noise ratio is measured by feeding a 1 kHz test tone 60 dB underneath the full scale and measuring the noise floor of the signal generated by the built-in amplifier. The gain of the wireless loudspeaker is set such that the full output power of the built-in amplifier can be realized. 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 the signal-to-noise ratio is expressed in a more subjective manner as "dbA" or "A weighted". This method attempts to examine in how far the cordless loudspeaker noise is perceived by human hearing which is most responsive to signals at frequencies at 1 kHz. The A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio is frequently larger than the unweighted ratio and is published in most cordless loudspeaker specification sheets.




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