It is easy to be bewildered by the terminology that cordless speaker manufacturers utilize in order to describe the performance of their models. I am going to explain the meaning of a regularly used parameter: "signal-to-noise ratio" in order to help you make an informed choice while buying a brand new a set of wireless speakers.
Once you have chosen a range of cordless speakers, it's time to explore some of the specifications in more detail in order to help you narrow down your search to one product. The signal-to-noise ratio is a fairly vital parameter and shows how much noise or hiss the cordless loudspeaker produces.
You can do a straightforward comparison of the cordless speaker noise by short circuiting the transmitter input, setting the loudspeaker volume to maximum and listening to the loudspeaker. The noise that you hear is generated by the cordless loudspeaker itself. Make sure that the gain of each couple of wireless speakers is pair to the same level. Otherwise you will not be able to objectively compare the amount of static between different models. The general rule is: the smaller the amount of hiss that you hear the better the noise performance.
In order to help you evaluate the noise performance, cordless loudspeaker manufacturers publish the signal-to-noise ratio in their cordless speaker specification sheets. Simply put, the higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the smaller the amount of noise the wireless speaker generates. Noise is created due to a number of factors. One factor is that today's cordless loudspeakers all employ components such as transistors as well as resistors. Those components will create some amount of hiss. As the built-in power amp overall noise performance is mostly determined by the performance of components situated at the amplifier input, makers are going to try to pick low-noise parts while developing the amp input stage of their wireless speakers.
One more cause of hiss is the wireless audio transmission itself. Typically products that make use of FM type broadcast at 900 MHz are going to have a comparatively large amount of hiss. FM transmitters are very prone to wireless interference which is why newer types commonly utilize digital music transmission. The signal-to-noise ratio of digital transmitters is dependent by and large on the type of analog-to-digital converters and other components which are utilized and also the resolution of the cordless protocol.
A lot of recent cordless loudspeakers have built-in power amplifiers that include a power switching stage that switches at a frequency around 500 kHz. As a result, the output signal of wireless speaker switching amps have a fairly big amount of switching noise. This noise component, though, is typically impossible to hear because it is well above 20 kHz. Nonetheless, it can still contribute to speaker distortion. Signal-to-noise ratio is generally only shown within the range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Therefore, a lowpass filter is used while measuring cordless speaker amps to eliminate the switching noise.
The most common technique for measuring the signal-to-noise ratio is to couple the wireless loudspeaker to a gain that enables the maximum output swing. After that a test signal is fed into the transmitter. The frequency of this tone is generally 1 kHz. The amplitude of this signal is 60 dB underneath the full scale signal. Subsequently, only the noise in the range of 20 Hz and 20 kHz is considered. The noise at other frequencies is removed by a filter. Next the level of the noise energy in relation to the full-scale output wattage is calculated and expressed in db.
A different convention to express the signal-to-noise ratio employs more subjective terms. These terms are "dBA" or "A weighted". You are going to find these terms in most cordless speaker spec sheets. This method tries to examine in how far the cordless speaker noise is perceived by human hearing which is most responsive to signals at frequencies at 1 kHz. Therefore an A-weighting filter will amplify the noise floor for frequencies which are easily heard and suppress the noise floor at frequencies which are hardly noticed. Many cordless loudspeaker are going to show a higher A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio than the un-weighted ratio.
Once you have chosen a range of cordless speakers, it's time to explore some of the specifications in more detail in order to help you narrow down your search to one product. The signal-to-noise ratio is a fairly vital parameter and shows how much noise or hiss the cordless loudspeaker produces.
You can do a straightforward comparison of the cordless speaker noise by short circuiting the transmitter input, setting the loudspeaker volume to maximum and listening to the loudspeaker. The noise that you hear is generated by the cordless loudspeaker itself. Make sure that the gain of each couple of wireless speakers is pair to the same level. Otherwise you will not be able to objectively compare the amount of static between different models. The general rule is: the smaller the amount of hiss that you hear the better the noise performance.
In order to help you evaluate the noise performance, cordless loudspeaker manufacturers publish the signal-to-noise ratio in their cordless speaker specification sheets. Simply put, the higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the smaller the amount of noise the wireless speaker generates. Noise is created due to a number of factors. One factor is that today's cordless loudspeakers all employ components such as transistors as well as resistors. Those components will create some amount of hiss. As the built-in power amp overall noise performance is mostly determined by the performance of components situated at the amplifier input, makers are going to try to pick low-noise parts while developing the amp input stage of their wireless speakers.
One more cause of hiss is the wireless audio transmission itself. Typically products that make use of FM type broadcast at 900 MHz are going to have a comparatively large amount of hiss. FM transmitters are very prone to wireless interference which is why newer types commonly utilize digital music transmission. The signal-to-noise ratio of digital transmitters is dependent by and large on the type of analog-to-digital converters and other components which are utilized and also the resolution of the cordless protocol.
A lot of recent cordless loudspeakers have built-in power amplifiers that include a power switching stage that switches at a frequency around 500 kHz. As a result, the output signal of wireless speaker switching amps have a fairly big amount of switching noise. This noise component, though, is typically impossible to hear because it is well above 20 kHz. Nonetheless, it can still contribute to speaker distortion. Signal-to-noise ratio is generally only shown within the range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Therefore, a lowpass filter is used while measuring cordless speaker amps to eliminate the switching noise.
The most common technique for measuring the signal-to-noise ratio is to couple the wireless loudspeaker to a gain that enables the maximum output swing. After that a test signal is fed into the transmitter. The frequency of this tone is generally 1 kHz. The amplitude of this signal is 60 dB underneath the full scale signal. Subsequently, only the noise in the range of 20 Hz and 20 kHz is considered. The noise at other frequencies is removed by a filter. Next the level of the noise energy in relation to the full-scale output wattage is calculated and expressed in db.
A different convention to express the signal-to-noise ratio employs more subjective terms. These terms are "dBA" or "A weighted". You are going to find these terms in most cordless speaker spec sheets. This method tries to examine in how far the cordless speaker noise is perceived by human hearing which is most responsive to signals at frequencies at 1 kHz. Therefore an A-weighting filter will amplify the noise floor for frequencies which are easily heard and suppress the noise floor at frequencies which are hardly noticed. Many cordless loudspeaker are going to show a higher A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio than the un-weighted ratio.
