Friday 3 January 2014

Understanding The Frequency Response Spec Of Modern Cordless Speakers

By Michelle Finger


When selecting a new set of wireless loudspeakers, you probably will take a glimpse at the technical specifications. One often found spec is the frequency response. This spec even though important won't tell the full story pertaining to how great the speakers are going to sound. You possibly will not understand fully precisely how the frequency response is calculated. I will clarify what specifically this phrase means. Hopefully you will be able to make a more educated buying decision.

Actually, a set of wireless speakers which has a frequency response from 10 Hz to 30 kHz might actually have much poorer audio quality than a set that provides a frequency response from 20 Hz to 15 kHz. Different producers seem to make use of different methods to determine frequency response. Generally, the frequency response shows the standard working range of the wireless loudspeakers. Within this range, the sound pressure level is essentially constant. At the upper and lower cutoff frequencies the gain is going to decrease by at most 3 decibels.

On the other hand, several companies push this standard to the limit and may list an upper frequency where the cordless speakers are going to barely deliver a beep any longer. In addition, merely taking a look at these 2 numbers doesn't say a lot about the linearity of the frequency response. A complete frequency response chart, on the other hand, will demonstrate whether or not there are any peaks or valleys and also show how the frequency response is to be understood. Peaks and valleys could potentially cause colorization of the music. Ideally the wireless speakers needs to have a constant sound pressure level inside the whole frequency response aside from the drop off at the upper and lower limit. Apart from the frequency response, a phase response chart may also say a lot regarding the performance as well as quality of sound of the wireless speakers.

The circumstances under which the frequency response was measured are also essential to fully understand. The fact is that numerous amps which are incorporated into the wireless speakers will behave in a different way with different speaker loads. This is mainly because that various speaker loads will cause changes to the behavior of the output power stage of the amplifier.

You additionally want to look at the circumstances under which the frequency response was measured. You normally will not find any kind of details about the measurement conditions, however, in the producer's data sheet. The fact is amps might have different frequency responses depending on the speaker driver element that is built in. Mainly contemporary wireless loudspeakers which use digital or "Class-D" amps can have changes in the frequency response with various driver loads. The main reason is the fact that Class-D amplifiers utilize switching FETs as the power phase that create a substantial amount of switching components. These components are eliminated with a filter which is part of the internal speaker amplifier. The lowpass filter characteristic, on the other hand, heavily varies according to the connected speaker load.

A number of amplifiers incorporate feedback to be able to compensate for changes in gain caused by different connected loads. An additional method makes use of audio transformers between the power stage of the amplifier and various outputs. Every output was created to attach a different speaker load. This approach helps to ensure that the amplifier will be loaded equally and in addition enhances amplifier efficiency.




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