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Superglossary - Home audio Category: Technical and IT > Home audio equipment Date & country: 09/12/2013, USA Words: 524

Abx Comparator
A device that randomly selects between two components being tested. The listener doesn't know which

Ac-3
(audio coding 3) Dolby's digital audio data compression algorithm adopted for HDTV transmission and

Acoustic Coupling
The interaction between two or more speakers stacked together in an audio system which may produce a

Acoustic Feedback
A phenomenon where the sound from a loudspeaker is picked up by the microphone or other transducer,

Acoustic Suspension
A type of speaker enclosure that uses a sealed box to provide tight, accurate bass response. It give

Acoustic Suspension (Enclosure)
A Sealed box system that uses the resistance of the internal air of a sealed enclosure to control th

Acoustics
Sound is simply vibrating air. How fast, how much, and when the air is vibrated, determines what we

Active
A word prefacing certain circuits in which the processing is performed by use of transistor or tube

Active Display
A special feature for front panel receiver displays that generates animated patterns for both segmen

Adaptive Reception
A circuit that provides adjustable delay such that the time at which a sound wave is produced from v

Aiff
Short for Audio Interchange File Format, a file format for storing and transmitting sampled sound. I

Air Gap
In a speaker's motor section, the space between the top plate and the pole piece. This is where the

Alternating Current
Electricity which flows in opposite directions, alternating at a certain rate (Hz). As supplied by p

Alternator Whine
A siren-like whining that appears as the rotational speed of an engine increases. The noise is usual

American Wire Gauge (AWG)
A standard for measuring the diameter of wire commonly used in electrical circuits. The higher the A

Amperes (A)
Ampere is a unit measurement of current of electrical energy equal to one coulomb of charge per seco

Amplification Classes
All sound is a sinosoidial waveform. It has alternating peaks and valleys. The center point of each

Amplifier
A device, either a single stage or a large scale circuit with mutiple stages for creating gain, ie.

Amplitude
The strength or intensity of an AC signal applied by the amplifiers output to a speaker's input. Als

Amplitude Modulation (AM)
In radio broadcasting, amethod of modulation in which the amplitude of the carrier voltage is varied

Analog
An electrical signal in which the frequency and level vary continuously in direct relationship to th

Analog Switch
A hardware-oriented switch that only passes signals that are faithful analogs of transducer paramete

Anechoic Chamber
A special room that is constructed without acoustically reflective surfaces, such that it is without

Angled Box
A type of speaker enclosure wherein the woofers, or Drivers, are situated in a box that is angled on

Angled Enclosure
A type of speaker enclosure wherein the woofers, or Drivers, are situated in a box that is angled on

Anode
The electrically positive pole of an electronic device such as a semiconductor. A diode, for instanc

Antenna
A device, such as a rod or wire, which picks up a received radio frequency signal or radiates a tran

Aperiodic
Refers to a type of bass-cabinet loading. An aperiodic enclosure type usually features a very restri

Apparent Power
The result of multiplying the rms value of the voltage by the rms value of the current in an electro

Attenuate
The act of reducing the Amplitude or intensity of a signal. In speaker systems, high frequency drive

Audio
1. Of, or relating to, humanly audible sound, i.e., audio is all the sounds that humans hear. 2. A.

Audio Frequency Spectrum
The band of frequencies extending roughly from 20 Hz to 20 khz and encompassing the full range of no

Audiophile
A species of dedicated audio nut who actually reads definitions like this.

Auto Memory
A tuner feature that automatically finds the strongest stations in the local area, and places them i

Automatic Music Search (AMS)
A feature that allows a CD or cassette mechanism to skip forward or backwards to another track.

Automatic Tuner Activation (ATA)
A feature that allows the tuner to be accessed while a tape deck is rewinding or fast forwarding.

Average Power
The result of multiplying the rms value of the voltage by the rms value of the current in an electro

Back Light
In receivers, a display may be lit from the rear to create better visibility under a wide range of a

Back Plate
The part of the woofers metal Basket or frame on which the Magnet structure is mounted.

Baffle
A flat panel that divides the front and rear sound waves produced by a woofer. Sometimes baffle is u

Balanced Wiring
Audio line signals require two conductors. In an unbalanced line, the shield is one of those. In a b

Banana Jacks
A set of connectors in which 4 spring contacts are wrapped vertically around a central pin like a ba

Banana Plugs
A set of connectors in which 4 spring contacts are wrapped vertically around a central pin like a ba

Band-Limiting Filters
A low-pass and a high-pass filter in series, acting together to restrict (limit) the overall bandwid

Bandpass Box
An enclosure that is specifically tuned to give maximum energy to a very limited range of frequencie

Bandpass Enclosure
An enclosure that is specifically tuned to give maximum energy to a very limited range of frequencie

Bandpass Filter
A filter that has a finite passband, neither of the cutoff frequencies being zero or infinite. The b

Bandpass Gain
The increase (or decrease) in efficiency of loudspeakers, due to the enclosure size and tuning. This

Bandwidth
Abbr. BW The numerical difference between the upper and lower -3 db points of a band of audio freque

Barium Ferrite
A speaker magnet material made from an alloy with iron and barium for improved magnetic strength.

Basket
The metal frame structure of a standard dynamic loudspeaker. In larger, heavier speakers, this may b

Bass
The portion of the audible sound spectrum that contains the lowest frequencies. These frequencies ha

Bass Boost
An active low pass amplifier section added to some receivers, equalizers, and amplifiers that allows

Bass Reflex
A type of speaker enclosure that includes a 'tuned' port or passive radiator to increase and extend

Bbe
A signal processing circuit that provides improvements in imaging and spatial realism by altering th

Bel
Abbr. B, B Ten decibels. ( In honor of Alexander Graham Bell.) The Bel was originally a unit measure

Bessel Alignment
A particular crossover configuration which offers superior phase coherence in exchange for slightly

Best Tuning Memory (BTM)
A feature in which the tuner selects radio stations by signal strength, and assigns them to presets

Bi-Amping
Means that instead of driving a speaker full-range with a single channel of amplification through a

Bi-Amplification
Some speaker systems with multiple drivers do not contain a crossover network, and they require a se

Bi-Wiring
Involves connecting two sets of cables to your speakers, like bi-amping, but both sets of cables con

Binding Post Terminals
Are a sturdier, more versatile type of speaker jack, often found on higher-quality speakers and rece

Bipolar Transistor
A older but still effectively used transistor type that contains two p or n junctions or diodes betw

Bipole
A speaker design that uses two sets of drivers to generate equal amounts of sound both forward and b

Bl
(measured in Tesla meters) The product of a speaker driver

Blank Skip
A cassette feature that automatically detects blank areas of the tape over a set number of seconds i

Bnc
A type of high precision connection often used in instrumentation and sometimes in digital audio. BN

Boomy
Usually refers to excessivly reverberant bass response, or a peak in the bass response of a recordin

Box
Another, and common name for a standard speaker enclosure. There are many variations in type, which

Bridged Power
Bridging an amplifier, combines the power output of two channels into one channel. Bridging allows t

Btl
Bridged, Transformer Less. A circuit design wherein two small Integrated Circuit (IC) amplifier chan

Built-In Crossovers
Frequently used to limit the high-frequencies reaching a subwoofer, a low-pass filter crossover allo

Bullet Horn (Tweeter)
A type of tweeter in which the radiator has a large passive, bullet-shaped device above its center t

Bumped
A method of woofer construction in which the rear suspension system is anchored a little further bac

Bumped and Vented
See discussion of Bumped above. Many higher power speakers have a vent hole in the center Pole Piece

Buss
A signal-carrying conductor or electrical pathway designed to carry multiple signals. A mixing conso

Butterworth Crossover
A type of crossover circuit utilizing low-pass filter design characterized by having a maximally fla

Butyl
A type of rubber used for speaker surrounds. Butyl has very good damping characteristics and is resi

Cabin Gain
A low frequency boost normally obtained inside a vehicle interior when woofers are optimally in phas

Canon Or Cannon
Brand name of multipoint connector used for professional audio equipment. Also known as XLR connecto

Capacitance
The property of an electric device that permits the storage of energy as a result of electric displa

Capacitor (Power Audio)
Power stabilizing capacitors store the necessary power amplifiers need to punch larger bass notes wh

Cardioid
Heart shaped pickup pattern characteristic of some microphones which reduces sensitivity to sounds f

CD Changer
Separate units that may allow the user to hear any of 3 to 120 discs, or more in whatever order they

CD Controller
This is a device that can exist either incorporated into a car stereo receiver (head unit) or as a s

CD Head Unit
Is usually a single disc player installed as a separate unit (not including a radio receiver). These

CD Receiver
Multiple function receivers are most commonly configured with radio and CD player capabilities in st

Center Channel
In home theater, a signal sent to a speaker mounted in front of the listener, specially designed to

Center Channel Speaker
The center channel speaker reproduces almost all of a movie's dialogue and much of the special effec

Channel
Common name for a complete amplifying stage in any audio amplifier. Most amplifiers are denominated

Chebyshev Filter
A filter that has some ripple in the pass-band but has an initial attenuation slope which is steeper

Chord
A combination of two or more notes played simultaneously

Circuit Breaker
An electrical switch that automatically breaks a circuit if the current through it is higher than it

Clipping
A signal that results from an amplifier that is either overloaded or underpowered relative to the si

Cms
Referring to the compliance of the mechanical suspension of a speaker cone, consisting of the spider

Coaxial Cable
A single copper conductor, surrounded with a layer of insulation, covered by a surrounding copper sh

Coloration
A term used to describe levels of audio Distortion that cause serious departures from a true High Fi

Comb Filter Effect
This acoustical and electronic effect occurs when two signals interact in such a way as to produce a

Compact Disc (CD)
The most popular format for conveying music and data currently available. It is among the first digi

Compliance
The measurement in liters or cubic feet of the volume of air that is equal to the compliance, or max