Are You Driving Your Audio System in the "Wrong Gear"?
A race car produces peak power when the transmission is in the proper gear. Likewise, an audio system produces peak performance when each component is running at an optimum signal level. We can put a race car on a dynamometer and measure the power that is delivered to the wheels. We can also measure the loss of power that comes from driving in the wrong gear.
Likewise, we can hook an audio system up to a test station and measure the power and noise that is delivered to our speakers. We can also measure the loss of performance that comes from operating the audio system in the "wrong gear".
Volume controls and gain switches are the "gearboxes" in an audio system. Learn how to "drive in the right gear".
John Siau will take us into Benchmark's Engineering Lab for a performance driving lesson. He will show end-to-end performance measurements of a high-performance Benchmark audio system. He will even "shift it into the wrong gears" so that you can see the resulting loss of performance.
