a peek at the wireless

To help you pick a set of cordless loudspeakers, I am going to explain the term "signal-to-noise
ratio" which is frequently used in order to explain the performance of wireless loudspeakers.

Once you have chosen a range of wireless loudspeakers, it is time to investigate 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 rather essential specification and shows how much noise or hiss the
wireless loudspeaker produces.

You can perform a simple comparison of the wireless loudspeaker hiss by short circuiting the
transmitter input, setting the loudspeaker gain to maximum and listening to the loudspeaker.
Generally you will hear two components. The first is hissing. In addition, you will frequently hear a
hum at 50 or 60 Hz. Both of these are components which are created by the cordless speaker
itself. Then compare several sets of wireless speakers according to the following rule: the smaller
the amount of static, the higher the noise performance of the cordless speaker. However, bear in
mind that you have to put all sets of loudspeaker which are wireless to amplify by the same level
to compare different models.

If you favor a pair of wireless speakers with a small level of hissing, you may look at the signal-to-
noise ratio figure of the data sheet. Many manufacturers will show this figure. cordless
loudspeakers with a high signal-to-noise ratio are going to output a low level of noise. There are
numerous reasons why cordless loudspeakers will add some form of noise or other unwanted
signal. Transistors and resistors that are part of each modern cordless loudspeaker by nature
produce noise. Generally the components which are situated at the input stage of the built-in
power amplifier are going to contribute most to the overall noise. Consequently makers typically
are going to pick low-noise elements when developing the wireless speaker amplifier input stage.

Another cause of noise is the wireless audio broadcast itself. Normally types that use FM style
transmission at 900 MHz will have a fairly high amount of noise. Other wireless transmitters will
interfer with FM type transmitters and cause further static. Therefore the signal-to-noise ratio of
FM style wireless loudspeakers varies depending on the distance of the loudspeakers from the
transmitter plus the amount of interference. To steer clear of these problems, newer transmitters
employ digital music transmission and usually broadcast at 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. The signal-to-
noise ratio of digital transmitters is independent from the distance of the wireless loudspeakers. It
is determined by how the audio signal is sampled. Also, the quality of parts inside the transmitter
are going to affect the signal-to-noise ratio.

The majority of recent wireless loudspeakers use power amps which are digital, also called
"class-d amplifiers". Class-D amplifiers employ a switching stage that oscillates at a frequency
between 300 kHz to 1 MHz. This switching frequency is also noise which is part of the amplified
signal. However, latest wireless loudspeakerspecs typically only consider the hiss between 20 Hz
and 20 kHz.

The most widespread technique for measuring the signal-to-noise ratio is to couple the cordless
speaker to a gain which permits the maximum output swing. After that a test signal is input into
the transmitter. The frequency of this tone is typically 1 kHz. The amplitude of this tone is 60 dB
below the full scale signal. Next the noise-floor energy is calculated in the frequency range
between 20 Hz and 20 kHz and compared with the full scale signal energy.

Time and again the signal-to-noise ratio is expressed in a more subjective way as "dbA" or "A
weighted". In other words, this technique attempts to express how the noise is perceived by a
human being. Human hearing is most sensitive to signals around 1 kHz whereas signals below 50
Hz and above 14 kHz are barely noticed. Therefore an A-weighting filter is going to amplify the
noise floor for frequencies which are easily perceived and suppress the noise floor at frequencies
that are barely heard. The majority of cordless speaker will have a higher A-weighted signal-to-
noise ratio than the un-weighted ratio.