Glossary; Input Sensitivity - VINCENT SA-96 Manuel D'utilisation

Audio Sources/Source devices
These are the components of your HiFi system and
all other appliances, whose sound you want to hear
over the system and are thus connected to the pre-
amplifier, amplifier or receiver. This includes CD
players, DVD players, tuners (radios), cassette play-
ers, DAT recorders, personal computers, record
players, portable audio devices and many more.
Bi-amping
For this setup of your system, suitable loudspeakers
are connected via two separate loudspeaker cables
each to two amplifiers or main amplifiers. One
cable is provided for the loudspeaker connection
supplied with the higher frequencies, the other with
the one for the lower frequencies. One amplifier or
main amplifier is responsible for the supply of the
higher frequency range of both loudspeaker's input
and the second device is responsible for the low fre-
quency range of both loudspeaker's input. The filte-
ring of the entire frequency range takes place in the
circuitry of the loudspeakers. For this operation
mode you need double the number of main ampli-
fier channels (usually double the number of main
amplifiers) and double the cabling. The gain in
sound quality in Bi-amping mode is for many com-
binations of loudspeakers and amplifiers considera-
bly higher than with Bi-wiring. Here too the metal
bridges attached to the double connectors of the
loudspeaker in normal operation must be removed.
Bi-wiring
Here suitable loudspeakers are connected via two
separate loudspeaker cables each, every speaker
to two output clamps of an amplifier or main ampli-
fier. The filtering of the entire frequency range takes
place in the circuitry of the loudspeakers. One
cable is connected to the loudspeaker connector
provided for the higher frequencies and the other to
that provided for the lower frequencies. This dou-
bles the cabling, but for many combinations of loud-
speaker and amplifier this does improve the sound
quality. Before reconfiguring to Bi-wiring, the metal
bridges attached to the double connector of the
loudspeaker in normal operation must be removed.
Vincent
42

GLOSSARY

Input sensitivity

Term for the smallest average (RMS) input voltage
which causes the maximum output power at the
maximum volume setting on the amplifier.
Examples: 100 mV to 500 mV (Millivolts) on high
level inputs, 2 mV to 5 mV on the phono MM input
or 0.1 mV to 0.5 mV on the phono MC input.
MP3
MP3 (MPEG-1 Layer 3) is a compression procedure
and an audio file format. It was developed together
with procedures for the data compression of video
signals in the MPEG-1 standard but it is also used
independently. The files are recognised by their file
name extension ".mp3". Digital raw data (for ex-
ample from an audio CD) are processed in such a
way that the volume of data is greatly reduced.
In this process the signal is almost inaudibly corrup-
ted, so that the procedure results in irreversable
quality loss. There are various possible properties
for audio data within this format: mono or stereo,
different sampling rates, different bit rate (e.g. 16-
bit) and different levels of compression, defined by
the transfer rate (very often 128 kbit/s (kbps)).
On playback an audio signal close to the original
is reproduced.
dB-Level
This is a way of describing any physical quantity; it
is a common measurement for signal voltages and
the volume. It is given in decibels (dB). Alternating
signal voltages below 1V (RMS) are described as
"line level" voltages, which are suitable as music
signals for amplifier inputs. Inputs on amplifiers
(mostly represented by RCA sockets), which are
designed for signals on the CD player, tape recor-
der, DVD player etc. are also referred to as "line
level inputs" or "high-level inputs". Those signal
inputs must not be confused with inputs that accept
preamplified signals.
RCA
RCA is the American name for a type of coaxial
connectors and sockets, originally the abbreviation
for "Radio Corporation of America", the name of a