What Are the Differences Between Professional and Home Audio Systems!?
Home audio systems are typically used for indoor playback in homes. Their characteristics include delicate and soft sound quality, relatively refined and aesthetically pleasing appearance, moderate sound pressure levels, relatively low power handling capacity, and a limited sound propagation range.
Professional audio systems generally refer to those used in venues such as dance halls, karaoke bars, theaters, meeting rooms, and sports stadiums. Depending on the venue, sound requirements vary. Factors like venue size necessitate configuring different audio system solutions.
Common Components of a Home Audio System
1. Source: The origin of the sound. Common sources in home systems include CD players, LP players, DVD players, etc.
2. Amplification Equipment: To effectively drive speakers with sufficient power, the signal from the source usually needs power amplification. Currently, AV receivers are common amplification devices, typically solid-state (transistor-based), though some audiophiles prefer tube amplifiers.
3. Playback Device: The speakers (loudspeakers). Their performance directly affects the listening experience.
4. Cables: Includes cables from the source to the amplifier and from the amplifier to the speakers.
Basic Requirements for a Home Audio System
Requirements for Home Audio Equipment
The ultimate goal of a home audio system is to achieve an ideal listening effect, such as recreating the sound experience of a movie theater at home. However, homes differ from theaters, so the desired acoustic effects vary depending on the type of audio being enjoyed. While accurate reproduction of various instruments is required for pop music, classical, and light music, film viewing demands a sense of presence, envelopment, and sound effects.
Regarding sources, it's important to note that different sources will yield different sound results (even with identical downstream equipment).
For speakers, power handling can be lower since home use rarely requires high power output. However, high demands should be placed on speaker sensitivity, directivity characteristics, and frequency response.
Cables are often overlooked, but evidence shows their impact on sound quality is significant and cannot be ignored. Their frequency characteristics and shielding properties must be excellent.
Acoustic Environment Requirements for Home Systems
For most families, the living room doubles as the listening room. Given space limitations, adjusting the room's proportions for acoustics is often impossible. Within existing dimensions, the goal is to optimize the listening experience: ① Symmetry of the listening environment, including both geometric symmetry and acoustic symmetry. Geometric symmetry means speaker placement should be symmetrical relative to the listening position. Acoustic symmetry means the acoustic conditions near each speaker should be essentially identical, including direct sound, reflections, and sound absorption characteristics. This requires careful selection of decoration materials and furniture arrangement to achieve good acoustics.
Professional Sound Reinforcement
General Components of a Professional Audio System
1. Sources (Music playback devices, microphones, instruments, etc.)
2. Control Devices (Analog mixer, digital mixer, digital audio media matrix, AV digital management center – the latter two are more common in conference systems)
3. Peripheral Devices (Processors, equalizers, compressors/limiters, crossovers, exciters, delays, effects units, feedback suppressors)
4. Playback Devices (Speaker systems, power amplifiers).
5. Cables (Connecting all the above devices using various types of cables; fiber optics are increasingly used.)
Professional Terminology Related to Audio Systems
1. Sound Pressure Level (SPL): Expressed in decibels (dB), it is 20 times the logarithm of the ratio of the actual sound pressure to a reference sound pressure. It's a crucial indicator for measuring a system's output and the acoustic quality of the venue.
2. Sound Reinforcement Power: The rated power required by the amplification equipment to achieve the system's designed rated sound pressure level. Measured in watts. It directly reflects acoustic goals in electrical parameters and significantly impacts the final project cost.
3. Hum: 50Hz mains AC hum, named for its low-frequency resemblance to a hum. Causes include excessive power supply ripple and poor interference rejection in audio equipment.
4. Pure Tone: Sound of a sinusoidal signal; perceptually, it has a clear single pitch, like a tuning fork.
5. Intermodulation Distortion (IMD): Occurs when two single-frequency signals (usually in a 4:1 amplitude ratio) mixed together produce new frequency components after passing through playback equipment.
6. Octave: The interval between two sounds whose frequencies have a ratio of 2. An octave represents a doubling of frequency. Increasing frequency by an octave raises the pitch by one octave.
7. Crossover: A circuit within a speaker that separates the input music signal into high, mid, and low frequencies, then sends them to the respective tweeter, midrange, and woofer drivers.
8. Bi-Amping: Driving each driver unit in a speaker with a separate amplifier channel. A two-way speaker requires two stereo amplifiers and two pairs of speaker cables. See "Bi-Wiring".
9. Bi-Wiring: Using two sets of speaker cables to separately transmit the high-frequency and low-frequency parts of the music signal. Bi-wiring requires speakers specifically designed with two pairs of terminals.
10. Amplifier: General term for preamplifier and power amplifier.
11. Power Amplifier (Power Amp): Amplifies the signal power to drive speakers. A power amp without source selection or volume control is called a "power amplifier" or "amp".
12. Preamplifier (Preamp): The pre-amplification and control stage before the power amp. It increases signal voltage amplitude, provides input signal selection, tone adjustment, and volume control. Also called a "preamp".
13. Integrated Amplifier: Combines the preamplifier and power amplifier sections within one chassis.
14. Tube Amp: Another term for a valve amplifier. Professional system configuration requires specialized audio engineering solutions tailored to the different requirements of each specific venue. Below is a general solution for conference system engineering.
Moreover, different venues have distinct requirements and solutions for professional audio. Professional audio equipment demands high expertise from users: understanding various equipment functions, possessing professional theoretical knowledge, precise listening skills, strong debugging capabilities, and emphasizing fault diagnosis and resolution. A well-designed professional audio system shouldn't focus solely on the electroacoustic system design and tuning; it must consider the actual sound propagation environment and perform precise on-site tuning. Therefore, the challenge lies in system design and debugging.
Professional audio systems generally refer to those used in venues such as dance halls, karaoke bars, theaters, meeting rooms, and sports stadiums. Depending on the venue, sound requirements vary. Factors like venue size necessitate configuring different audio system solutions.
Common Components of a Home Audio System
1. Source: The origin of the sound. Common sources in home systems include CD players, LP players, DVD players, etc.
2. Amplification Equipment: To effectively drive speakers with sufficient power, the signal from the source usually needs power amplification. Currently, AV receivers are common amplification devices, typically solid-state (transistor-based), though some audiophiles prefer tube amplifiers.
3. Playback Device: The speakers (loudspeakers). Their performance directly affects the listening experience.
4. Cables: Includes cables from the source to the amplifier and from the amplifier to the speakers.
Basic Requirements for a Home Audio System
Requirements for Home Audio Equipment
The ultimate goal of a home audio system is to achieve an ideal listening effect, such as recreating the sound experience of a movie theater at home. However, homes differ from theaters, so the desired acoustic effects vary depending on the type of audio being enjoyed. While accurate reproduction of various instruments is required for pop music, classical, and light music, film viewing demands a sense of presence, envelopment, and sound effects.
Regarding sources, it's important to note that different sources will yield different sound results (even with identical downstream equipment).
For speakers, power handling can be lower since home use rarely requires high power output. However, high demands should be placed on speaker sensitivity, directivity characteristics, and frequency response.
Cables are often overlooked, but evidence shows their impact on sound quality is significant and cannot be ignored. Their frequency characteristics and shielding properties must be excellent.
Acoustic Environment Requirements for Home Systems
For most families, the living room doubles as the listening room. Given space limitations, adjusting the room's proportions for acoustics is often impossible. Within existing dimensions, the goal is to optimize the listening experience: ① Symmetry of the listening environment, including both geometric symmetry and acoustic symmetry. Geometric symmetry means speaker placement should be symmetrical relative to the listening position. Acoustic symmetry means the acoustic conditions near each speaker should be essentially identical, including direct sound, reflections, and sound absorption characteristics. This requires careful selection of decoration materials and furniture arrangement to achieve good acoustics.
Professional Sound Reinforcement
General Components of a Professional Audio System
1. Sources (Music playback devices, microphones, instruments, etc.)
2. Control Devices (Analog mixer, digital mixer, digital audio media matrix, AV digital management center – the latter two are more common in conference systems)
3. Peripheral Devices (Processors, equalizers, compressors/limiters, crossovers, exciters, delays, effects units, feedback suppressors)
4. Playback Devices (Speaker systems, power amplifiers).
5. Cables (Connecting all the above devices using various types of cables; fiber optics are increasingly used.)
Professional Terminology Related to Audio Systems
1. Sound Pressure Level (SPL): Expressed in decibels (dB), it is 20 times the logarithm of the ratio of the actual sound pressure to a reference sound pressure. It's a crucial indicator for measuring a system's output and the acoustic quality of the venue.
2. Sound Reinforcement Power: The rated power required by the amplification equipment to achieve the system's designed rated sound pressure level. Measured in watts. It directly reflects acoustic goals in electrical parameters and significantly impacts the final project cost.
3. Hum: 50Hz mains AC hum, named for its low-frequency resemblance to a hum. Causes include excessive power supply ripple and poor interference rejection in audio equipment.
4. Pure Tone: Sound of a sinusoidal signal; perceptually, it has a clear single pitch, like a tuning fork.
5. Intermodulation Distortion (IMD): Occurs when two single-frequency signals (usually in a 4:1 amplitude ratio) mixed together produce new frequency components after passing through playback equipment.
6. Octave: The interval between two sounds whose frequencies have a ratio of 2. An octave represents a doubling of frequency. Increasing frequency by an octave raises the pitch by one octave.
7. Crossover: A circuit within a speaker that separates the input music signal into high, mid, and low frequencies, then sends them to the respective tweeter, midrange, and woofer drivers.
8. Bi-Amping: Driving each driver unit in a speaker with a separate amplifier channel. A two-way speaker requires two stereo amplifiers and two pairs of speaker cables. See "Bi-Wiring".
9. Bi-Wiring: Using two sets of speaker cables to separately transmit the high-frequency and low-frequency parts of the music signal. Bi-wiring requires speakers specifically designed with two pairs of terminals.
10. Amplifier: General term for preamplifier and power amplifier.
11. Power Amplifier (Power Amp): Amplifies the signal power to drive speakers. A power amp without source selection or volume control is called a "power amplifier" or "amp".
12. Preamplifier (Preamp): The pre-amplification and control stage before the power amp. It increases signal voltage amplitude, provides input signal selection, tone adjustment, and volume control. Also called a "preamp".
13. Integrated Amplifier: Combines the preamplifier and power amplifier sections within one chassis.
14. Tube Amp: Another term for a valve amplifier. Professional system configuration requires specialized audio engineering solutions tailored to the different requirements of each specific venue. Below is a general solution for conference system engineering.
Moreover, different venues have distinct requirements and solutions for professional audio. Professional audio equipment demands high expertise from users: understanding various equipment functions, possessing professional theoretical knowledge, precise listening skills, strong debugging capabilities, and emphasizing fault diagnosis and resolution. A well-designed professional audio system shouldn't focus solely on the electroacoustic system design and tuning; it must consider the actual sound propagation environment and perform precise on-site tuning. Therefore, the challenge lies in system design and debugging.