The Canadian Guitar Forum banner

Negative dB?

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  washburned 
#1 ·
New sound systems and home theatres all seem to have a volume capacity that goes from minus 50, 60dB or so to + 15dB or so. What 's the reasoning behind this? Is the goal trying to operate in the positive dB? Better sound in the +dB?
 
#2 ·
dB?

dB is a logarithmic scale used to "measure" sound intensity. The standard reference, 1dB, is the quietest sound persons with normal hearing can detect.

The rule of thumb I learned was that for approximately 3dB change in volume, twice the power was needed, so, if a 50 watt amp put out 80 dB thru speaker "x", (measured with a sound meter)then 100watts would put out 83dB,200watts would put out 86 dB and so forth.

Most mixing boards have a 0dB line on the faders which indicates that the signal path is at an optimum value; signal below this line (-dB) will have more noise relative to the source, signal above this line may start to clip/distort.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top