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BAsic Audio Questions

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bobo01

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Hello,

I am trying to learn the basics of audio electronics. First does anyone know of some good websites for that?

But more specifically:

What is gain control? I am finding it just means change the volume, so how do volume and gain differ?

How do sinks and sources fit into this? Is it so that to decrease the gain then a sink is used to decrease the voltage and vice versa for a source?

Also on some circuit diagrams I have seen, it appears that the signal goes straight into a splitter then into a mixer and then into a splitter again. I guess that can't be right? It is so a splitter is used to break up the singal for processing by different HW? So a low frequency might be processed by special HW to make an effect and then mixed back together again before being sent to the speaker?

-Thanks.
 

Hello,

I am trying to learn the basics of audio electronics. First does anyone know of some good websites for that?
I don't have any website to recommend off the top of my head, but there are plenty on the net. I understand that the very abundance of sites related to a subject of interest can be bewildering, and many hits do not present info at a level or with an approach that we'd like to see. Maybe later. Or perhaps someone else can come up with some good sites.

But more specifically:

What is gain control? I am finding it just means change the volume, so how do volume and gain differ?
One of the main functions of an audio system is to amplify weak signals to get a much stronger one, and finally to a level that's powerful enough to drive a speaker. "Gain" is the term used to specify by how many times the weak signal is amplified. For example, the tiny voltage from a microphone may be amplified by a factor of 1000 or more before it reaches the speaker. That amplifier is said to have a gain of 1000 (or more).

If the gain were fixed, we'd have no way of setting the volume to the level we want. So, at some point inside the amplifier, provision is made to change the overall amplification factor or gain. However, a complete amplifier is made up of many individual stages where the input signal is amplified, mixed or modified in some way, and the term "gain" is often applied specifically to some stage near the input side. It has the overall effect of changing the volume, but a gain control is intended to set an optimum sensitivity level depending on the strength of the input.

How do sinks and sources fit into this? Is it so that to decrease the gain then a sink is used to decrease the voltage and vice versa for a source?
A sink absorbs current while a source provides an output. Let's hold off further explanation for the time being as it could be expanded quite a bit.

Also on some circuit diagrams I have seen, it appears that the signal goes straight into a splitter then into a mixer and then into a splitter again. I guess that can't be right? It is so a splitter is used to break up the singal for processing by different HW? So a low frequency might be processed by special HW to make an effect and then mixed back together again before being sent to the speaker?
You got the general concept right.
 

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