What is signal to noise ratio?

[shiznut123]

On speakers specs it says signal to noise ratio 90db or something like that. What does it mean?

 

[jj1492]

The 90db you saw was probably the sensitivity. This means that the speaker will produce 90 decibels of sound given one watt of power.

 

[shiznut123]

Oh, Thanks for the info

 

[Planktune]

signal to noise is how much sound signal there is above the noise floor (background hiss and hum etc)

 

[flood]

higher signal to noise ratio is better

 

[shiznut123]

It says it in sound card specs too. Should I be worried about this?

 

[flood]

if its higher than 88dB, no need to worry

 

[jamarno]

Every 20 dB is a factor of 10, while every 10 dB is a factor of 3, and since dBs are the log theyse add. So 90 dB S/N means that the noise 10x10x10x3, or .003% as strong as the signal. Anything over 70-80 dB is inaudible, while 40 dB sounds like a cheap tape recorder, and 60 dB like a fairly good tape recorder with Dolby.

 

[Workin']

And a good CD player will have an S/N of over 90 dB.... jamarno is correct in his explanation.

 

[Bluga]

Reminded me of Engineering Society class