flatten wm ir IS\/inn rnom uuifh an onnalicor

Audralia S1.50* Austria S. 36 Denmark Kr. 10 Germany DM. 4.20 New Zealand S1.50 Sweden Kr. 14
• rstom mended Belgium F. 59 France F.8 Netherlands DFL. 3 50 Norway Kr 10 Switzerland F.4.40
 An attractive mains alarm dock with
radio switching function and battery
back up! Complete kit with case only
£15.92 (ind. VAT & p& p) MA1023
module only £8.42 (ind. VAT).

All mail to:-

RO. Box 3, Rayleigh, Essex SS6 8LR.
Telephone: Southend (0702) 554155.
Shop: 284 London Road, Westdiff-on-Sea, Essex.
(Closed on Monday).
ELECTRONIC SUPPLIES LTD Telephone: Southend (0702) 554000.
 September 1979
volume 5
number 9

selektor

A display of 16 lines of using an equaliser

64 random characters Although there are mar
: task, namely
may look impressive, but
in practice the corre- system and/or listening
an extremely useful tr
sponding memory
Unfortunately, however
capacity is somewhat
restricting. Even a simple
BASIC program will
require more space. For
this reason, the page
monitor output
extention for
Elekterminal should
prove a useful addition. page extension for Elekterminal
With the aid of the extension board descr
capacity of the Elekterminal can be exp
(each of 16 lines x 64 characters).

one-nil for audio

The advent of digital audio has
Use of a parametric
prises: digital designers discovers
equaliser allows the fre- the very limit of their capabilitie
formance standards commonly s rial analog
quency response of a equipment; analog designers, on
domestic hi-fi setup to be prised to discover that digital equip
In this article, both of these 'sui
tailored to a degree
can digital audio work so well, a
previously only attainable get

in recording studios. One

section in particular parametric equaliser
should prove of interest A combination or state-vari!

to a great many readers: to

”^ ll

de^ib»d'in th!r
>

the parametric tone con- advantages over the more cc

trols, with adjustable
turnover frequencies.
a pplikator

'Flatten your living room audio analyser

with an equaliser'. Great, Wi, ut an a cc u ,a ''
^ .
r.
but how? The bulb Of rore harm than gi

this issue is dedicated to

^CdjJ^haiffand/oT
descriptions of the pensable piece of eq
necessary hardware, and
how to use it in practice.
T «p :
on

ejektor
Self-oscillating PWM amplifier.

market

advertisers index UK-30

f
elektor September 1979 - 9-01

home has so far largely been in making The future though not so much in
Into the bio-electronic age is

life morepleasurable. It has been an individual applications as in integrated

The fight for dominance
information in entertainment medium — appearing in systems. There will be home automation
technology is little appreciated by the form of radio, television, hi-fi sets, systems compact enough to go under
politicians or understood by the man in recorders and, more recently, video the stairs or take up little room in a
the street. But Europe should have no cupboard. They will do everything from
illusions about what is at stake, says A recent development, the pocket controlling lighting, central heating and
Douglas Stevenson, vice president ITT calculator, is a pointer of things to come. other appliances like cookers and
and group executive, components and The enormous growth area is in com- washing machines, to providing meter
semiconductors. The age of biocom- puting: all the processes involved in readings for electricity, gas and water.
ponents. where man can operate machine the storage, handling, transmission and We can already see in Prestel the home
by thought alone, is very near . . . display of information. The number and linked to the outside world by a combi-
Fifty years ago was not a good time for power of these processes will increase in nation of the telephone and the TV set.
forecasters. In early 1929 most of them the home, and more so, in industry and Without stepping outside the house one
were still optimistic about the New York commerce.
stock market. By October the crash had Electronics will make our lives easier by
come. The world was not to emerge taking over the job of remembering
from the Depression until World War II. many simple but necessary things, doing
Had been making a forecast in 1929
I
what has to be done at the right time.
An example not far away is the pre-
programming of family television
viewing. It is possible to produce an
edition of the Radio Times with bar- can consult a computer-based data bank
encoded programme references. A week for up-to-the minute facts and figures
beforehand, say, the viewer can select on all sorts of services. Linking a home
the programmes he wants to see and, automation system with the telephone
with a light pen, scan the encoded refer- and the TV set, we shall have the
ences. These will be stored by the TV essential elements of recording, control,
about the development of electronic
set. which will switch on and off auto- transmission and display of information.
components, too would have been
I

matically when the time comes. Many of our activities that now involve
wrong. Most of the basic circuit el-
ements like resistors, capacitors, induc- That is one simple application that going out in all weathers, finding a
tors, the electron tube, the cathode ray
within the next decade we shall come place to park, battling with the crowds,
to accept as the normal way of organising even staying away from home, will in
tube were known. In no way, though,
would have forecast the development
I
part of our relaxion. Our present future be accomplished from our own
methods will seem quaint. Another armchairs.
of semiconductor technology. Yet the
transistor was less than 20 years away!
application already growing is in
These systems will be based upon the
Since then the pace of development security systems. These range from very low-cost computing power that the
has speeded up. Things change so individual programmed locks to com- microprocessor offers. This will give
rapidly that the period we can forecast plete surveillance, checking and alarm tremendous impetus to the development
with any degree of certainty gets shorter. systems. of automatic systems. The technology
Nevertheless, certain trends can be is available now to take us through the

projected and others predicted. For next 10 to 15 years. The question is

example, the number of people employ- one of application.
ed in the electronic components industry
will continue to shrink. At the same
time, the fewer people will be devel-
An energy -dependent world
oping and producing a greater variety Developments like this are not simply
and a greater volume of components. a move towards a more leisured or

It is important to distinguish between

volume and value. In real terms the total
industry will grow in value over the next
decade by no more than five per cent
per annum. In physical terms though the
number of functions that will be per-
formed will increase in the order of 20
to 30 per cent a year. Electronics will
play a much greater part in our lives.

Towards a leisured society

Look at domestic applications. Most
labour-saving devices in the home are
based on a 19th century development,
the electric motor. It has been the major
technical factor in removing the domestic
servant from our society in such great
numbers. Today, households that would
never contemplate the employment of a
servant have several labour-saving
devices, which are no more than con-
cealed fractional horsepower motors:
vacuum cleaners, washing machines,
driers, polishers, mixers, fans, pumps,
lawn mowers, power tools.
Essentially these all lighten physical
effort. The impact of electronics in the
lazier society, depending upon your
point of view. They are an economic
necessity. Every day it becomes clearer
that the turning point of the 1970s was
the sharp increase in oil prices at the
end of 1973. That brought home to us
the value of energy, the fact that the
world's resources were finite and had to
be conserved. People had to adjust to
the fact that the high growth rates of
the 1960s were no longer possible.
Electronics has two contributions to
make. Apart from saving power, elec-
tronics also make possible a completely
new approach to a problem. There is a
world of difference between physical
communications and telecommuni-
cations. It is much easier and cheaper to
communicate information than to trans-
port people, be they suburban com-
muters or supersonic day-trippers to
New York. As the cost of labour rises
and, in real terms, telecommunications
charges fall, so it will be cheaper to have
home meter readings impulsed over a
line rather than taken by a human
reader. The postman could disappear in
favour of a home facsimile.

The energy factor cannot be under-

estimated, At the end of the century
there will be an energy gap. which could
lead to international and social insta-
bility, and a resulting cataclismic
nuclear war would not be impossible.
In time, the gap has to be filled by safe
fusion energy. There might be a period
between the two, 10 years or so, when
the future of the world hangs in the driver units for ground-to-air missiles, mixes ; shifting price structures. |
balance. complex
quasi-systems in manufoi are going to have to get
which are ?' .

The new industrial revolution their own This trend will continue
right. their forecasts right, not the first time
if

wherever the basic technology is inter- then very quickly the second. The major
What then are the relative futures for
dependent with the function of the process of survival of the fittest — and
discrete components and integrated
total system. You cannot separate the in the fight no manufacturer can assume
circuits? So much has been said recently
about integrated circuits, micropro-
cessors in particular, that discrete Any component that provides an inter-

components would seem to have a face with a humanbeing, or acts as a

distinctly limited future.

power unit, has an indefinite future.
Into these catagories come items like
In real terms they will continue to grow
push button switches, displays, power
up until about 1985. Decline — but
units, motors — be they linear or
not in power elements — should then
rotating. Human beings are not going to
take place. It will be a slow process. By
diminish in proportion to microelec- he is a natural survivor - should have
the turn of the century foresee demand
I

tronics. They have to receive and taken place by the early 1 990s.
for discrete components in physical
communicate information. Similarly, to The Japanese will make every attempt
terms being about 75 per cent of what
interact with the real world, miniature to get the same control of the industrial
it is today but, although volume will be
devices will still have to have their and professional sectors of electronics
down, value will be up. The components
powers amplified and directed. that they have achieved in consumer
industry will continue to develop along
On the other hand discrete passive electronics worldwide. That will be the
lines of greater integration in a broad
components will decline. Included in major political factor in the industry
sense of the term. We have seen com-
these are the discrete resistor, inductors over the next 10 to 15 years. It is
ponents become circuits, become a
and the low capacity capacitor. Many of different in kind from a commercial
system, become a system that is pro-
the functions performed by these battle over the manufacture of items
grammable. We have to think more and
passive devices can now be simulated like motorcycles and cars or the con-
more in terms of sub-systems.
cheaply by active elements in a semi- struction of supertankers. It is nothing
The major component manufacturers
conductor. less than a fight for dominance in the
have already entered the sub-system
To survive in circumstances of rapidly whole area of information technology,
fields and even gone into complete
developing technology, changing product which is the key to everything else. The
systems. Examples are the complete
 aptember

Japanese understand very well the competitors in these. In other technolo-

interdependent triangle of the future, gies, those of secondary importance, it
survival and technology/political power will be necessary to maintain a capability
- and will act accordingly. The Western to bring into being, if need be, a reserve
World has to have no illusions about of industrial muscle. The EEC might
what is at stake. declare to the Japanese that it is not
This, believe, is understood at indus-
I
going into the production of certain
trial senior management level but not devices, but that it will maintain the
fully appreciated at top political level capability so that Europe is not held to and positive charges. Thus, by distin-
and hardly at all by the man in the ransom. guishing ions, these membranes could
street. Manufacturing capability in Isi A possible limitation on our ability to have very practical applications
as
and the ability to apply low-cost com- do so will be the scarcity of truly storage elements or in pollution control.
puting power means nothing less than creative physicists and engineers. We They could carry out simple tasks like
a new industrial revolution. It is the may well lack manpower of the right sensing and filtering anything from a
absolute cutting edge of technology in calibre and in the right numbers. Just as toxic atmosphere to a very low concen-
the world today, whether it's going to there will be totally integrated systems, tration of impurities. They could do
end up with the control of chemical so there will be totally integrated this with an efficiency and accuracy
plants or sophisticated toys. engineers and physicists. By the turn that is beyond the scope of current
On a practical working level, the industry of the century, individuals will need to physical methods. Superclean environ-
will concentrate into massive units possess integrated disciplines to be able ments are possible.
developing and manufacturing com- to design systems. The equipment will Developments of this kind are only the
ponents. In 50 years' time, some 30 per demand a human being who correlates start of translating biological functions
cent of these units will be produced in 100 per cent with it. into other useful energies or actions.
Japan, some 40 per cent in the US, In the production of electronic com- This enormous area will be the next
and selected areas of Western Europe ponents we shall see the elimination of great stage in the evolution of com-
will account for another 30 per cent. the man on the shop floor — except for ponents. The sort of thing have in I

The secondary technologies will in- maintenance purposes. Within 20 years, mind is photosynthesis on a large scale,
creasingly go off-shore. no unskilled people will be used in the the equivalent of a plant taking in
electronics industry. With totally con- sunlight and moisture — and growing.
trolled environments there will not Another example of the efficient
even be a need for people to sweep the storage and transmission of energy.
floor. Electronics will move into bio-engin-
On the other hand, there will be a heavy eering, bio-physics and bio-chemistry.
capital investment in machinery, which We accept as an everyday fact that we
will be making products with a short can synthesise the human voice. So why
life cycle. Fault diagnosis will be done not food for a hungry world?
by computers. Again, systems will be Going even further, why not connect
integrated and of such a complexity a human being directly to a computing
The totally integrated specialist that only a few large organisations will system? do not believe it is beyond the
I

In the fight for survival, the vulnerable be able to afford them. bounds of possibility that the output of
companies will be medium-sized: those a human brain can be directly fed into a

that have neither the resources and the A profound change in work computer. What an amplification of
mass markets of the large nor the skill Output will be in such volumes that it mental power! And without going
and flexibility of the specialist will have to have assured markets. through any software, A considerable
manufacturer. There will be no place Producers will lock into their customers. amount of mathematical analysis has
for, say the specialist manufacturer of a One will adopt the other. Small com- already been done on the brain. The
high-quality microwave or optical device panies will have to interface with their missing link is the bio-component or
turning over in current values up to customers on a continuous basis. Once subsystem.
$20 million a year. To survive he will again the word is integration. This would take electronics into neuro-
have to have an edge with his techno- Technological developments of this kind logy. Such an advance could speed up
logy and do superbly well at it. If I and magnitude are going to mean developments in an undreamed of way.
were looking for a secure long-term profound changes in society. The At present we are obliged to use soft-
pension, would not invest in a manu-
I pattern of work will change. A great ware, a stage that may occupy many
facturer turning over less than $ 200 reduction of working hours is unlikely. man-years in translating a sequence of
million in a product spread. precise, detailed instructions acceptable
The future profile of the distribution to an unthinking machine. There is a
of company sizes will be double- shortage of software people. Hence the
humped, with some level and very uneven implementation of projects gets delayed.
ground in the $ 20 — $ 200 million It is an enormous problem. If we could

area. There,it will be very difficult to have a direct human connection to the
support the R + D, the capital invest- computer how much simpler life would
ment, the marketing. As a simple be. We already have artificial limbs and
example, a set of tools just to make a We shall not see the 30 hour week in fingers actuated by brain signals. With
colour TV tube, which can be regarded the next five decades. an organic interface a person can place
as a medium-technology product, A component we do not yet have but his fingers on a sensor and pass 'thought'
currently costs $6 million. Twenty would dearly love to develop is one signals to instruct equipment.
years ago it was possible to survive by that can convert sunlight, not into By the end of this century, we shall
making 50,000 tubes a year. Today a power as a solar cell does, but into see the first bio-electronic components
break-even figure is about two million. chemical energy as do organic living and subsystems performing, at the very
For any hope of industrial survival, species. This involves producing artificial least, functions like separation
basic
we shall have to maintain technology membranes in the laboratory con- and storage. Direct connection of man
in depth. That means deciding which taining compounds which perform and machine belongs to the 21st
technologies we have to be in. These specific or even analogue functions. In century.
must be the primary technologies. We ITT work is already being done on
have to maintain at least parity with our membranes that can separate negative
9-04 - ele

The great advantage of an equaliser is

that, unlike conventional bass and treble

tone controls, which can provide only a
fairly limited amount of boost or cut at
the extremes of the audio spectrum, it is
possible to iron out (equalise) peaks or
dips in a response over the entire range
of audio frequencies. Not only that, but
with a parametric equaliser, the centre
frequency, Q and gain of the equaliser
filters can all be tailored to exactly
compensate for non-linearities in the
response of any given system.
Although the use of equalisers was
originally limited to professional sound
recording studios, their undoubted
benefits have led to an increasing
number of amateur applications:
dedicated hi-fi enthusiasts, having
lavished considerable attention and
expense on cartridges, pick-up arms,
turntables, amplifiers and loudspeakers,
are now resorting to equalisers to
'upgrade' the last link in the audio

using an equaliser
chain, namely the listening room.
Unfortunately, however, many amateurs
fail to make the most of the facilities

offered by a sophisticated parametric

equaliser,and simply end up using it as
a sort of 'super-duper' tone control,
twiddling the knobs to get a bit more
bass here, less treble there and so on.
This article is therefore intended to
provide a few insights on how to achieve
effective room equalisation, whether it

be for domestic or PA-system appli-

cations.

Equalising your living room

In recent years the subject of room
equalisation has become something of a
fad. Various audio design consultants
and well-known manufacturers of audio
equipment have conducted extensive
Although there are many different types of equaliser, they all perform research into the response of domestic
listening environments. Bruel and Kjaer,
the same basic task, namely the correction of deficiencies in the fre-
for example, offer a comprehensive
quency response of one's speaker system and/or listening environment. measurement and equalisation system
As such they represent an extremely useful tool in the quest for 'perfect' for listening rooms, whilst Philips loud-
speakers are specially designed
hi-fi. Unfortunately, however, equalisers are all to often misused, and
to
compensate for the deficiencies of the
in extreme cases actually do more harm than good. The following 'average room'. The subject of
living
article takes a look at the various types of application for which room equalisation,with particular

equalisers are most suited, and also explains how to get the best out of reference to the effect of the placement
of loudspeakers, has been discussed in a
this versatile instrument.
spate of recent articles, and numerous
hobbyist magazines have produced
designs for (graphic) equalisers. There is
no doubt that people are now generally
aware of the effect of the shape and
contents of the listening room on the
reproduction of the audio signal.
That the room has considerable effect is
hardly surprising, especially when one
considers how much care and attention
ispaid to the internal construction of
loudspeakers (bracing ribs, damping
 materials, air-tight seals etc.): in a sense, with different loudspeaker placings, inthe room's frequency response,
the listening room is simply a giant swop the furniture around etc. Although Assuming, for example, that the room
loudspeaker cabinet, in which the whether the living room will remain in question has the response shown in

listener sits. However, as a rule little or is another question!

liveable-in figure 2a. Using an equaliser the response
nothing is done to improve the response A simpler solution to the problem of of the audio system can be tailored to
of the room. Of course it is possible to 'upgrading' your living room is to look like that shown in figure 2b, i.e.
j

take such steps as to change the curtains, employ an equaliser, which will the inverse of the room's response, with
fit wall-to-wall carpeting, experiment compensate for the inherent deficiencies peaks at 1600 Hz and 4 kHz, dips at 50
I

f (HZ) 9936 2

Figure 2. An example of how, in principle, it is possible to obtain a uniform frequency response with the aid of an
equaliser. The irregular response of figure (a) is smoothed out by setting up the inverse response (shown in figure (bl)
on the equaliser filters. The result (figure (c)), in theory at least, is the desired perfect reproduction.
!iiS'

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 iber 1979 -9-07

Figure 3. In hi-fi applications it is neither necessary nor indeed advisable to attempt to iron out every single peak and
dip in the response. In particular, the band of mid-range frequencies between approximately 300 Hz and 5 kHz is best
left untouched, so that the resultant corrected response will look something like that shown in figure 3b.

and 250 Hz and treble boost above lation or phase reinforcement may occur at frequencies outside this band
10 kHz. Thus, in theory, the resulting occur, creating nodes and anti-nodes at can be flattened out with the aid of an
'combined frequency response (i.e. that different locations in the room. For this equaliser; at frequencies which are at
i which, so to speak, reaches the ears of reason it is only possible to equalise the the junction of these regions (i.e.
the listener) should be the perfectly flat frequency response of a particular around 300 Hz and 5 kHz), limited
I line shown in figure 2c. listening position.
that position is
If equalisation may be useful in certain
Unfortunately, however, as one might altered the frequency response will have cases.What this means for the response
expect, things are not quite so simple in altered also. curve of figure 3a is this:
I
practice. The situation is complicated Secondly, the human ear responds • the prominent resonance at around
by the fact that the signal which reaches differently to direct and reflected sound, 50 Hz can be completely eliminated
the listener is a mixture of direct and particularlyat frequencies within the (that this also results in an improve-
indirect sound. The direct sound is that vocal spectrum between roughly 300 Hz ment of approximately 10 dB in the
which travels straight from the loud- and 5 kHz. The direct sound is recognised signal-to-noise ratio is an added
speakers to the listener's ears, whilst the as the primary factor determining the bonus).
indirect sound is that which has first sound source, whilst the • The smaller peak
'quality' of the at around 250 Hz
been reflected off the walls, ceiling, reflected sound provides information lies in a transitional area, thus partial
[floor and furniture. It is the indirect
relating to the listening environment. equalisation is possible, if desired.
sound, therefore, that is 'coloured' by Excessive equalisation can therefore The most sensible procedure is to
the acoustics of the rooms. This fact has
i
lead to highly undesirable results, audibly compare the results obtained
two consequences: namely strong colouration of the direct with and without equalisation.
1

The relativeproportions of direct and sound in an attempt to compensate for • The barely perceptible 'bump' at
reflected sound will vary at different
a reflected signal heavily influenced by 150 Hz is really too small to be
points in the room. Due to path length room
the acoustics. As already worth considering; furthermore it lies
differences between the direct and mentioned, careless or over-enthusiastic right in the middle of the critical
! indirect signals, either phase cancel-
use of an equaliser can do more harm mid-range of frequencies and should
than good. However the prospective therefore be left untouched.
4 user should not be put off by this fact, • The dip at around 1600 Hz is likewise
since an equaliser can offer tangible inside the critical vocal spectrum
Sv
i benefits to the hi-fi enthuisiast who, for
practical reasons, is constrained to listen
which should be avoided.
• The somewhat larger dip at approxi-
to his system in a small and acoustically- mately 5 kHz straddles the second
poor room, with his speakers positioned crossover area, thus once again a
in non-ideal locations. partial or limited equalisation may
The advantages of an equaliser can be prove worthwhile.
illustrated by taking a closer look at the • Finally, the roll-off in the response
frequency response of a typical living above 10 kHz can legitimately be
room, as shown in figure 2a. The same corrected with the equalizer; care
curve is shown again in figure 3, with should be taken not to apply excessive
several 'critical' areas emphasised. For amounts of boost, however, since
the band of frequencies from roughly there is the danger of damaging one's
Figure 4. In most cases it is a relatively simple
affair to incorporate a switch selectable 6 dB
300 Hz to 5 kHz, the golden rule is tweeters (I)

attenuator into a P.A. system. A resistance 'leave well alone' (assuming that it is the After the above corrections have been
Ry of approximately the same value as the acoustics of the room and not de- carried out (and assuming that the dip
volume control (Py) is connected in series ficiencies in the response of the loud- at around 1600 Hz is the result of the
with the latter, and a pushbutton switch Sy is speakers which are responsible for room acoustics and not one's loud-
then connected in parallel with the resistance. irregulatities in the response). However speakers), the overall response which is
peaks and dips in the response which obtained, should look something like
that shown in figure 3b - and hopefully volume, but it is often true, particularly may appear rather an obvious point,
be a correspondingly badly designed or wrongly set-up but is surprising how many people
there should in it

discernible improvement in the resulting systems, that increasing the output fail to observe this elementary
sound I from your speakers simply produces precaution.
As the above example illustrates, it is the dreaded acoustic feedback or • by setting the output level of those

not necessary to make a large number of 'howlround'. One must therefore speakers which are nearest the
corrections into obtain an
order attempt to (a) make the system less microphones lower than that of
'acoustically' flat response. All that is susceptible to feedback, and (b) search speakers situated further down the
required in this example is a circuit to for other ways of improving intelligibility hall. Many loudspeakers already have

provide treble boost, and three variable than simply winding up the volume a facility for reducing the output
resonance filters - in fact those facilities control. level; in those that do not it is a

offered by the type of parametric simple matter to incorporate a small

To take the problem of acoustic feedback
value series resistor to provide the
equaliser described elsewhere in this first: most people know that this
desired level of attenuation. This step
irritating phenomenon is caused by
The following paragraphs describe how sounds from the loudspeakers being
may at first appear a little self-
contradictory, however allows the
up - either directly or via
it
to go about actually setting up an picked
equaliser for optimum results in a reflections off the walls, ceiling, etc. —
amplifier volume to be turned up
variety of practical situations. without significantly increasing the
by the microphone(s). These are then
feedback signal to the microphones.
amplified, fed back to the loudspeakers,
P.A. systems • at any given time, do not have more
only to be picked up once more by the
microphones switched on than is
P.A. systems used in conference halls microphones, and so on until a nasty
necessary. If there is only one person
and auditoria are usually installed by high-pitched howl is produced (hence
speaking, then one microphone is all
professionals. However there are many the name 'howlround'). In order to
that is required. Switching additional
situations such as local community increase the volume without provoking
mikes on will simply increase the
meetings, school prizegivings etc. where this unpleasant effect, the only answer
chance of feedback.
smaller halls have to be set up acousti- is to ensure that less of the loudspeaker
• ensure the volume control is adjusted
cally by comparative 'amateurs'. signal is picked up by the microphone(s).
correctly! This may also appear to be
The most common problems encoun- This can be done in several ways:
rather an obvious point, but in
tered in this type of case are 'lack of • by using directional (cardioid) micro-
practice it is often more difficult to
Intelligibility', 'not loud enough', and phones, which are less sensitive to
observe than it may seem. The
persistent acoustic feedback. Before sound from the rear.
• by using loudspeakers which also following couple of tips should help:
explaining main causes of these
the
problems a few preliminary remarks on have a directionally dependent — acoustic feedback is more liable to

response. It is probably not so well occur in an empty hall than in a full

the nature of P.A. systems would not go
amiss. The primary aim of a P.A. system known that cardioid loudspeakers one. For this reason it is often
exist. By positioning these with their sufficient to adjust the volume
is not to achieve 'high-fidelity' repro-
duction, but rather optimum intelligi- backs to the microphones, acoustic control so that the system is just on
bility. Unfortunately, in practice this is
feedback can be considerably the point of 'howlround', with an
often confused with maximum volume. reduced. empty hall. Once the hall has filled j

Of course, in some cases intelligibility • by not positioning the loudspeakers up the volume setting should prove

can be improved by bumping up the right next to the microphones. This spot-on.
 elektor September 1979 - 9-09

- The between a correct

difference resultant overall response is shown in to 4 or 5dB will often have little audible
volume setting and one which is just figure 5c. What cannot be shown effect. The crucial factor as far as
on the verge of howlround is about however is the amazing improvement in P.A. systems are concerned, is the
3 to 6 dB. It is often possible to tell the intelligibility of the sound signal as a presence of large resonant peaks in the
when a system is on the verge of consequence of this measure. Whereas response, since the highest peak effec-
howlround by the fact that it sounds previously the speaker could barely be tivelydetermines the maximum setting
decidedly 'echoey' — the effect is understood in an extremely quiet of the volume control which can be
slightly similar to that obtained with environment, after the equaliser had used without causing howlround.
artificialreverberation units. One can been used every word was clearly Consequently, the equaliser should be
capitalise on the above fact by intelligible even with the noisiest of employed to ensure that all the peaks in

incorporating a switched 3 to 6 dB audiences. the system's response are on the same

attenuator in series with the volume Practice has proven that an equaliser is level. This process is illustrated in
control (see figure 4). With the an extremely useful and effective tool figure 6. Although, at first sight, the
attenuator switched out of circuit, for obtaining clear and readily compre- response curve of figure 6a may appear
one first adjusts the volume control hensible reproduction when working in to be slightly better, in practice superior
unit the P.A. system just starts to halls with difficult acoustics. However, results will be obtained with the curve
howl-round (bear in mind that the way in which an equaliser is used in in figure 6b. Of course, as it stands the
acoustic feedback builds up gradu- from that when
P.A. applications differs latter response is far from perfect, and
ally), then one simply switches in the employed with domestic hi-fi systems. with judicious filtering it is possible to
attenuator, and the system should be It has already been stated that, when achieve the optimum response shown in
ready for use. equalising the response of an audio figure 6c.
chain and/or listening environment, the For those readers who are still less than
Once acoustic feedback has been band of frequencies between roughly convinced as to the advantages of an
reduced to a minimum, the next step is 300 Hz and 5 kHz should be left well equaliser in this type of application, it
alone. In the case of a P.A. installation, may be worth pointing out that the cost
to attempt to increase the intelligibility
of the P.A. system without recourse to
however, almost exactly the opposite is of a (home-built) equaliser is nothing
true: precisely this range of frequencies compared to the price of new micro-
the volume control. There are basically
two main ways of doing this: reduce the between 300 Hz and 5 kHz - or to be phones or speakers.
more accurate, the slightly broader band
amount of reverberation generated in
of frequencies between 100 Hz and
the hall, and improve the quality of the
sound itself. The former point basically 10 kHz — should be corrected with the
equaliser. The extremes of the audio Electronic music
boils down to improving the acoustics
of the hall by installing heavy curtains,
spectrum are of little significance for A less common but nonetheless
the intelligibility of the resultant speech important area of application for
thick carpeting, etc., and unfortunately
equalisers is in electronic music, where
is normally fairly expensive. The second

measure, i.e. improving the reproduction Furthermore, whether the response of their and
flexibility tone-shaping
the reproduced signal is completely flat capabilities make them a useful addition
of the speech signal is where electronics,
in the shape of an equaliser, come in. It
or not is also of secondary importance. to electronic synthesisers and organs. In
For example dips in the response of up direct contrast to the procedure
is not generally appreciated that the
quality of the reproduced sound signal
plays an important part in determining
its intelligibility. It has been proven time

and again in practice that a flat fre-

quency response over a reasonably wide
spectrum - roughly 100 Hz to 10 kHz
- will lead to a considerable improve-
ment in the intelligibility of the average
P.A. system. Unfortunately, however,
there are a number of prevalent
misconceptions regarding the ideal fre-
quency response and how to obtain it.
These have led to the appearance of
such monstrosities as bass cut 'speech
switches' which roll off the response
below 200, 300 or even 400 Hz, special
'speech’ (loudspeaker) cabinets, which
often have a truly horrific response, and
speech microphones (whose response is
sometimes little better that that of the
loudspeakers). All that is needed is for
the bass tone control on the amplifier to
be set to minimum and the 'presence
filter', which, more likely than not, has
also found its way into the P.A. system,

to be switched in, and one has all the

ingredients for a full-scale acoustic
disaster!
Figure 5a shows the measured response
obtained from such a set-up, with the
Figure 6. In thi P.A. systems \

tone controls set to their mid- se have approx

positions! I).
st first sight aF
Using a simple parametric equaliser, the
e. That is of coun
attempt was then made to iron out the
grosser irregularities by employing the
filter response shown in figure 5b. The
adopted in domestic hi-fi and P.A. analyser described elsewhere in this principles involved are the same. The
applications, the filter parameters are issue, a little patience, and a certain choice is basically one of ancillary

not preset and thereafter left untouched; understanding of what one is trying to equipment, whether one uses a measure-
rather the filter settings are varied achieve. The point here is that excep- ment microphone, headphones, test
constantly as demanded by the (live) tionally precise filter settings (within records etc.
performance of the passage of music ±0.5dB) are not necessary, nor does Setting up an equaliser for a P.A, system
being played. For this reason the filter one have to have an absolutely accurate is somewhat simpler in that it oniy
controls on the equaliser must be well- picture of frequency response. It
the makes sense to utilise the existing

calibrated and ergonomically designed - does not matter whether a particular microphone(s) to obtain the results of
a precondition which has led to the peak or trough happens to occur at the spectral analysis. Since this step in
popularity of graphic equalisers, where exactly 225 Hz - what is more import- fact forms the basis of the various

the pattern of the slider potentiometers ant is that irregularities in the frequency procedures which can be adopted with
on the front panel provides immediate response can be detected (without domestic hi-fi systems we shall examine
knowing it first, before going on to discuss how
visual feedback regarding the overall necessarily their precise
However location) and then corrected. Frequency to obtain the best results from an
filter response (see figure 7).
response curves such as those shown in equaliser in domestic audio applications.
that is not to say that parametric
equalisers are unsuited for this type of figures 2, 3, 5 and 6 may well be
application - quite the reverse. Their be interesting for the audio consultant
greater scope (control of all the filter or engineer, but as far as the hi-fi owner P.A. systems
parameters) renders them much more is concerned the only thing that counts

is the sound reaching his ears!

It goes without saying that, as far as
flexible and affords the skilled user the
measurement possible, the performance of the P.A.
possibility of achieving a wide range of The and correction
procedure for a domestic listening room system should be optimised before the
different effects.
equaliser is introduced. That is to say
can be carried out in a number of ways,
although in each case the general that the positioning of the micro-
Setting up an equaliser phone(s) and loudspeakers should be
Before discussing the specific problems carefully chosen; ideally, cardioid

encountered when attempting to equalise 8 microphones should be used, and, if

the frequency response of domestic hi-fi necessary, the output level of the
and P.A. systems, there are several frontally situated speakers lowered.
general points which can be made. Only when no further improvements of
Firstly, and most importantly, it is this nature can be achieved should the
essential that the frequency response equaliser be brought in. The setting-up
which is to be corrected is already procedure discussed here assumes that
known. At the risk of sounding repeti- one possesses a parametric equaliser and
tive, fiddling around with the equaliser the audio spectrum analyser described
controls and 'playing it by ear’ will elsewhere in this issue. The procedure
almost certainly produce little in the followed with an octave or third-octave
way of tangible benefit and more likely graphic equaliser is broadly similar; any
than not will do more harm than good. differences will be mentioned as they
However, measuring the frequency
1 . The first step is to adjust the equaliser
response in question is not such a
fearsome undertaking as one might controls to obtain a linear frequency

imagine and worried readers should Figure 8. Before the equaliser is incorporated response. This is done by connecting the
banish any ideas about expensive into the P.A. system it must first be adjusted noise generator direct to the equaliser
Brtiel and Kjaer measuring equipment for a flat response. This can be done with the input and the analyser filter and display
that might be needed. In fact all that to the output of the equaliser (figure 8).
one requires is the audio spectrum The analyser filter should be adjusted for
 aptember 1979 — 9-11

maximum Q (1/12 octave bandwidth).

With thisarrangement it is a simple
matter to trace and correct any peaks or
dips in the response which are caused by
the equaliser itself (the filter sections of
a graphic equaliser should be adjusted

2. One next has to find a suitable point

in the amplifier at which to connect the
monitor
equaliser. If the amplifier has a
input, thenin most cases one need look
no further (see figure 9a). Figures 9b
and 9c however, illustrate how it is
possible to incorporate a monitor switch
oneself. This topic is discussed in greater
detail in the article "Making a monitor
switch' contained elsewhere in this

3. The output of the equaliser should

then be connected to point B in figure 9,
the noise generator connected to the
equaliser input, and the analyser filter
and display to point A in figure 9. This
arrangement is depicted in figure 10.
4. The frequency response of the
system can now be measured; first of all
however, it is important that the poten-
tiometer control which sweeps the
centre frequency of the analyser filter
up and down the audio spectrum has
been provided with a (calibrated) scale
(from, say, 1 to 10). If several micro-
phones are used in the P.A. system
under test, only the main mike, i.e. the
one used most often, should be
switched on. The results obtained can
be plotted to form a graph such as that
shown in figure 11a. The points most
worth plotting are the highest values of
a peak and the lowest of a dip. If an
octave or third-octave equaliser is used
then the analyser filter should be varied
stepwise in octave or third-octave tered. If, as in figure 11b, this is a dip, the filter varied until the desired reading
increments. The readings obtained for the second equaliser filter is set for on the analyser meter is obtained. If
each frequency band are then plotted as maximum boost, tuned in to the further deficiencies in the frequency
shown in figure 12a. appropriate frequency, and the gain of response exist, this procedure is then
5. Using a ruler one then draws a line repeated with the remaining equaliser
approximately mid-way between the filters.
highest peak and lowest dip (see fig- 10 8. The next step is to tune the analyser
ures 11 b and 12b); this represents the filterto the frequency at which the bass
theoretically idealresponse to which response of the system begins to roll off
one is approximating. sharply. This point is indicated with an
6. The Q of all the bandpass filters in arrow in figure 11b. The Baxandall bass
the parametric equaliser are set to control on the equaliser should then be
maximum (if a graphic equaliser is being set for maximum cut, and its 3 dB point
used points 6 to 13 are omitted) and adjusted until the meter reading falls to
using the analyser filter the first peak or 0.7 of its original value.
dip in the measured response is located; 9. The turnover frequency of the treble
in figure 11b for example, this is the filter the tone control network is
in
peak between measurement points 2 adjusted in exactly the same way. Were
and 3. Since it is a peak, the first one to measure the resultant overall
equaliser filter is set for maximum cut response (not that this is necessary), it
and the centre frequency of the filter would look roughly like that shown in
slowly adjusted until there is a (fairly figure 11c.
sudden) drop in the analyser reading. 1 0. The centre frequency of the analyser
The centre frequency of the equaliser filter is now tuned down to the point

filter is then fine-tuned until the reading just below that at which the turnover
on the analyser display is at a minimum. frequency the bass control was
of
Finally, the attenuation of the filter is adjusted. The gain of this filter should
reduced to the point where the meter then be increased until it coincides with
Figure 10. Once the equaliser has been
reading coincides with the theoretically adjusted for a flat response and a suitable the theoretical 'flat' value. The same
uniform response. connection point in the amplifier has been procedure is performed for the treble
7. The analyser then tuned up
filter is found, the analyser and equaliser are control.
the audio spectrum until the next 11. The analyser filter is tuned to a
irregularity in the response is encoun- frequency on the 'flank' of the first
 from point 4 onwards in a slightly
modified form. The reason for this can
be explained if one looks at the curve
shown in figure lid, which represents
the probable frequency response
obtained so far. The curve exhibits the
following faults:
- The turnover frequency of the bass
tone control is too low, with the result
that the response slopes too sharply at
this point. The remedy - increase the
turnover frequency and reduce the gain
slightly.
- The centre frequency of the first
(equaliser) bandpass filter is too high,
the consequence being that the filter
introduces too much attenuation and
has too large a bandwidth. Each of these
filter parameters should therefore be
adjusted.
- The second bandpass filter is correctly
adjusted, however the centre frequency
of the third is slightly low, causing over-
attenuation and resulting in too small a
bandwidth.
- The turnover frequency of the treble
control is too low, causing the response

to roll off at high frequencies; once

again this should be corrected.
13. With an octave or third-octave
(graphic) equaliser the adjustment
procedure is considerably simpler; this is
in fact one of the main advantages of
this type of equaliser. A filter with
switchable centre frequency (in steps of
an octave or 1 13 octave) is employed as
analyser filter. The adjustment procedure
consists simply of setting up each
frequency band in turn and varying the
gain of the corresponding equaliser filter
until the analyser reading coincides with
the nominally flat value. As expected,
the resultant response cun/e (see fig-
ure 12c) has a certain waviness, which is
unavoidable when using a graphic
equaliser. However this is of only minor
importance in this type of application.
14. Irrespective of the type of equaliser
which is employed, the adjustment
procedure, once completed, should be
checked with the aid of the following
test: The system should be set up as for
normal use, i.e. the equaliser is connected
to point A in figure 9 and the pink noise
generator removed. The analyser filter
12. and display, however, are left connected
to point A (see figure 13) for the time
being. The volume control of the
amplifier is then turned up to the point
where acoustic feedback just starts to
occur. Using the analyser filter it is a
simple matter to detect the frequency at
which the signal is oscillating, whereupon
the gain of the corresponding equaliser
filter should be reduced a fraction.
If the equaliser has been optimally set

up, the system should no longer oscillate

at the same frequency. If, however, it

peak or dip in the response and the Q of now be set up correctly and the response should continue to do so, then it means
the first equaliser filter is reduced until curve of the system should resemble that the equaliser has not been correctly
the reading of the meter at this point that shown in figure lie, i.e. flat over set up and the adjustment procedure
reaches the nominal 'ideal' value. This the range of the spectrum analyser. should be repeated point for point.
procedure is repeated for the rest of the Unfortunately, however, this will rarely 16. If more than one microphone is
equaliser filters. be the case in practice, and it will be used in the P.A. system, the above
Theoretically, the equaliser should necessary to repeat the above procedure procedure is only carried out with the
 1979-9-13

main mike. The response obtained with

each of the other microphones is
measured separately as described in
12
point 4. Should these all prove to be
reasonably flat, the system is ready for
use as it stands. If this is not the case,
however, then one of the following
steps may prove necessary. If one mike
has an irregular response and it is of a
different type to the main mike, then
one should consider replacing it. If the
discrepancies are only minor, then basic
equalisation (one equaliser filter per
mike) for each microphone may be
adequate. Bear in mind that a dip in the
response of the other microphones is
less important than the presence of a
peak. Finally, a compromise solution is
also possible: i.e. one switches on all the
mikes and adjusts the equaliser for the
optimal response.
In conclusion it is worth pointing out
that all the above measurements were
carried out using a pink noise test signal.
This type of signal source was in fact
chosen for a very good reason. Were the
response of the system measured using
e.g. a sinewave generator, the response
shown in figure 5a would look something
like that in figure 14. The response is
characterised by countless dips and
peaks separated by little more than a
couple of Hertz and varying in amplitude
by between 20 to 30 dB. These very
sharp dips and peaks are intrinsic to the
response and cannot be corrected. If
attempting to equalise a response
measured using a sinewave generator the
important thing is to align the tops of
the peaks; the average and minimum
amplitude levels are of minor import-
ance, since, as already mentioned, it is
the signal peaks which determine at Figure 12. With octave and third-octave graphic equalisers the
what point the system succumbs to response can only be varied in octave or third-octave steps, hence
acoustic feedback. there is little point in measuring the response of the system more
accurately than this. Figure lal shows the measured response with
Although the measurements obtained
an octave/third-octave analyser filter; in figure Ibl the nominal 'flat'
with a sinewave generator are more
value is drawn in, whilst figure (cl shows the response obtained
accurate, they are also considerably
with the equaliser optimally adjusted. The 'waviness' of the response
more time-consuming. In addition,
is an inherent result of employing a graphic equaliser and cannot be
when plotting the response of a system, rectified. However in practice it has littla effect upon the final
sound quality.

13 there isthe added difficulty of ensuring equaliser. The simplest is to use the
that one is recording only the peak complete audio analyser described else-
signal levels. where in this issue in conjunction with a
measurement microphone. However
other approaches in which only part of
The living room the audio analyser is used together with
As in the case of P.A. systems, the most a pair of high impedance headphones
suitable point in the reproduction chain are also possible (it is even possible to
to incorporate the equaliser is the dispense with the audio analyser
monitor input of the amplifier. If such entirely! ) . Each of these methods will
an input does not already exist, then, as be described in detail.
already mentioned, it is a relatively
simple matter to incorporate such a
facility oneself.
a. Analyser and measurement
For stereo hi-fi systems a 'stereo' microphone
equaliser in the shape of two indepen- The adjustment procedure with analyser
dently variable mono equalisers is and measurement microphone is

required. Quad fans need not worry, essentially the same as that adopted
since generally speaking there is little to with P.A. systems. By 'measurement'
Figure 13. With the set-up shown here it is be gained from using an equaliser for microphone is meant a mike whose
possible to check the performance of the the rear channels. frequency response is sufficiently flat to
P.A. system after equalisation. Once installed there are several methods ensure that it does not introduce a
which can be adopted to set up the significant degree of error into the
 1979

14

Figure 14. Until now the frequency responses shown have all been 'idealised'. However if the response is measured extremely slowly
11 5 to 20 minutes for one complete response curve! using a swept sinewave generator then the resultant graph looks rather different from
that shown in figure 5a! One can clearly see that there are a large number of quite sharp peaks and dips which are only a few Hertz apart.
These rapid variations in amplitude cannot be corrected however, and consequently there is a little point in measuring them. When using
a noise generator as a test signal source, one obtains an 'averaged' response curve, which is much more useful when it comes to practical
adjustments with the equaliser.

measurements. A good quality micro- means that there is no way of telling the equaliser. The simplest method of
phone of the type intended for use with where these frequencies occur! Fortu- ascertaining which of these two
reel-to-reel tape recorders should fit the nately, however, there are alternative situations is in fact the case is to measure
bill. methods of determining this frequency the loudspeaker response in two
The connections for the analyser and band with sufficient accuracy: e.g. the different rooms. The most suitable
microphone are illustrated in figure 15. use of test records which have a number room for this purpose (assuming it is

The microphone should be situated in of specified frequencies recorded on large enough!) is the bathroom! How-
the 'ideal' listening position within the them; alternatively one can utilise the ever one must of course be extremely
room and care should be taken to knowledge that on a piano (or the 8' careful when using electrical equipment
exclude extraneous noise sources (wives, register of an electronic organ) 300 Hz in the vicinity of water taps etc. At any
children etc.!) One then works through coincides roughly with d - the d above
1

rate, if the same dip in the response

5
the same procedure as described for middle c, and 5 kHz with e (i.e. four occurs when the loudspeaker has been
P.A. systems, but with one notable octaves above middle e). set up in a different room, then one can
exception. As already mentioned, any In figure 3a the frequency response safely assume that it is the fault of the
dips or peaks in the response occurring exhibited a dip at around 1600 Hz. and loudspeaker itself.
between roughly 300 Hz and 5 kHz it was stated that if this was a result of Since a stereo equaliser actually consists
should generally be left alone. Until the room acoustics, it should not be of two separate mono equalisers, in
now, however, there has been no need equalised; if however it was caused by theory the adjustment procedure should
for the frequency scale on the analyser the response of the loudspeaker, then it be carried out twice, once for each
filter control to be calibrated, which was legitimate to remove the dip using channel, and in each case with the other
channel completely disconnected. In
practice, however, it is sufficient to feed
15 the noise signal to the desired channel
and simply to turn the balance control
on the amplifier to the appropriate end
stop. Any crosstalk between channels
should be too small to affect the result-
ant measurement.

Test records
Certain hi-fi stores stock various test
records which often include pink noise
test signals. In principle, these can be
used in place of the pink noise generator
of the audio analyser. The adjustment
procedure then becomes slightly more
inconvenient, since one must constantly
search for the right spot on the record
for each measurement; however this in
no way interferes with the accuracy of
the adjustment procedure.

Sinewave test signal

It is also theoretically possible to use a
Figure 15. If a reliable measurement microphone is available pure sinewave (whether from a sinewave
generator or a test record) as a test
of a hi-fi system and living room. however this approach is not
signal,
recommended. As has already been
 elektor September 1 979 — 9-1

maximum resistance, switch Sh is

16 moved to the 'headphones' position,

and Ph is then adjusted until the signal
from the headphones sounds to be at
the same level as that from the speaker

3. The frequency of the analyser filter

is gradually moved up and down the
entire spectrum and the differences
between the signal levels of the loud-
speaker and of the headphones are
noted - loudspeaker slightly louder,
much louder, the same, etc. At the same
time one should observe at what points
the highest peaks (i.e. greatest signal
levels) and lowest dips (smallest signal
high impedance headphones Ph - 5 k
low impedance headphones Ph - 100 SJ levels) occur. A useful method of
recording one's observations is illustrated
in figure 18a; figure 18b shows the
corresponding frequency response. With
this information one can now proceed
to set up the equaliser in the manner
described above, using the signal level
established in point 1 as the nominal
'flat' value. As already mentioned, the

band of mid-range frequencies should

explained, the actual frequency response display or meter section of the analyser normally be left unaltered.
of the system consists of a large number is not used with this set-up (no measure- Summarised briefly, the remainder of
of very rapid variations in signal level. ment mike), instead one trusts to one's the adjustment procedure is as follows:
Were a sinewave generator employed as ears to distinguish between signal levels. 4. All the equaliser (bandpass) filters
source, these peaks and dips
a test signal This does require a certain amount of are set for maximum Q. With the aid of
would be reflected in the measurement. concentrated listening, however in the analyser filter the first peak (in
One would then have to determine the practice this has proven to work quite figure 18 this lies between test points 1
'average' frequency response of the well. The adjustment procedure is as and 2) is detected, the first equaliser
system before one could set about follows: filter is set for maximum cut and its
equalising it. A
small drift in the oscil- 1. The analyser control is set to
filter centre frequency adjusted until it
lator frequency, a fractionally incorrect roughly its mid-position, and with the coincides with the top of the peak. The
setting of the controls, could lead to Sh switch (see figure 17) in the 'loud- amount of attenuation introduced by
differences in signal level of from 5 to speaker' position, the noise signal is the filter is then adjusted until the signal
10 dB. Such is the risk or error using a adjusted to a reasonable room level. If level of the loudspeaker and headphones
sinewave test signal that it is best to the volume of the noise signal is too is the same. This procedure is repeated

avoid this approach altogether. high it is not only extremely disagreeable, with the remaining equaliser filters for
but there is also a risk of damage to the any other irregularities which require
speaker! correction (in figure 18 the other
Headphones 2. Potentiometer Ph is set for prominent peaks and dips fall within the
There may be those who do not wish to
purchase a measurement microphone
(and suitable pre-amp) solely for the 17
purpose of setting up an equaliser. If
that is the case an alternative solution is
to use a pair of high-quality headphones.
The adjustment procedure is simplest if
one has a pair of 'open' headphones, i.e.
which do not acoustically isolate the
ears from external sounds. Figure 16
shows how the headphones are
connected to the amplifier. This set-up
allows one to switch from loudspeaker
to headphones and to vary the volume
of the headphone signal until it sounds
the same as that from the loudspeaker
(It is important that the headphones do

not muffle or distort the loudspeaker

signal in any way).
Since the switch and volume poten-
tiometer must be operated from the
desired listening position, a sufficient
length of suitable cable is required.
The connections between the amplifier,
equaliser and analyser are shown in
figure 17.
Once again, it is possible to use a test
record as a pink noise source in place of
the noise generator on the analyser,
although it is less convenient. The
 adjust it for maximum cut. Then Bibliography:
gradually increase the turnover fre- J. Moir: interactions of loudspeakers
and rooms. Wireless world, June 1977.
'

quency until the loudspeaker sounds

even quieter still. Repeat the above Bruel and Kjaer: Relevant Hi-Fi tests at
procedure for the equaliser treble home. Paper at the 47th Audio
control (in figure 18 the reference Engineering Society Convention. Also
frequency will probably lie just above and Kjaer application
available as a Bruel

test point 9).

Bruel and Kjaer: Hi-Fi tests with
6. Set the analyser filter frequency to
increase the gain of the 1/3 octave weighted, random noise.
minimum and
Bruel and Kjaer application note
bass control until the 'flat' level is
no. 13-101.
obtained; adjust the treble control in
the same way.
Philips: Sound equalisation using Philips

7. On the sides of the original first peak

K and Q-filters. ELA application note

in the response there should now be two

17.8100.35.331011. K
new peaks. Adjust the analyser filter
until it coincides with one of these new
5,
peaks and reduce the Q of the first
equaliser filter until it has disappeared.
If necessary repeat this procedure with

the remaining equaliser filters.

8. Finally, sweep the analyser filter up
and down the entire audio spectrum and
check to ensure that all the adjustments
critical mid-range of frequencies to be that have been made are correct. It will
left alone). generally prove necessary in practice to

Using the analyser filter, find the make a few additional corrections or
alterations. Once done, the system is
frequency at the lower end of the
spectrum at which the loudspeaker now ready for use and can be subject to
the crucial test of introducing a suitable
begins to sound perceptibly quieter than
music signal and listening to hear
the headphones (just below point 1 in
figure 18); set the bass control filter of
(hopefully) the improvement in the
resultant sound.
the equaliser to its lowest frequency and
 .

>r September 1979 — 9-17

A monitor output is useful for con-

2a necting an equaliser, as suggested else-
where in this issue. Fortunately, it is a
fairly simple matter to add this facility
to an existing amplifier.
In most cases, only minor surgery is
required: the signal path must be cut
•
.tro j^f" st at a suitable point in the (pre-)amplifier.
The top of the volume control is usually
as good a place as any (figure la). The

f two loose ends, A and B, can be con-

nected to a DIN socket as shown in
figure 1b: pins 1 and 4 are used for
recording (preamplifier output), pins 3
and 5 for playback (via the volume
lb control) and pin 2 is connected to
supply common. For a mono connec-
#*oo tion, pins 1, 2 and 3 are normally used;
pin 5 is left floating, and pin 4 may or
may not be connect to pin 1

The point at which the signal path is

1

fehi interrupted
nominal
should
signal level
have
(100
a
mV ...
reasonable
1 V);

furthermore, no DC should be present

at this point. It is usually a good idea to
add a 'monitor' switch, as shown in

1C

monitor output
figure 1c, so that the original connec-
2b tions can be restored if no equaliser or
tape recorder is connected.

Connections to the equaliser

The equaliser can be connected as
shown in figure 2a, 2b or 2c. In fig-

ure 2a. the monitor connection is used.

In some cases, a series resistor or voltage
divider may be present in the 'A' con-
nection (preamplifier output); if so, this
should be removed. With switch S2 in
the 'monitor' position, the equaliser is
in circuit; in the other position ('source')
the equaliser is bypassed.
The disadvantage of this circuit is that
the monitor connection on the amplifier
is always in use: it is no longer available

for connecting a tape recorder. The

solution is shown in figure 2b: add a
further monitor connection at the input
of the equaliser. The original monitor
switch, S2, is always set to the 'monitor'
position and S3 is used as the monitor
2c switch for the tape recorder. The
equaliser is switched in or out of circuit
by means of S4.
Finally, some commercial amplifiers
(particularly those intended for PA
work) have a connection at the back
marked 'PRE OUT/MAIN IN'. The
equaliser can be included at this point,
as shown in figure 2c. M
 n ;

A memory capacity of 16 page lines is

in practice somewhat restricting. Even a '

simple BASIC program will generally

require additional lines. For this reason
expansion of the video memory is
highly desirable.
;
-
r ‘
To increase the number of pages in the ;

. . .

VDU's memory it is first necessary to

i
>£>#J provide a control circuit which will select
N’SftTft.. * the correct page, bearing in mind that
J>.?Jfii!i'?->fl(U8C>C.>£>M"S8<85?3>*>*!.«?3?n;s*?C55';4 the 16 lines displayed on the screen may
/3?ye«aS3^5»<«8i.>D>MM-iY>«i>t)M,«,!-s « .« ;. s; be composed of sections of two success-
.’?S8IU*-.S’*t8««VMvO>BIS<5)l;*t>»>M t C ive pages.To this end a page counter is
.?*»0«‘A£>n is*«s required,which selects the desired page
E?.7J0e8#K).>8«'tA- *< by enabling the appropriate memory 1C. *

i'-s’OA I->4»P# 8 « <- t F»«i •• :

The basic principle is illustrated in the
block diagram of figure 1. Pages 1, 2
and 3 are accommodated on the exten-
sion board, whilst page 0 is housed on
the Elekterminal board. The page
counter is in turn controlled by the
CRTC of the Elekterminal and by the
up and down keys of the ASCII key-

To be able to manipulate several memory

pages satisfactorily the following
1

functions are necessary:

- the page counter must be capable of
counting up and down.
- the memory must 'wrap round', i.e. I

upon reaching the end of the last

page, the start of the first page must

extension reappear on the screen.

- conversely, when 'counting down',
the last page must follow the first.
- it should be possible to reproduce
!

sections of two successive pages on

fin* elekterminal the screen.

The above facilities can be summarised
by representing the memory as a drum,
on which the four pages are spread out.
•

The drum can be revolved in either

direction, and any 16 successive lines
can be displayed on the screen.

With the aid of the extension board described here, the memory
8 g counter
capacity of the Elekterminal can be expanded to 4 pages (each of _. .
,

, , , ,
The operation of the page counter can
16 lines x 64 characters). Interconnecting the two boards is not a
.

best be explained with reference to the

problem, since they can be mated quite simply by means of connectors. CRTC in the Elekterminal circuit. The
latter contains a page-end comparator
which provides two output signals, RP
and RS. The RS output is used to
indicate the transition somewhere in
mid-screen from one page to another. If
a complete page is on the screen, the RS
output is high. If however sections of
two pages are on the screen, then the
page at the bottom of the screen is
taken as the 'actual page'. During this
portion of the page the RS output is
high, whilst during the portion of the
previous page it is low. For example, if
lines 7 ... 16 of page 2 and lines 1 ... 6
of page 3 are on the screen, then the RS
output is low for the first 10 lines and
high for the last 6 lines.
The RP output provides a '0' pulse
when a page boundary is exceeded at
the bottom of the screen. This pulse is
only generated if pressing the LF (line
feed) or ESC (escape) key will result in
the transition to the next page.
Together, the RS and RP signals are
used to control the page counter.
 .

page' aptember 1979 — 9-19

Circuit
As can be seen from figure 2, the circuit
of the page counter is quite straightfor-
ward, and consists of an up-down
|
counter (IC1), a 4-bit full adder (IC2),
and a 2-to-4 line decoder (IC3). The
three additional pages of memory are
formed 18 RAM’s, type 2102A4
by
I
is also possible to use low
(figure 3). It
power memories for this application
(type 2102AL4), which would result in
a saving of roughly 30% in current con-
sumption. The extension board also
includes an anti-bounce circuit (round
1
N3 N6) for the page-up and page-
. . .

down keys on the ASCII keyboard,

which could not be used until now.
;
Their purpose is to enable the user to
'

'turn over' a complete page of memory

at one go, i.e. scroll a full 16 lines up or
down, regardless of whether it is one
complete page or formed by sections of
two successive pages.
When the RP output of the CRTC goes
low, or the page-up key is pressed, the
up-down counter is incremented by 1; DATA
pressing the page-down key causes the
counter to decrement by 1. The full
adder then determines the binary sum
of the counter contents and the RS Figure 1. Block diagrem of the extension to page memory. Page 0 is accommodated
signal. Depending upon the result, the on the Elekterminal board.
decoder takes the corresponding output
low, thereby enabling the appropriate
memory 1C.
|

When a complete page is on screen the

RS output is high, with the result that
the page numbers are all increased by 1
The page numbering recognised by the
page counter is shown in the block
diagram of figure 1. As already
mentioned, page 0 is situated on the
Elekterminal board. If sections of two
successive pages are on-screen, the RS
output will be low for the first page,
and high for the second, so that the
I

counter will automatically 'turn the

page' at the correct point. For a descrip-
tion of the operation of the page
memories the reader is referred to the
article on the Elekterminal (Elektor44,
December 1978).

Printed circuit board

The printed circuit board for the
extension to page memory (see figure 4)
is provided with two connectors thereby

facilitating interconnection with the

terminal board. The 26-way connector
should be soldered to the underside of
the extension board, so that it mates
with the connector socket on the
terminal board. A number of connec-
I tions however are not made via this
connector. These are BO B4, B6 and
1

. . .

the connections to the page-up and

page-down keys. Provision is made for
an 8-way connector, the pins of which N1.N2 “ IC4 = 1/2 74LS00
are connected to the corresponding pins
of the second connector on the terminal
board. Of course the connector is not Figure 2. Circuit diagram of the page counter and anti-bounce logic. The
essential, it is equally possible to make numbering of the input and output connections corresponds to that used on the
these connections simply using ribbon Elekterminal board.
For the connections to the page-up and time will normally be done with the aid roughly 600 mA. By employing low
page-down keys there are two possi- of the ESC key. If the LF key is used, power memories this figure can be
bilities: either the key contacts can be the text will scroll up, but the following reduced to approximately 400 mA. It
connected directly to the extension line will be blanked, i.e. the line will may prove necessary in some cases to
board, or they can be routed via the appear vacant whilst the contents of the uprate the Elekterminal power supply.
extension board. If connectors are being line are also erased from page memory. Readers are referred to the article on
used, then the latter option is the As mentioned, with the aid of the page- the SC/MP power supply contained in
simplest. A small modification to the up and page-down keys the text can be Elektor 36, March 1978. M
terminal board is also required before scrolled in either direction a page at a

the memory extension is complete, time. Upon reaching the end of page
namely the wire link between CE of IC3 memory (64 lines), the page counter
and ground (see figure 5) should be wraps round to the start of the first
removed. page.

Scrolling Power supply

Once the memory is provided with extra If normal memories are used, the current

pages, scrolling the text up a line at a consumption of the extension circuit is

 There are fundamental differences be-
tween digital and analog systems. A very
basic analog circuit (such as a single-
transistor emitter follower) can easily
handle a signal (voltage) that varies

one-nil continuously, taking on any value

between some maximum and some
minimum. It will introduce very
distortion (less than 0.1%) and a small
little

amount of noise will be added. However,

for audio it virtually impossible to eliminate the

is

added noise and, as more and more of

these stages are connected in series, the
signal quality will progressively worsen.
A digital system, on the other hand,
would require something like a 12- or
even 16-bit databus to pass the same
information. However, the quality of
the signal can then remain the same no
matter how many stages are to be
digital audio: connected in series. A digital system
must be quite sophisticated if it is to
the whats, achieve the same quality as an analog

the whys system, but it then has the advantage

that no further reduction in quality
and the ho«/c need result from signal processing and

storage. This is the main reason why

digital audio is so interesting!
The main questions regarding digital
audio will by now be obvious: how can
digital technology be used for audio
applications; how good can the quality
be, in theory and practice; and what is it
going to cost? The answers depend to a
large extent on one essential unit: the
analog-to-digital converter.

Analog-to-digital conversion
A digital audio system contains five
distinct sections: an analog input circuit,

Digitalsystems have one major advantage over their analog counterparts: an analog-to-digital converter, digital
processing and/or storage units, a
they can tolerate extremely high interference levels without loss of
digital to-analog converter and an analog
information. Rapid advances in digital technology in recent years is output circuit (see figure 1). No matter
forcing designers in such traditionally analog areas as tape recording, what techniques are employed in the
two conversion sections, their basic
long-line transmission and reverberation to take a long, hard look at
function is the same: 'translating' an
their digital competitors. The advent of digital audio has produced analog (e.g. audio) signal into an equiv-
quite a few surprises on both sides of the fence: digital designers alent digital signal and vice versa. The
'equivalent digital signal' consists of a
discovered that only by pushing to the very limit of their capabilities
rapid succession of binary numbers (or
could they meet the performance standards commonly set by 'words' as they are commonly called —
conventional analog equipment; analog designers, on the other hand, for no apparent reason); each ‘word’

were surprised to discover that digital equipment could sound so good. represents one particular voltage level at
one particular moment in time.
In this article, both of these 'surprises' are examined. How can digital
'One voltage level', 'one moment in
audio work so well, and why is it so difficult to get it to work in time' . virtually all the major differ-
. .

practice? ences between analog and digital audio

 1979 -9-23

In s digital audio system, the analog input stage (A) is followed by an analog-to-digital
converter (A -*DI. The signal can now be digitally (D) processed, transmitted or stored.
A digital-to-analog (D -»A) converter and analog output stage complete the chain.

stem from these two. Let us first approximately 1 mV. Any input voltage to remove any signal components at
consider voltage levels. An analog signal between, say, 1 .022 V and 1 .023 V frequencies higher than half the sampling
varies between some maximum and would then be represented by the frequency. The next step is to sample
some minimum level, and can take binary number 001 111 111 110. This the analog signal: the signal level is
any value between these two extremes. process is called quantization, and the measured (and 'stored') at, say
In theory, therefore, an infinite number inaccuracy that it involves (a given 25 microsecond intervals (corresponding
of different voltage levels are poss- analog signal level can only be rep- to a sampling frequency of 40 kHz).
ible:0.12345 V is slightly less than resented to within, say, ± 0.5 mV) is Each sampled voltage level is then
0.12346 V, and 0.123455 V is midway known as 'quantization error'. It is also converted into a corresponding digital
between these two levels ... In practice, referred to as 'quantization noise', since 'word'. The result, so far, is that the
however, there is a limit to the accuracy the effect is similar in many ways to analog input signal has been converted
with which an analog voltage can analog noise. However, in some cases it into a rapid succession of binary
usefully be defined. This limit is a result may sound much worse . . . numbers. Ignoring practical problems,
of an unavoidable analog phenomenon: which will be discussed later, the only
noise. Assume, for instance, that the theoretical sources of poorer signal
The second phrase to be discussed is
analog noise the order of
level in quality have now been passed: the
is
'one particular moment in time'. An
0.0001 V (i.e. 0.1 mV). The difference low-pass filtering at the input (limiting
analog signal varies continuously: if it is
between the three voltages given above the band-width of the signal) and the
1.000 ... V at one particular moment,
is then 'masked' by the noise: a 'true' conversion process with its associated
it may be found to have dropped or
signal level of 0.1234000 ... V could be quantization error.
increased significantly a fraction of a
shifted to any level between, say. second later. Fortunately, however, it
A digital signal is now available. It has
0.1233 V and 0.1235 V - depending on can be shown that if the signal is
the major advantage that it is extremely
the level of the noise signal at the tolerant of abuse: it really takes some
'sampled' at a sufficiently high rate,
particularmoment in time that we are doing to maltreat this signal to the point
then no information will be lost. In
interestedin. For the same reason, an that the individual binary numbers are
other words, if the signal level is
output signal of exactly 0.1234 V can no longer recognisable. The 'rapid
measured at sufficiently short intervals
be obtained for any input level in the succession of binary numbers' can be
it is possible to reconstruct the original
range from 0.1233 V to 0.1235 V. One delayed, transmitted over long lines,
signal exactly from these measured
output level 'represents' a range of stored on tape, etc . and in most cases
. .

possible input levels. the output will still contain sufficient

Theoretically, the 'sampling frequency'
A similar effect exists in digital systems - must be at least twice the highest
information to recreate a 'clean' digital
but for an entirely different reason. As signal that is identical to the original
frequency present in the signal that is to
stated earlier, each 'word' in a digital input. Passing this signal through a
be sampled. For instance, if a system is
system represents one particular voltage digital-to-analog converter and an
intended to pass audio signals over the
level. In a given system, the number of output low-pass filter produces the
full range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, the
possible 'words' is limited: using 12 bits, analog output signal.
sampling frequency must be at least
say, the binary numbers range from It will be obvious from the above that
40 kHz. In practice a higher sampling
000000000 000 to 111 111 111 111. the analog output signal can never be
12
frequency is normally required, to avoid
or 4096 different num- identical to the original input signal.
all sorts of nasty effects — as will be
In this case, 2
bers are possible. Therefore, only 4096 Quite apart from practical problems, the
discussed further on.
different voltage levels can be rep- quantization process will always get in
resented — out of the infinite number of the way — dividing the analog signal
possible levels in any analog system! range into a limited number of smaller
The only solution is to divide the analog A block diagram ranges, and collapsing each of these into
signal range into the same number of The basic principles of a digital audio a representative 'centre voltage'.
smaller regions as there are digital system, as described above, can now be
'words’. For instance, if analog voltages summarized in a block diagram
between -2
and +2 V are to be pro- (figure 2). Quantization noise
cessed in a 12-bit digital audio system, The incoming (analog) audio signal must If the analog input is a high-level speech

the range could be divided into steps of first be passed through a low-pass filter. or music signal, the audible effect of

Block diagram of a complete digital audio system. To make use of the 'perfect' signal handling capabilities of the
'digital system' proper (for signal delay, transmission, storage or other manipulation), the other five Mocks must
be added. Regrettably, since they do introduce distortion, noise, and other 'nastiness'.
quantization will be very similar to This will be obvious if we take a closer additional bits are preferable in a full

white noise. The apparent signal-to- look at the 12-bit system, as an example. record-and-playback system. These bits
noise ratio is determined by the number 12-bits correspond to some 4,000 levels, are needed to counteract all sorts of
nasty effects associated with the
of 'quantization intervals' into which whereby the firs? (or 'Most Significant')
the analog signal range is divided - and, bit defines whether the required level is quantization process.
therefore, by the number of bits used in in the range 0 2047 of 2048
. . . 4096. . . .

the system, this is illustrated in figure 3. The last (or 'Least Significant') bit, on
Quantization nastiness
In figure 3a, the output from a 4-bit the other hand, corresponds to one level
system (16 levels) is shown. This signal step - from 1 234 to 1 235, for instance. When a normal audio signal at a suitable
This means that the level step corre- level is fed through a digital audio
is equivalent to a mixture of the intended

sponding to the first bit is some 2,000 system, the quantization noise will
(sine-wave) output and an error signal,
times larger than that for the last bit. If usually be equivalent to white noise,
as can be seen; by way of comparison,
the latter is to have any significance, the and the signal-to-noise ratio will be 6 dB
figure 3b gives the result of mixing the
step for the first bit must be accurate to per bit. However, there are some very
same sine-wave with a noise signal.
within 1/2000, or one-twentieth of one important exceptions to this rule, and in
For each additional bit used in the sys-
percent. Using 1% component toler- practice digital audio systems can sound
tem the number of available quantization
intervals doubles, so the amplitude of ances? Forget it! To make matters much worse.
Quantization distortion. As an example,
the error signal is halved — effectively, worse, this type of highly accurate level
the 'signal-to-error ratio' is improved by detection must be carried out at high assume that a low-level sinewave is
speed: the complete analog-to-digital or applied to a digital audio system; the
6 dB. It is therefore reasonable to
digital-to-analog conversion must be peak level is slightly less than one
assume' that the signal-to-noise ratio in
a digital system will be equal to 6dB completed within the sampling period - quantization interval (figure 4). Since

multiplied by the number of bits — e.g. i.e. within 20 microseconds or so.

the signal only crosses one quantization
level, the output will be one of two
72 dB for a 12-bit system. For a 16-bit system, conversion accuracy
Considering the fact that 72 dB is quite to within approximately 15 parts-per- possible digital 'words'. This is equiv-
and 50,000 times alent to a squarewave output: the
good, as signal-to-noise ratios go, one million is required . . .

might assume that a 12-bit system is per second, at that! It will be obvious system is operating as a hard limiter. In
most applications. If we are rapidly this case, the quantization error is
good enough for that, at this rate,
better performance is required, one approaching the limit of present-day equivalent to distortion — there is no
could always add a few more bits — say, technology. noise in the analog sense! The audible
a total of 16 bits would give 96 dB
result can be similar to crossover
signal-to-noise. Regrettably, life is rarely To make matters worse, more bits are distortion in a power amplifier.

so simple ... In the first place, extra required inpractice for a given signal-to- Granulation noise and birdies. In the
bits are expensive. noise ratio than the 6 db-per-bit rule example given above, the quantization
would imply. Speaking very broadly, process introduced distortion. Similarly,
if the input signal exceeds the maximum
one additional bit is required in a
playback-only system (using pre- level for which the digital system was

can be proved mathematically. recorded tapes or records) and two designed, 'hard clipping' will occur: all
it
 . .

eloktor September 1979 - 9-25

levels above the maximum are coded effects, but these are unlikely to occur Philips 'compact disc'), the peak
and reproduced as equal to maximum in practice. program levelcan be monitored before
level. Once again, the result is severe the recording is made, so that limiting

distortion: in other words, higher Dither noise becomes merely a question of correct
harmonics are added to the signal. As level-setting. If the system is to be
The noise and distortion products
long as these harmonics remain within suitable for recording 'raw' program
discussed so far have one thing in
the permissible frequency range of the material, however, the only safe solution
common: they are all more irritating
system (i.e. less than half the sampling is to add a hard limiter before the
and sound more unpleasant than white
frequency), the result will simply be a low-pass filter. The clipping level for
noise. Subjective tests show that this
distorted output. However, when this limiter will have to be set at
additional 'irritation' is equivalent to
harmonics are generated above this approximately 3 dB below the nominal
6 ... 12 dB less signal-to-noise ratio. In
frequency, things will really go wrong.
other words,
100% level of the digital system, to
a 12-bit digital system with
The problem is that, effectively, these ensure that the peak signal level will
a measured SN-ratio of 72 dB will
high frequencies are also sampled, remain within the permissible limit even
'sound' approximately as good as a
producing sum and difference fre- after low-pass filtering. Another way of
straightforward analog system with a
quencies that can 'fold down' to within looking at this is to say that the digital
signal-to-noise ratio of only 60 ... 66 dB
the audible range. system must have at least 3 dB leeway
One way to cure this problem would be
As an example, assume that a 9.5 kHz above the nominal full-drive level; this
to add a few more bits - reducing the
sinewave is applied to a digital audio costs one additional bit (since half -bits
noise signal to the point where it is
system that uses a 50 kHz sampling don't exist).
inaudible. However, additional bits are
frequency. If occurs as a
distortion The rule-of-thumb given earlier can now
expensive.
result of the quantization process, be extended as follows. If the 'dynamic
An alternative solution is to add a small
harmonics can be produced at 19 kHz, range' of a digital audio system is defined
amount of white noise to the analog
28.5 kHz . 47,5 kHz, 57 kHz
, . etc. . . . as the number of dBs between the peak
input signal. The peak-to-peak value of
As a result, 2.5 kHz and/or 7 kHz input level and the effective noise level,
this so-called 'dither' signal is approxi-
components may be produced. These this dynamic range will be approximately
mately equal to one quantization
will remain present in the analog output equal to the number-of-bits-minus-one
interval. Without going into (mathemat-
signal after the second low-pass filter. times 6 dB for a playback-only system
ical) detail, it can be stated that this will
This type of error signal is neither noise and the number-of-bits-minus-two times
effectively eliminate the 'quantization
nor distortion in the normal analog 6 dB for a system that must also be
nastiness', and result in a deterioration
sense, since the new signal components suitable for recording. In the former
of the signal-to-noise
ratio of only
are discrete frequencies but they are not case, the performance can be improved
2 . . . 4 dB. The same
12-bit system
harmonically related to the original by 1 or 2 dB by careful design; in the
mentioned above would then have an
signal. For this reason, they are far more latter case, up to 4 or 5 dB improvement
effective SN-ratio of 68 ... 70 dB.
irritating than either noise or distortion. is possible.
A good rule-of-thumb in practice is to
This effect is sometimes referred to as This means that if a digital audio
assume that one bit is required to
'granulation noise'; it sounds something recorder is advertised as 'using a 16-bit
counteract the irritating effects of
like two pieces of sand-paper being system' and having a 'dynamic range of
quantization noise. For a 16-bit system,
rubbed together. In some cases, the beat
for example, the SN-ratio will be at least
86 dB', these claims are quite probable.
notes may drift rapidly through the 15 x 6 = 90 dB, and it may be one or
On the other hand, if 96 dB is claimed
frequency range, producing an effect for a 16-bit recorder, the designers must
two dB better.
like birds singing. be extremely clever — or else the
Modulation noise. The effects described advertising copy-writer has slipped up. .

so far are inherent to digital audio Peak overload prevention

systems — even in theory. In practical I an audio system - any audio system -
f What of the future?
systems, inperfections in the actual is overloaded, the output will be dis- Digital audio is here to stay. The twin
electronics are a further source of error. torted. In a digital audio system, how- advantages of guaranteed high perform-
It it outside the scope of this article to ever, the results can be disastrous. ance and reliability are too good to miss.
discuss these in detail — interested As mentioned earlier, if the input signal Solving the practical problems discussed
readers are referred to an extremely exceeds the maximum level for which above is a question of time, and asdigital
good discussion by Mr. Blesser in the the system was designed, 'hard clipping' technology advances and prices come
Journal of the Audio Engineering will occur as a result of the quantization down it is to be expected that digital
Society (see literature). Suffice it to say process. The resultant harmonics are equipment will filter down the audio
that, in general, the effect of these effectively sampled, producing new market until even the cheapest audio
errors is that the noise output will vary frequencies within the audio band. equipment goes digital. It is not difficult
with the analog signal, producing To avoid this, the signal must be limited to envisage a point in the not-too-distant
modulation noise. Severe errors could, before the input low-pass filter. In a future when even the trusty LP disc
of course, produce all kinds of other playback-only system (such as the new is replaced by a PLOM (Play Only
Memory) on a single (silicon?) chip.
4 Meanwhile, those of our readers who are
interested in an extremely full and
detailed discussion of the theoretical
and practical aspects of digital audio are
referred to:

Literature:
'Digitization of Audio:
A Comprehensive Examination of
Theory, Implementation, and Current
Practice', Barry A. Blesser, Journal of
the Audio Engineering Society,
October 1978, Volume 26, Number 10,
Pages 739. .. 771. M
 ic equalise

The article on using an equaliser, also Figure 2 shows how the characteristics
contained in this issue, gives a detailed of a parametric filter section may be
discussion of the problems posed by varied. Figure 2a shows variation of the
deficiencies in the frequency response gain, figure 2b shows adjustment of the
of loudspeakers and of the listening bandwidth, while figure 2c shows
environment. It explains that the adjustment of the centre frequency.
solution of these problems is to use an Figure 3 illustrates the adjustments
equaliser to adjust the overall frequency possible with the parametric tone
response of the hi-fi chain/listening controls. Figure 3a shows how variable
environment. Use of an equaliser will boost and cut may be applied to the
therefore not be discussed in detail extremes of the audio spectrum, as
in this article. with normal tone controls, while
Before proceeding with a discussion of figure 3b illustrates the unique feature
the parametric equaliser it is perhaps of the parametric tone controls, namely
a good idea to discuss why it is superior the adjustable turnover frequencies of
to the more common 'graphic' equaliser. the bass and treble controls.
A 'graphic' equaliser such as the Elektor Having briefly discussed the differences
Equaliser consists of a number of band between parametric and graphic equal-
selective filters with fixed centre fre- isers, the advantages of a parametric

quencies spaced at equal inter- equaliser can now be illustrated. In a

logarithmic frequency nutshell, the purpose of an equaliser
scale, usually at octave inter- is to make the frequency response of

vals. though more expensive an audio reproduction chain flat by

units may boast third-octave providing gain where there are dips in
filters. Each of these filters the response and attenuation where
s equipped with a gain there are peaks. Figure 4a shows the
control so that it can response of a typical reproduction
apply boost or cut to the chain, as might be measured using an
band of frequencies over audio analyser. This has a number of
which it is active. The obvious deficiencies. The 'grass' on the
rm 'graphic' arose trace is due to a large number of sharp
from the common (high Q( resonances, which can be as

P5 i
t
i

much as 20 dB deep. Fortunately these

A combination of stated peaks and troughs are inaudible due to
slider poten-
variable filters and a tiometers insuch their very sharpness, since they each

highly specialised Baxandall equalisers, whose occupy a bandwidth of only a few Hz.
slider position is er- This is perhaps just as well since it
tone control network is used
oneously supposed by would be impossible to cancel out each
inthe 'parametric' equaliser some to represent the of these resonances.
described in this article, which frequency response of the If this 'grass' is ignored then the response

system. However, the term becomes something like that shown in

offers considerable advantages
'graphic' will be used to dis- figure 4b, in which the major deviations
over the more common 'graphic' tinguish between this type of from a flat response are more readily
equaliser. Use of a parametric 'equaliser and the parametric apparent. It is evident that the response
equaliser. fallsoff sharply below 50 Hz and above
equaliser allows the frequency
The only variables in a graphic 10 kHz, that a large peak exists at
response of a domestic hi-fi equaliser are the gains of the about 750 Hz and a trough at about
setup to be tailored to a degree ndividual filter sections, since 6 kHz.
previously only attainable in the centre frequency and Q In addition there is a slight 'ripple' in
‘

(which determines the bandwidth) the response due to a number of peaks !

recording studios. Such is the
of each filter are fixed. A parametric and troughs a few dB deep. If one
versatility of a parametric equaliser has fewer filter sections than accepts the fact that deviations of a
equaliser that even sceptics who a graphic equaliser, but all the para- few dB can be ignored (and that in any
meters of the filter are adjustable, e.g. case they will be very difficult to
turn up their noses at audio
gain, bandwidth and centre frequency. eliminate) then the response curve can
equalisers may be forced to revise A block diagram of the Elektor para- be simplified to that of figure 4c, which
their opinions. metric equaliser is shown in figure 1. shows only the principal deviations
This consists basically of just three from a flat response. These are the
parametric filter sections - band deficiencies that must be removed by
selective filters whose gain, centre fre- an equaliser.
quency and Q are all adjustable. De-
ficiencies at the ends of the audio spec-
trum are catered for by a parametric Parametric or graphic?
Baxandall-type tone control to provide It is fairly obvious that to remove a

bass and treble adjustment. These peak or trough from the frequency
controls operate in a similar manner response the correction applied must
to the parametric filter sections, but be the exact inverse of the deficiency,
employ lowpass and highpass filters i.e. the boost or cut applied must be

rather than band selective filters. the same as the depth of the trough
 j

or height of the peak, it must be applied filter sections. The filter sections are in this circuit the centre frequency of
at exactly the right frequency, and the necessarily rather more complex than the filter is manually controlled by a
Q of the correction network must be those of a graphic equaliser; however, two-gang potentiometer Rj nt whose ,

the same as that of the peak or trough. since each filter section is considerably two sections vary the time constants
It is apparent that these criteria can more versatile it is possible to achieve of the integrator stages. The Q of the
hardly ever be fulfilled by a graphic satisfactory results with fewer filter filter, and hence the bandwidth, is
equaliser. Firstly, it is unlikely that the sections, so that the cost is comparable varied by altering the values of Rq.
centre frequency of a peak or trough with that of a graphic equaliser. For
would coincide with the centre fre- normal domestic use an equaliser
quency of one of the equaliser filters. consisting of three parametric filter
Secondly, since a graphic equaliser has sections plus Baxandall tone controls Complete filter circuit

filters with a fixed Q the shape of the should be quite adequate. Figure 7 shows the complete circuit
filter response cannot be tailored to fit of a parametric filter section. The state-
the curve of the peak or trough. In fact variable filter around A1 to A4 is
Parametric filter section immediately the
the only parameter that can be varied recpgnisable, as is

in a graphic equaliser is the degree of The block diagram of a parametric variable gain amplifier, IC1. The Q
boost or cut. With a parametric equal- filter section is given in figure 5. The determining resistors and potentiometers
iser on the other hand, the gain, centre
heart of the filter is a selective network, Rq become R6, R7 and P2, whilst the
frequency and Q of a filter section may which will be described in detail later, centre frequency is set by P3. This
be varied so that it is almost an exact fit whose centre frequency and bandwidth arrangement differs somewhat from that
for the peak or trough which it is to (Q) can be independently varied. The shown in figure 6.

eliminate. At the extremes of the gain of the filter can be varied by a However, if R n j were a potentiometer
spectrum Baxandall tone controls with ganged potentiometer, PI. connected as shown in figure 6 then it
variable gain and turnover frequency The selective network is a state-variable would have to have an inconveniently
can be used to compensate for the filter or two-integrator loop, which large value if the desired tuning range
'droop' which occurs. readers of the 'Formant' synthesiser were to be covered. The arrangement
Like the graphic equaliser, a parametric articles will recognise as being essentially of figure 7 is electrically equivalent and
equaliser may have any number of similar to the Formant VCF. However. allows the effective value of Rj n t to be
9-30 - eleklor September 1979

varied from 10 k with P3 at maximum

to about 2.65 M
with P3 at minimum.
This allows the centre frequency of
the filter to be varied between about
40 Hz and 10 kHz. The Q of the filter
may be varied between about 0.45 and
5 using P2, while the gain can be ad-
justed by PI between ±15dB, which
should be more than adequate for
room equalisation purposes.
If desired the tuning range of the
filter may be varied by changing the
value of Rjnt. using the equation of
figure 6 to calculate the required
maximum and minimum values.
Different components may then be
substituted for P3, R12, R13, R15 and
R16. The minimum value of Rj n t (P3
at maximum) is equal to R13 (R16),
whilst the maximum value of Rjnt (P3
at minimum) is equal to

P3a + R12
R13,

similarly for P3b, R 1 5 and R 1 6.

The Q
adjustment range may also be
varied by altering the values of R8, R9,
R10, R 1 1 <= R) and R6/P2a, R7/P2b
(= Rq), using the second equation
given in figure 6. However this informa-
tion is included only for the benefit
of experimenters, and the average
constructor is advised to stick to the
component values given.

Tone controls
The circuit of the parametric Baxandall
bass and treble controls is shown in
figure 8. This employs the same
principles used in the parametric filter
section. However, instead of using a
band selective filter network the bass
Figure 6. Circuit of the state variable filte control uses a lowpass network connec-
ted between two buffers A1 and A2,
whilst the treble control uses a highpass
 o o
8
«HH3 q
 Sfii.HIrt

network connected between A3 and The interconnection of three filter the equaliser is left to the taste of the
A4. The breakpoints of these filters sections and a tone control section individual reader. One point, how-
can be varied, between 50 Hz and 350 to form one channel of a complete ever, worth noting. Adjustment of the
is

Hz for the bass control using P3. and equaliser is shown in figure 11. If a equaliser is fairly time-consuming, but
between 2 kHz and 13 kHz for the stereo versionis required then this once the controls are set they shquld
treble control using P4. The maximum arrangement must, of course, be not require readjustment unless there
gain of both controls can be varied duplicated. To
avoid cluttering the dia- are any changes in the reproduction
between ± 15 dB using PI and P2. gram the potentiometer connections chain or listening environment. It is
are shown to only one filter section thus a good idea to make the controls
and the tone control section. However, tamper-proof, for example by fitting a
Construction connections to the other three filter lockable cover plate in front of them,
To make the equaliser more versatile sections are identical. Since the inputs or by fitting spindle locks to the
it was decided to use a modular form and outputs of each section have the individual potentiometers. Alternatively
of construction so that as many filter same DC potential (zero volts) the the knobs could be dispensed with
sections as required could be included. input coupling capacitor Cl and resistor altogether, the ends of the spindles
This also means that the sophisticated R1 are required only on the board slotted to accept a screwdriver and the
i tone control section can be used as a connected to the input. On every potentiometers recessed behind holes in
unit in its own right by those readers other board R1 can be omitted and Cl the front panel.
who do not want an equaliser but be replaced by a wire link. Since the
would like a versatile tone control zero volt rails of each board are inter-
connected via signal earth the '0'
Each filter section is therefore built connection of every board except the
on an individual printed circuit board, tone control should be left unconnected,
the track pattern and component layout otherwise earth loops may occur. Only
of which is given in figure 9, whilst a the '0' connection on the tone control
separate board is used for the tone board should be connected to the 0 V
controls, the layout of which is given terminal of the power supply.
in figure 10.The boards are so designed For the power supply the use of a pair
that, when they are stacked side by side, of the commonly available 1C voltage Bibliography:
the output of one board aligns with regulators is suggested. Alternatively, if 1. The Elektor Equaliser, ElektorNo. 33
the input of the next. The connection the equaliser is to be incorporated into January 1978.
points for the potentiometers are all an existing system with a ± 15 V supply 2. Kieis, D. Reduction of acoustic
labelled with letters, which correspond then it may be possible to derive the feedback in sound systems applica-
to those printed in the circuit diagrams supply to the equaliser from this. tions; paper at the 44th AES conve-
of figures 7 and 8. The choice of a suitable housing for tion, Rotterdam, 1973. H
Heavy stuff: audio at 200 watts
One of specialities is high-power
RCA's D 550 BD 550A BD 550B
transistors. Three recent additions to the VCBO
range are the BD 550, BD 550A and BD 550B.
These three heavyweights are intended for use
v CEO
in quasi-complementary audio output stages, VcerI r be
and a few of RCA's designs are described here.
The most remarkable characteristic of the
VEBO
three transistors is their high collector-emitter
breakdown voltage - especially the BD550B,
with its VqeO of 250 V The main specifi- 1

To start the ball rolling, figure la gives the

main characteristics are given in table 2. The

design not particularly revolutionary, but it
is BD550A BD 5!
serves to illustrate the principle. The main
problem when designing high-power amplifiers
is to find an output device that will withstand
VcE'I’OV
>CER “ 175 V
the high voltages and currents required; it VcE
must also have a sufficiently high slew rate to RgE 100 r
handle the highest audio frequencies at full Vce " 250 V
drive. The BD 550A is a good start, but even Vce * 95 V
it would fall short in an amplifier of this type. Vce * ’50 V
-
vce * 200 v
parallel in each half of the output stage
making four in all for one (mono) power 'EBO VEB-5V
One driver provided for each pair 0.2 A 110 - 250 -
amplifier. is VCEO
of output devices. The circuit is arranged so
V CER 0.2 A; RfjE 3 '00 fl 130 - 275 -
that T8...T10 operate as one very-heavy-
duty NPN transistor; similarly. Til . .
T13 l
c 0.2 A; VCE = 10 V 5 typ. 5 typ.
simulate an almost complementary PNP tran- A; VCE * 4 v
The quasi-complementary output stage is A; V CE - 4 V
preceded by two long-tail pairs: T1/T2 and A; ” 0.5 A
l
B
T4/T5; internally, the whole amplifier is DC-
coupled. T3 and T7 are both used as current A; l B - 0.25 A
sources. Negative feedback (about 30 dB) is - 4 A; V CE 4V 0.75 1.76
l
C
applied to the base of T2 via R6. The quiesc-
ent current is set by T6; it is adjusted by 1C
* 2 A; V C E ' 4 v 1 2
 '

Without an accurate picture of the Attempting to set up a room acousti- into one of two types, depending upon
cally by twiddling the controls on an whether the analysis is real-time or not. '

frequency response of the sound

equaliser and 'playing it by ear' is an
reproduction system, the use of an almost certain recipe for heated tempers
Real-time analyser
equaliser can do more harm than and high blood pressure, such is the
good. For this reason an audio
difficulty of the task. To obtain any real A real-time analyser is the most sophisti-
benefit from an equaliser it is essential cated, but also the most expensive way
spectrum analyser, which can that the user knows exactly what of obtaining a detailed picture of the
pinpoint the deficiencies in a changes he wants to implement in the spectrum of an audio signal. The
frequency response of the audio system operation of real-time analysers can be
particular audio chain and/or
in question. It therefore follows that a explained with reference to the block
listening environment, is a reliable audio spectrum analyser is diagram of figure 1 A broadband test
.

virtually indispensable piece of required to provide the acoustic infor- signal is fed to the audio system under

equipment for the equaliser-user. mation which is a necessary preliminary test. Normally the test signal consists
to effective equalisation. of pink noise, which has a uniform
An audio analyser system basically energy level over the entire spectrum.
consists of three sections: a test-signal The output of the audio system is
source (pink noise generator), a micro- picked up by a measurement microphone
phone to monitor the output of the and fed to a bank of octave or third-
audio system under test, and a suitable octave filters, which split the input
means of analysing and displaying the signal into a corresponding number of
energy level of the incoming signal. adjacent frequency bands. The output
Broadly speaking, audio analysers fall voltage of each filter is then rectified
 Jio-analyser iber 1979 - 9-39

and displayed. Various types of display

are possible — a moving-coil meter, an 1
oscilloscope, or, as in the commercially
available spectrum analyser shown in

00
figure 2, a matrix of LEDs. The
advantage of a real-time analyser is that
itenables the average energy level of the
entire spectrum to be determined at a
- - -
T©
glance. However, in view of the large
number of displays and filter sections
which are required, real-time analysers
are not cheap. The above-mentioned
pocket analyser of figure 2, together
with a suitable noise generator, costs in
the region of £ 600 — and that is only a
fraction of what some of its 'larger
brothers' can cost!
Since however, the primary application
of the analyser is to monitor the response
of an audio system to a constant test
signal (the output of the pink noise
EH 0-0T®
generator, which has a uniform spectral
intensity) real-time analysis is something
of a superfluous luxury. A much
cheaper, but none the less satisfactory
arrangement is to have a single tuneable
filter, which can be swept up and down
the frequency spectrum as desired. This
is in fact the solution adopted in the

Elektor audio analyser.

45 M

Figure 1. Block diagram ol a real-time tpeetrum analyser.

The Elektor audio analyser
The block diagram of the Elektor, non
I between the pink noise
filter is situated As far as the choice of microphone is
real-time analyser is shown in figure 3.
generator and the input to the audio concerned, it is clear that, unless it itself
'

As can be seen, the basic principle of

system, whilst in 3b it is fed from the has a fairly flat response, one cannot
spectrum analysis remains the same, the
output of the microphone. In figure 3c hope to obtain an accurate picture of
i only difference being that a single filter
two filters are employed in an effort to the response of the audio system/
. and display are employed, resulting in a
obtain the best of both worlds. Although listening room under test. For this
considerable saving in cost. As far as the
in theory there should be no difference reason it is important to invest in a
placing of the filter is concerned, three
between these three arrangements, things reasonably good quality microphone
possible configurations come into
are not so simple in practice. With the capsule and preamp.
consideration. In figure 3a the variable
configuration shown in figure 3a, all As a display circuit, a multimeter is as
manner of interference and stray noise good as any, and has the advantage of
2 can reach the microphone and adversely being cheap and commonly available.
effect the measurement. With the The remaining circuits, which form the
arrangement of figure 3b, this problem heart of the analyser - and the substance
is effectively obviated, since only of the rest of this article — are shown in
interference which lies within the figures 4a, 4b and 4c.
passband of the filter can reach the
microphone. A disadvantage of this
set-up, however, is that only a very Noise generator
small portion of the pink noise spectrum As can be seen from the circuit diagram
is used, whilst the audio system in of the noise generator shown in figure 4a,
question is of course required to it in fact consists of a pseudo-random

reproduce signals over the entire range binary sequence generator, which has a
of audio frequencies. The arrangement longer than normal cycle time. This
of figure 3c thus represents the ideal ensures that the noise has a high spectral
solution, however in view of the density and that it is not characterised
increased cost and complexity of two by the annoying 'breathing' effect
tracking variable filters, it was decided obtained with short cycle times. The
that, for this type of application, one length of the shift register (IC1 ... IC4)
of the simpler circuits (figures 3a and b) is 31 bits, and since the frequency of
would prove sufficient. the clock generator (N5 N7, Cl, C2,
. . .

The basic requirements for an analyser R3, R4) is roughly 500 kHz, the full
of the above type are therefore: cycle time is approximately an hour and
— a pink-noise generator a quarter!
— a bandpass filter with stepwise or EXOR-feedback is provided by
continuously variable centre fre- N1 . N4. The circuit however has no
. .

quency anti-latch up gating. Instead there are

t Figure 2. Photograph of a commercially — a suitable microphone with preampli- two pushbutton switches; the START
f available hand-held real-time analyser, button ensures a logic 1 at the data
I
incorporating a LED-matrix display. — a rectifier circuit input Q0 of the shift register (pin 7 of
— a display circuit IC1), thereby starting the clock cycle.
The cycle is inhibited by pressing the third octave filter described in the R40 and R41 are added. Table 1 iists
STOP button, S2. In this way it is article on the CMOS noise generator in the various resistance values required to
possible to (temporarily) disconnect the Elektor 33 (January 1978). The output give theI SO standard centre frequencies,

noise source without switching off the level of the filter can be varied by means When calibrating a parametric equaliser,
supply voltage - a useful if not down- of potentiometer PI, whilst the centre a filter bandwidth of less than 1/3 of an
right indispensable feature. The frequency can be varied between octave is required. By altering the value
(pseudo-) white noise output of the approximately 40 Hz and 16 kHz by of R16 to 220 and replacing R1 7 by
shift register is fed to the pink-noise means of the stereo potentiometer awire link a bandwidth of approximately
filter formed by R5 . . . R11, P2a/P2b. If stepwise control of the 1/12 of an octave can be obtained.
C5...C11, before being amplified in centre frequency of the filter is desired,
the circuit round A1. P2a/P2b can be replaced by a pair of
attenuator networks and a twin-ganged Rectifier Circuit
switch. The necessary modifications are It is of utmost importance that the
Bandpass filter detailed in figure 5. Resistors R20 and amplitude of the test signal be measured
This section of the circuit (shown in R22 are replaced by a wire link, the accurately. If a pink noise test signal is
figure 4b) is virtually identical to the values of R21 and R23 are altered, and used in conjunction with filters which

Figure 4c. The rectifie

 222

9-42 - ele

have a constant octave or 1/3 octave

bandwidth (i.e. filters with a constant Q) Table
one should really measure the RMS
31.5 1/1 202 + 2S22 18k w
value of the noise — not an easy matter. 202 68 k 8k2
31.5 1/3 202 +
Fortunately, however, a reasonably 40 1/3 506 68 k 8k2
simple alternative exists - namely to 50 1/3 407 +202 68 k 8k
measure the average of the modulus 63 1/1 407 +309
value, the average of the full-wave
i.e. 63 1/3 407 +309 68 k 8k2
rectified noise signal. This is obtained 80 1/3 10 O + 102 68 k 8k2
by feeding the output of the peak 100 1/3 10 0 + 309 68 k 8k2
rectifier to a lowpass filter.
125 1/1 12 O + 506 18k w
125 1/3 12 0 + 506 68 k 8k2
The rectifier circuit is built round IC8. 160 1/3 22 0 68 k 8k2
The input level control is followed by 200 1/3 27 0 + 108 68 k 8k2
an amplifier, A5. The actual (full-wave) 250 1/1 33 O + 202 18k w
rectification is performed by A6, A7, 250 1/3 33 O + 202 68 k 8k2
R27 ... 31, D1 and D2. The output of 315 1/3 22 O + 22 O 68 k 8k
A7, which always presents a low 400 1/3 560 68 k 8k2
impedance, is connected via R32toC16. 500 1/1 68 O + 303 18k w
Because this capacitor has the same 500 1/3 68 O + 303 68 k 8k2
630 1/3 82 O + 802 68 k 8k2
charge and discharge time, the voltage
800 1/3 1000 +180 68 k 8k2
on the capacitor will equal the average
1000 1/1 100 O +47 O 18k w
value of the full-wave rectified noise 1000 1/3 100 O +47 O 68 k 8k2
voltage. The time that this voltage 1250 1/3 120 0 + 68 0 68 k 8k2
remains stored on the capacitor is 1600 1/3 220 0 + 27 O 68 k 8k2
determined by the RC time constant. 2000 1/1 270 O + 47 O 18k w
R32-C16, or, if S3 is depressed, 2000 1/3 270 O + 47 O 68 k 8k2
R32/R33-C16. Depressing S3 causes 2500 1/3 390 O + 18 O 68 k 8k

C16 to charge and discharge much more 3150 1/3 470 O + O

68 68 k 8k2
rapidly, sothe capacitor voltage
that
4000 1/1 680 O + 47 O 18k w
4000 1/3 680 O + 47 O 68 k 8k 2
will follow rapid variations in the noise
5000 1/3 820 0 +150 0 68 k 8k2
voltage. Thus S3 is intended to provide + 390 O
6300 1/3 Ik 68 k 8k2
a rapid overall view of the variations in 8000 1/1 1 k8 + 330 O 18k w
noise level for different centre fre- 8000 1/3 1 k8 + 330 O 68 k 8k2
quencies of the filter. For accurate 10.000 1/3 3k3 + 390 O 68 k 8k2
measurements, the longer time constant 12.500 1/3 5k6 + 1 k 68 k 8k2
of R32.C16 should be used. After being 16.000 1/1 39 k +1k2 18k w
16.000 39 k + 1k2 68 k 8k2
in A8, the voltage on C16 is
amplified 1/3

displayed on the multimeter. An offset

control is provided (P4, R34 R36) . . .

Remarks:
to enable the meter to be calibrated
accurately (zero deflection under column 1 :
centre frequency in Hz

quiescent conditions).
column 3: value of resistor to be connected between the
junction of resistors R40 and R21 and ground
and between the junction of R41 and R23 and
Construction ground, rounded up to values from the E 1 2 series.
printed circuit board, which is shown column4: value of R16
A
column 5: value of R1 7 (w » wire link)
in figure 6, has been designed to accom-
modate the circuit of figures 4a, b and c.

5 The design of the board is such that

either of the configurations shown in
figures 3a and 3b can be adopted. The
construction of the standard version |

circuit should present no special

problems. The wiring for the poten-
tiometers and switches should be kept
as short as possible. The connections for
these components are arranged at one
end of the board. Problems of a practical
nature do arise, however, if one desires a
number of switched filter frequencies,
since one then requires a switch with a
corresponding number of ways. Since
switches with a large number of ways
are both expensive and difficult to
obtain, an alternative solution is simply
to use the desired number of double-pole
single-throw switches. This of course
involves operating two switches each
time one wants to alter the centre
frequency of the filter.

In addition to the switch(es), the choice

of fixed filter frequencies involves the
following alterations on the board (see
 ,

9-44 - ele >r septe sr 1979 audio-analyser

Figure 7. A prototype of the audio analyser.

that, because of the long time constant ment. The risk of this happening
figure 5): R21 and R23 become 4k7 is

of R34 and C16,it will take some time somewhat greater than in the case of a
R20 and R22 are replaced by a wire link
soldered between for adjustments to P4 to have any effect. sine or squarewave input signal, since
a 4k7 resistor (R40) is
The long discharge time of the storage the distortion caused by overloading
the 'top' two tags of P2a
a 4k7 resistor (R41) is soldered between
capacitor in the rectifier circuit together will be that much less noticeable (but
with the natural inertia of the meter none the less disastrous!). Tweeters in
the 'bottom' two tags of P2b
The resistor pairs forming the switched ballistics ensure that the needle responds particular are susceptible to damage by
only very slowly to changes in the level being overloaded with high level noise
attenuator network are mounted exter-
nally on the switch(es). Suitable values of the filter output. Thus when sweeping signals.

are given in the table. the filter up and down the audio Constructing the audio analyser is one
spectrum, care should be taken to vary thing, usingit is another. The reader is
With a continuously variable filter
frequency it is useful to equip P2a/b the filter frequency gradually, lest peaks therefore referred to the article on
with a pointer and scale. The scale can or dips in the response are camouflaged 'Using an equaliser', which deals with
of course be calibrated in frequencies, by the slow response of the circuit. the subject of using the equaliser/ana-
If the analyser is used to measure a lyser combination to measure and then
but it is not strictly necessary. What
matters is that one has a series of system with a completely flat response, correct a room's response.
reference points - peak or dip at such the mean meter deflection (i.e. the
and such a filter setting, etc. If, however mean between the maximum positive
an absolute frequency scale is desired, and negative deflections) should be
this can be obtained by using a tone independent of variations in the filter
generator and noting the frequency frequency. An audio system with a
when the output voltage at point C is at completely flat response would be
a maximum, when feeding a pure sine- pretty hard to find, however, something
wave into point B. which does have a more or less flat
response is a wire link! — by joining
points A and B and C and D in this way
Using the analyser (i.e.connecting the output of the noise
The multimeter (10 to 12 V full-scale generator to the bandpass filter and the
deflection) which is used to display the output of the filter to the rectifier
amplitude of the noise signal is connected circuit) it is possible to test the operation

to the output (point E) of the rectifier

of the audio analyser, and in particular,
circuit. In the absence of an drive AC of the pink noise and bandpass filters.
voltage (i.e. point D disconnected or Variations of up to ± 2 dB (0.8 ... 1 .25)
else P3 turned right down) the DC in the mean meter reading are accept-
able. To prevent the rectifier circuit
voltage at this point should be set by
means of P4 to exactly 0 (m)V. The from being overloaded, the mean meter
correct setting for P4 is obtained by reading can be adjusted to occur at Literature:
repeatedly switching down the voltage around 3 ... 4 V. 1. 'Digital noise generator', Elektor 21
range of the multimeter and checking Finally a word
of warning: care should January 1977
the reading by reversing the polarity of be taken to ensure that the noise signal 2. 'CMOS Noise generator', Elektor 33,
the probes. It should be borne in mind does not overload one's audio equip- January 1978 H

L
TAP 1979 - 9-45

Over the years there have been numerous considerable vibration. Many small
circuits designed to protect one's car relays used in cars are provided with flat
from the attentions of thieves. Many of contact 'tongues', which are ideal for
the designs have aimed at foiling the this type of application. By employing
person who succeeds in bridging the a slight trick, it is possible to ensure
ignition contacts or who has a false that when the car goes into the garage
key. In such cases the usual idea is to for repairs or servicing, there is a simple
employ a second switch in the lead to way of keeping its 'secret' well hidden.
the ignition coil, which is hidden or If point 1 of the circuit is connected
camouflaged from the thief. In principle to one of the 'forks' of the contact
this approach is quite attractive, how- tongue, then before taking the car into
ever it does have a couple of drawbacks. the garage, one simply connects point 2
Firstly, the switch must of course be of the circuit to the other 'fork', so that
well hidden, and yet within reasonably the car then starts normally. It will be
easy reach of the driver — two seemingly apparent that, with only minor modifi-
conflicting requirements. Secondly, cations to the relay connections, the

TAP thieves on the head

Touch activated anti-theft device for cars

E. Schorer

once the ignition is switched off and the

ignition key removed, the second,
concealed switch must also be in the off
position, otherwise the anti-theft circuit
is pointless. However it is all too easy to
forget to operate the concealed switch
when leaving one's car in a hurry.
The circuit shown in the accompanying
diagram represents an attempt to get
round both these problems. To start the
engine the ignition switch, SI, is first
closed. This however fails to energise
the ignition coil, since the contacts of
the relay, re/a, which is inserted in the
ignition lead, remain open. If however
the touch contacts are bridged with the
finger, a small base current will flow
through T1, turning on this transistor
and the Darlington pair, T2 and T3. As
a result, the relay, re, pulls in, and once
the contact re/b is closed, the relay will
remain in that state. The engine can
now be started normally. When the
ignition switch is opened, the relay
will automatically drop out, thus
're-arming' the anti-theft facility.
The circuit itself is quite straightforward.
The RC network, R3, C2, which is

included in the supply line of T1, and

the stability capacitor Cl, shield the
circuit from the effects of any voltage
transients generated by for example the
wiper or heater motor, which may
already be in operation before the relay
is pulled in. This prevents the relay circuit can be used as a touch switch
being actuated spuriously. with many applications in the car (e.g.
As far as the design of the touch switch windscreen washers, wipers etc.).
is concerned, it is left up to the indi- The circuit can easily be mounted on a
vidual to choose the optimal form small board, roughly 1,5x4 cm. It is
of camouflage. A suitably reliable and recommended that both sides of the
robust type of relay should be used, circuit be covered with a layer of
since it will obviously be subject to protective lacquer. M
to Ra . The positive feedback, which in

figure 2 was realised via R c and Rfl, may at

first sight not be apparent in the circuit of
figure 3, however it is present. Due to the I

delay introduced by the CMOS gates, the

circuit in fact oscillates in the same way as
a conventional CMOS oscillator. The duty-
cycle of the output waveform is adjusted to
50% by means of P2 (with the inputs shorted),
A breadboarded version of the above circuit
worked satisfactorily without a loudspeaker.
A distortion of 2% was measured with an
audio output signal of 6 V pp However, once .

the circuit was connected to a loudspeaker,

the distortion rose to a completely unaccept-
able 40%.

Current sources

circuit can be expected if R a and Rb in

figure 2 are replaced by controlled current

sources (see figure 4). Capacitor C is then
charged and discharged by currents which
can be regarded as remaining constant for the
duration of each switching cycle. In the long
term, the current ij n is directly proportional
to the input voltage Uj n The output current,
.

i„, is proportional to the asymmetrical

squarewave output voltage, u 0 When u0 is .
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