What is?

The OnlyFactoryDirect team provides the answers to the most common "What is" questions.


General Audio:
What is impedance and ohms.
What is "in phase" and what does that mean.
What is the best wire for your application?
What is a stage monitor?.
What is the difference between a 2-way speaker and a 3-way speaker?

Home Audio:
What is the Theater Solutions TSQ670 Quick Install System? What is the difference between Kevlar and Glass Fiber speakers?

What is the TSQ670 Quick Install System?.
We felt this new Quick Install system merritted more than just an explanation so Randall made a video to show you how you can install your own 70 volt speaker in under 30 seconds! Enjoy.




What is impedance and ohms.
Purchasing separate components for your whole house audio system may save you money and provide greater flexibility, but there are some basic concepts and terms you need to understand before buying. Impedance is one of the most important terms to understand when configuring your needs for a whole house audio system; and will ultimately lead to better system performance and less installation frustration. Trying to understand impedance can be an intimidating process, but it was explained to me using a very simple analogy and I will do the same for you. First things first, the impedance value of a loudspeaker is more commonly expressed in Ohms. Most home speakers are 8 Ohm, but do not work under this assumption, ask the dealer or look on the box [All of Theater-Solutions are 8 Ohm].

Think of your water pipes and pump at home. The pipe diameter represents the impedance of your loudspeaker; the water flowing through it is power, and the water pump is the amplifier (or receiver). Now, if you have a pipe large in diameter, it allows a large amount of water to flow through it, but requires the pump to work extremely hard to keep up the pressure, this would be considered a “low impedance” situation, the large pipe does not lighten or impede the large flow of water. Likewise, if the pipe were small in diameter, it would allow less water to flow, we will call that “high impedance”, because the smallness of the pipe is impeding or slowing the flow of water, or electricity. Let’s recap: Low impedance equals large flow: High impedance equals slow or low flow.

Using this same analogy let’s consider voltage and current; voltage (water pressure) and current (water flow) together create power. Now, if your pipes at home were suddenly to widen in diameter the pump would still pump the same or voltage doesn’t change, but the flow (current) would; and therefore you would receive less water flow. The pump would have to provide more power to keep up the flow, therefore lower impedance (large pipes) requires a stronger amplifier (water pump). Now reverse that theory for high impedance, and remember if the pipe is small it is restricting the flow or impeding it and pressure can build up and flow becomes more difficult. Impedance is not difficult to define, it’s more defining the actual application of impedance that is challenging. So before we proceed, let’s review what we know from our previous analogy.

· Low Impedance equals large or free flow of power, but requires the amp to work harder to drive enough current to maintain flow. This added demand can be too much for an amplifier and cause it to over heat and shut down.

· High Impedance equals slow or low flow of power, and can cause restricted flow of current. The level of current influences the volume at which the speaker plays; low current equals low volume.

The optimal range for most amplifiers, receivers, and speakers to work between is 4 to 8 Ohm. This is generally easy to maintain if you are just directly hooking up speakers to a receiver or amp, but when considering multiple rooms and speakers it quickly becomes increasingly difficult to identify the overall resistance. This is important because that will identify your receiver/amplifier needs. As you wire speakers either in series or parallel, or a combination of both the resistance either increases or decreases, therefore changing the loudspeakers Ohm. In the end multiple speakers should not be hooked up directly to a standard audio amplifier. The best solution is to use either an impedance matching speaker selector box with the protection enabled, or impedance matching in wall volume controls; "impedance matching" is underlined because not all volume controls are impedance matching. Using this speaker selector boxes and volume controls it is possible to wire your entire house using a single receiver/amp as long as your receiver/amp has the needed power.


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What is "in phase" and what does that mean.
When your stereo speakers are connected in phase, the drivers of the left and right speaker move in and out at the same time. When they're out of phase, the drivers of the left speaker move in, while those of the right move out. If your speakers have removable grilles, you can pop them off and actually see this. Stereo speakers should always be connected in phase. Out-of-phase speakers sound "not quite right" — imaging is vague and there isn't as much bass. To hook up your speakers in phase, just make sure that your positive receiver (or amplifier) terminals are connected to the positive speaker terminals, and your negative receiver terminals are connected to your negative speaker terminals. It helps to pay attention to the markings on the wire — look for print, a stripe, or a rib that may be molded into the wire's jacket. If you find that your speakers are out of phase, don't worry, it's easy to fix. Just switch the positive and negative leads at one of your speakers (not both).


What is the best wire for your application.
We recommend that you get stranded cable that is specifically designed for use with speakers, we don't suggest using lamp cord or telephone wire, and believe me we have seen it. Your choice of wire can effect the sound quality of your system and we recommend better-quality wire from a speaker dealer. For connecting lengths less than 25ft. use either 18 or 16 gauge speaker wire, for connection lengths greater than 25ft. but less than 50ft. use either 16 or 14 gauge and distances that you are installing from the amplifier to the speaker or volume control greater than 50ft use 14 guage speaker wire or 12 gauge speaker wire. Theater Solutions CL3 rated speaker wire is the easiest and safest cable to us in any in home audio installation.


What is the difference between Kevlar and Glass Fiber speakers.                                                                                   
Theater Solutions Symphony Series are made with interlaced glass fiber. This glass fiber is just as rigid as kevlar, but lighter for better efficency and greater power handling. The Symphony Series speakers also have a + or - 3db switch on the front on the speaker to adjust the frequency to your rooms' acoustics. The acoustics of your room may vary due to the height of the ceiling, placement of furniture, amount of glass windows and other factors. The Kevlar speakers are great speakers, but the Symphony Series are simply better for home theaters and surround sound.



What is the difference between a 2-way speaker and a 3-way speaker?
A 2-way speaker's crossover splits the frequency band into two ranges: bass frequencies go to the woofer, and treble frequencies go to the tweeter. In a 3-way system, the frequency band is divided into three ranges. The middle frequencies are sent to a third driver commonly referred to as the midrange.

What is a stage monitor?
A stage monitor is used for the musician or vocalist to hear themselves so that they are more likely to stay in tune and in perfect timing. There are several different types of monitors including the stage wedge, side fill, and IEM or In Ear Monitors.

The wedge monitor used in front of the stage because it is unobtrusive and does not block the audiences view of the performance. A wedge monitor is usually a speaker cut off at an angle or it can be super laid back such as the 12MO1 by Podium Pro Audio, this is so the angle of the speaker is pointed directly towards the performers head so they can hear more effectively.

Side-fills are generally larger, full-range speaker systems placed off to the side of the stage like Podium Pro Audio's Trap15. The purpose of side-fills is to provide the performers a more enveloping and well-balanced sound. This allows all performers to hear a good rough mix of the whole band, while still allowing for individual mixes to be provided for individuals at their position on the stage via wedge monitors. It is widely believed that the more full stage mix inspires better and more coherent performances among musicians. In past few years technology has made it possible to achieve a pretty full sounding mix at each position with relatively small wedge monitors so side-fills have begun to be used less.

Please email us your "What is?" questions to randall@onlyfactorydirect.com!

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