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PRACTICAL EXERCISE
( )
First we show that each time you double the power, you increase the power by about 3 dB:
Now we show that each time you multiply the power by 10, you increase the power by
about 10 dB:
(
), Power
( )
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 1
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
Using these basic rules, you can do many simple level conversions in your head without a
calculator. Consider the following questions:
Question 1: How many dB greater than 4 watts is 64 watts?
We can solve this problem using the 3 part of the 3 and 10 rule:
. Thus,
Having shown that
we know that
Thus,
Answer: 64 watts is about 12 dB greater than 4 watts.
Question 2: How many dB greater than 10 watts is 1000 watts?
We can solve this problem using the 10 part of the 3 and 10 rule:
Thus,
Having shown that
.
we know that
Thus,
Answer: 1000 watts is about 20 dB greater than 10 watts.
Question 3: How many dB greater than 1 watt is 80 watts?
We can solve this problem using both parts of the 3 and 10 rule:
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 2
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
Observe that
. Thus,
(
we know that
Thus,
If you prefer, you can do this calculation in your head stepwise this way:
. Thus,
Having shown that
we know that
Thus,
).
(
)
(
we know that
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 3
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
With a Calculator
If you have a calculator, you can perform more complicated conversions using the formula
for power decibels. P0 is the power level you started with and P1 is the power level you end
up with.
Power
( )
Answer: The 350 watt amplifier is only about 3.59 dB quieter than the 800 watt
amplifier. 3 dB is smallest difference in level that average listeners can perceive. In
other words, the difference in level between these two amplifiers will be barely
perceptible to the average listener.
Power Ratios
Sometimes you don't have two power levels to compare, but you know the dB difference
youd like to achieve. In these situations you need to figure out the power ratio for the dB
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 4
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
difference you need and then multiply that ratio by a known power level. The following
equation can be used for this purpose:
Question 1: You currently have a 300 watt amplifier in your sound system. You would
like to purchase an amplifier that is 13 dB louder. How many watts do you need?
Answer: You will need a 6000 watt amplifier (rounded up from 5986) to get another 13
dB out of your sound system. In this situation, it might be less expensive to get a more
sensitive loudspeaker or figure out a way to send your 300 watt amplifier a line-level
voltage signal that is 13 dB higher.
Question 2: If a loudspeaker can generate 60 dBSPL at 1 meter with 2 watts of power,
how much power would be required to get 98 dBSPL at 1 meter from the loudspeaker?
Answer: The power amplifier would need to put 2000 watts into the loudspeaker in
order to generate 98 dBSPL at 1 meter.
Energy Decibels
Without A Calculator
Any time you work with voltage levels (dBu and dBV) or pressure levels (dBSPL), you use
the formulas for energy difference decibels (or energy decibels for short, and sometimes
called voltage decibels, since sound pressure is often measured in volts). With energy
decibels, you can do some conversions in your head just like you do with power decibels.
This time the rule of thumb is called the 6 and 20 Rule. Doubling a voltage will result in a
6 dB increase. Multiplying a voltage by 10 will result in a 20 dB increase. Distance changes
Digital Sound and Music
Working with Decibels
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
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This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
work reciprocally. Doubling the distance a sound wave travels in the air will result in a 6
dB decrease in dBSPL. Multiplying by 10 the distance a sound wave travels in the air will
result in a 20 dB decrease in dBSPL.
We can prove the 6 and 20 Rule mathematically based on the definition of voltage (or
energy) difference decibels, which we denote as Voltage
.
( )
where is the original voltage and
voltage.
Below we show that each time you double the voltage, you increase the energy by
approximately 6 dB:
Now we show that each time you multiply the voltage by 10, you increase the energy by
about 20 dB:
We can also show the 6 and 20 Rule for distance differences, based on the equation below.
Notice that the original distance, , is in the numerator and the new distance, , is in the
denominator.
(
where
is the original distance and
distance.
First we show that each time you double the distance, you decrease the energy by
approximately 6 dB:
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 6
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
Now we show that each time you increase the distance by a factor or 10, you decrease the
energy by approximately 20 dB:
( )
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 7
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
With a Calculator
Using a calculator, you can perform more complicated dB conversions with voltage
levels. When working with voltage levels, you multiply by 20 the base 10 log of the
voltage you ended up with divided by the voltage you started with. When working
with dB loss over distance level you use the same formula, but you divide the
distance you started with by the distance you ended up with.
If you know the dB difference and one of the voltage values, you can find the voltage
ratio of that dB difference and multiply that by the voltage you started with to find
the voltage level for that dB difference. Here are the equations again:
( )
Also note in the following questions that dBV and dBu are both used for voltage
decibels, but with different reference voltages. The reference voltage for dBV is 1 V
while the reference voltage for dBu is 0.775 V.
Question 1: How many dB greater than 2 volts is 63 volts?
(
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 8
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
We know the loudspeaker can do 97 dBSPL with only 1 watt. Before we can figure out how
many watts is needed for 120 dBSPL, we need to figure out the difference between these
two values.
In other words, we need 23 dB more than the 97 dBSPL that we get with only 1 watt. Now
lets find the power ratio of 23 dB.
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
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This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
Now we can take this power ratio for 23 dB and multiply it by the number of watts we
already know about. In this case, thats 1 watt.
Answer: You will need a 200 watt amplifier in order to generate 100 dBSPL at 10
meters with this loudspeaker.
Now multiply this voltage ratio by the reference level for 0 dBV (1 volt):
Answer: 10 dBV represents an actual voltage level of 0.316 volts. This means that
unity gain for consumer equipment is when the signal is at 0.316 volts.
Question 2: Nominal operating line level for professional grade equipment is +4 dBu.
How many volts does +4 dBu represent?
First, find the voltage ratio of +4 dB:
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
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This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
Now multiply this voltage ratio by the reverence level for 0 dBu (0.775 volts):
Answer: +4 dBu represents an actual voltage level of 1.23 volts. This means that unity
gain for professional equipment is when the signal is at 1.23 volts.
As you can see, there is a difference in nominal operating voltage level for consumer and
professional grade equipment. This means that if you connect a consumer grade device to a
professional grade device, youll need to compensate for the difference in level using a
preamplifier in order to maintain an optimized gain structure.
Consider the situation where youre connecting two CD players to a mixing console. One CD
player is a professional grade model, and the other is a consumer grade model. These two
CD players will be generating their analog output signal at different levels. You can
compensate for this using the preamplifiers in the mixing console. Lets see how much
youll need to compensate:
Question 3: Whats the dB difference between professional line level and consumer line
level?
We know from the previous two questions that professional line level is 1.23 volts and
consumer line level is 0.316 volts. Lets just figure out the dB difference between these two
voltage levels:
(
We cant really hear changes less than 1 dB, and it would be difficult to dial in a fraction of a
dB on an analog preamp. So it would be appropriate to simply round this down to 12 dB.
Answer: The dB difference between professional and consumer line level is 12 dB. In
other words, youll have to turn up the preamplifier on the consumer CD player by 12
dB to get the level in the mixing console to match the professional CD player.
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
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This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.
Practice Problems
1. If you want to replace a 5 watt power amplifier with an amplifier that was 7 dB
more powerful, how many watts will you need?
2. When looking to purchase a new power amplifier, you find two power amplifiers
with similar features. The more expensive amplifier is 900 watts, and the less
expensive amplifier is only 200 watts. How many more dB will your money buy with
the 900 watt amplifier?
3. An EAW UB12se model loudspeaker has a sensitivity of 89 dBSPL at 1watt/1meter.
Its peak dBSPL is specified at 116.5 dBSPL at 1 meter. What is the peak power
handling of this loudspeaker?
4. For this same UB12se loudspeaker, how many dBSPL will you get at 1 meter with a
50 watt power amplifier?
5. What power would be 18 dB greater than 3 watts?
6. What voltage would be 14 dB greater than 19 volts?
7. 0 dBu = 0.775 volts. 0 dBV = 1 volt. What is the dB difference between the two?
8. If a loudspeaker can produce 102 dBSPL at 5 feet, how loud will it be at 25 feet?
9. For this same loudspeaker, how loud will it be if you then move 7 feet closer from 25
feet?
10. If a loudspeakers sensitivity is 98 dB 1w/1m, how loud will it be at 23 feet away
with 300 watts of power?
11. If a loudspeakers sensitivity is 105 dB 1w/1m, how much power will be needed to
generate 98 dBSPL at 35 feet?
PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Page 12
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under CCLI Grant DUE 0717743, Jennifer Burg PI, Jason Romney, Co-PI.