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other useful features too, many of which are
offered by the growing number of RDS stations.
RF (radio frequency)
An alternating current or voltage with a
frequency (or carrier wave) above about
100kHz.
It is called radio frequency because
these frequencies have a capacity to be radiated
as electromagnetic waves by radio (and
television) stations.
Rip (ripping)
Using a software program that “grabs” digital
audio
from a compact disc and transfers it to a
computer hard drive. The integrity of the data
is preserved, because the signal does not pass
through
the computer sound card, and need
not be converted to an analog format. The
digital-to-digital transfer creates a WAV le that
can then be converted into an MP3 le.
RMS (Root Mean Square)
A formula that provides a reasonably accurate
means
to measure and compare continuous
AC power. The use of this measure is preferred
when matching system components, like
ampliers and receivers.
S
S/PDIF (SPDIF) (Sony/Philips Digital Interface)
A standard audio-le transfer-format that was
developed jointly by Sony and Philips. S/PDIF
allo
ws the transfer of digital audio signals from
one device to another, without the need to
convert rst to analog. This prevents the quality
of
the digital signal degrading during transfer to
analog.
Sampling rate
The precision with which a digital le describes
the analog sound it represents. Basically, a lower
rate produces les that sound worse and take
up less drive space than those with a higher
rate. CDs have a sampling rate of 44.1kHz,
and DAT machines have a sampling rate of
48kHz.
MiniDisc player/recorders with a built-in
sampling rate converter can handle both rates.
Mono (monaural)
The operation of an amplier in one channel
f
or both input and output. Can refer to an
amplier with only one channel of amplication
or
operating in bridged mode. For low-
frequency amplication applications, it provides
better
phase coherence and less distortion than
stereo operation.
MP3
A le format with a sound data compression
system. MP3 is the abbreviation of Motion
Picture Experts Group 1 (or MPEG-1) Audio
La
yer 3. With the MP3 format, one CD-R or
CD-RW can contain about 10 times more data
than a regular CD.
Mute
A control found on receivers, and some mixers
or signal processing units that silences (mutes) a
signal
path, or output.
O
Ohm
Measure of resistance to current (impedance).
The
lower the impedance of a speaker, the
harder it is to drive.
P
PCM (Pulse Code Modulation)
Pioneering form of digital recording.
R
RDS (Radio Data System)
RDS tuners can automatically tune in stations
according to the types of music (or talk) they
broadcast. RDS also enables a receiver to
display text messages and even graphics (usually
call letters and format information) that many
FM
stations include on a sub-carrier signal
within their normal broadcast signal. Some RDS
equipped tuners can even override with trafc
aler
ts or emergency broadcasts, during playback
of other media - CD MD, or cassette. There are
Glossary
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