Neat-To-Know Info - Ramsey Electronics UAM4 Manual

40 watt universal stereo audio amplifier
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spacers and the 4 mounting holes on the corners, try mounting the board
to a piece of aluminum or some other metal and see if the problem is
solved. You can also use the 2 holes located between the output screw
terminals and U1 to mount to a metal plate. These are closer to U1 and
will dissipate the heat faster. You may need to adjust the threshold once
the heat sink is installed. Remember to use metal spacers and the
absolute lowest setting of the threshold necessary.
NEAT-TO-KNOW INFORMATION: Determining Speaker Phase
A speaker is an electromechanical device that converts electrical impulses to
sound waves. This is done with a magnet and a coil of wire. When an
electrical current is passed through a wire, a magnetic field is produced. If the
wire is made into a coil and attached to, for example, a piece of paper, and a
magnet is placed inside the coil, we have the components of a speaker.
When a changing electrical current (like an audio signal from the UAM4, for
instance) is applied to the coil a changing magnetic field is produced in the coil
which interacts with the magnetic field of the magnet and the coil moves, thus
moving the paper. Moving the paper causes the air around it to move at the
rate of the applied signal and sound is produced. The paper is the cone of the
speaker, and the coil is called the voice coil. Current in one direction will
cause the cone to move in one direction and the opposite direction when the
current is reversed.
To determine which way the cone moves with a given current polarity applied
you will need a battery such as a 'AA' cell and a resistor with a value of 10 to
100 ohms. You will also need to be able to see the cone of your speaker.
Using clip leads connect one to one lead of the resistor and the other to a
terminal of the speaker. Connect the other lead to the other speaker terminal.
The resistor value is not critical but is necessary to prevent allowing too much
current to flow in the voice coil and damaging it. Now the fun begins!
Connect the clip lead with out the resistor to the '-' terminal of the battery and
then connect the free lead of the resistor to the '+' lead of the battery while
watching the cone. If the cone moves toward the front of the speaker, mark
the speaker terminal with the resistor with a '+'. If it moves the other way
mark the terminal attached to the battery '-'as "+'.
Repeat this same procedure on the other speaker. When you connect the
speakers, simply connect the marked lead of each speaker to the '+' terminal
of the desired channel, (left or right), output terminals and the other to the
corresponding '-' terminal and you will have a properly connected set of
speakers! It really doesn't matter which lead you mark on the speaker, since
as long as you mark both speakers the same way they will be in phase.
What if you can't see the speaker cone, don't have a battery or resistor or are
UAM4• 29

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