15 Glossary - Philips STREAMIUM WAC7500 User Manual

15 Glossary

A
A (Amp/Ampere)
The Ampere (abbreviations: Amp or A) is the
unit of electric current, or amount of electric
charge per second.
AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
An audio compression scheme defined as part
of the MPEG- standard (also known as MPEG-
2 AAC or MPEG-2 NBC, or Not Backwards
Compatible). It offers better sound and a
compression ratio that is superior by roughly 30
percent compared to the MPEG-1 MP3 format.
AC (alternating current)
An alternating current is an electrical current
whose magnitude and direction vary cyclically,
as opposed to DC (direct current), whose
direction remains constant. The usual waveform
of an AC power circuit is a sine wave, as this
results in the most efficient transmission of
energy. However certain applications use
different waveforms, such as triangular or square
waves.
Album art
Album art is a feature of the WAC7500 that
displays the artwork (cover picture) of a music
album. This display enables the user to quickly
identify a music album. The artwork files for
music albums can be downloaded from the
Internet.
Amplifier
A device, either a single stage or a large scale
circuit with multiple stages for creating gain, i.e.
it makes small signals larger.
Analog audio
Sound that has not been turned into numbers.
Analog sound is available when you use the
AUDIO LEFT/RIGHT. These red and white jacks
send audio through two channels, the left and
right.
wac7500_um_01eng.indd 36
Antenna
A device, such as a rod or wire, which picks up
a received radio frequency signal or radiates a
transmitted RF signal.
Audio output
High-level (speaker) or line-level (RCA) signals
sent from one system component to another;
or the high-level signal from an amplifier to the
system speakers.
AUX
Auxiliary input that allows you to connect
portable audio devices.
B
Bass
The lowest three octaves of the audio band.
Low bass is the bottom octave (20-40Hz), mid-
bass is the middle octave (40-80Hz), and upper
bass is the 80-160Hz octave.
BestBuy®
BestBuy® is a membership-based digital music
service that allows listeners to subscribe to
music through the Internet at a monthly rate,
rather than to purchase the music.
Bit / bits
A bit is a binary digit, taking a value of either 0
or 1. For example, the number 10010111 is 8
bits long.
Bit rate
Bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed
or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is
usually measured in some multiple of bits per
second (kilobits per second: kbps). The term
bit rate is a synonym for data transfer rate (or
simply data rate).
Bluetooth®
Bluetooth® is a short-range wireless protocol
that is meant to allow mobile devices to share
information and applications without the worry
of cables or interface incompatibilities. The name
refers to a Viking King who unified Denmark.
Operates at .4 GHz. For more information, see
bluetooth.com.
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14-08-08 16:29:58