Understanding current and voltage in audio

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  • čas přidán 11. 09. 2024

Komentáře • 94

  • @forbeginnersandbeyond6089

    Water analogy:
    Flow of water in pipe = flow of electricity in wire
    Water pressure (e.g. 30 psi) = electrical voltage (V)
    Water flow velocity = electrical current (I)
    Faucet lever or valve = resistance or impedance (R)
    The higher the water pressure, the higher the water velocity. But you can control water flow by the faucet valve. When valve is loosened (low resistance, low impedance), water flows more freely. When you start to tighten the valve (higher resistance), water flow weakens. Exactly same phenomenon as electricity.

    • @slode1693
      @slode1693 Před rokem +3

      Voltage = pressure, current = volume, flow (gallon/min etc.) = watts. Volts x amp = watts.

    • @Phil_f8andbethere
      @Phil_f8andbethere Před rokem +1

      Amps (Current) is the volume of (the water / electricity) flowing. Volts is the measure of force of it (pressure) and watts is the amount of power (work it can do).
      Edited - based on kind feedback from Douglas Blake.

    • @Phil_f8andbethere
      @Phil_f8andbethere Před rokem

      @Douglas Blake Ah, ok, thanks for correcting me 👍. Yes that makes better sense now too. I have edited it to reflect your kind feedback and credited you.

  • @hanspetscher5770
    @hanspetscher5770 Před rokem +4

    I am really sincere and well meaning towards Paul: it would be better he having only one internet appearance a week and get himself prepared somewhat more thoroughly.

    • @Phil_f8andbethere
      @Phil_f8andbethere Před rokem

      But that way he wouldn't earn as much youtube revenue - so he puts lots out. However, I agree, better to put less high quality content out than lots of "on the hoof" stuff.

  • @Chris.Wiley.
    @Chris.Wiley. Před rokem +3

    Here's an easy example - a carpet shock may be 30,000 volts but since there is virtually no current, it doesn't kill you. On the other hand, 240 volts at 30 amps coming out of your electrical outlet most certainly can kill you. So the current is the oomph of the signal.

  • @budgetaudiophilelife-long5461

    THANKS PAUL,🤗 the car 🚗 is a good analogy…for us laypeople,SO PLEASE JUST IGNORE THE CRITICISMS
    This is the current understanding 😊💚💚💚

  • @johnb6723
    @johnb6723 Před rokem +2

    There is an old saying - "a bell's not a bell 'till you ring it".

    • @stimpy1226
      @stimpy1226 Před rokem

      That’s totally not true. What old saying is that? A bell is a bell as long as it’s got its ringer.

  • @edwinmarcano6741
    @edwinmarcano6741 Před rokem +5

    I am confused.

    • @terryjefferylee6314
      @terryjefferylee6314 Před rokem

      Me too.

    • @stimpy1226
      @stimpy1226 Před rokem +1

      Look at it this way. “Charge“ is water in a pipe. “Voltage“ is pressure on water and “Current” is water flow that varies with pressure on the water. Power can be calculated by multiplying voltage times current.

  • @kobusbender2896
    @kobusbender2896 Před rokem +1

    This is a difficult thing to explain and sometime I get confused. Its not only Volts and Watts...theres also impedance and efficiency of speakers. All I know is a high current amp gives better dynamics and efficient speakers play louder with a lower wattage.

  • @mikecamps7226
    @mikecamps7226 Před rokem

    if YOU can grasp this....I'm an OLD RCA MAN......I enjoy AUDIO......You are THE AUDIO WHISPER'R !!

  • @dwaynefisher1348
    @dwaynefisher1348 Před rokem

    I finally get it! Love the analogy! Thank you Paul.

  • @ThinkingBetter
    @ThinkingBetter Před rokem +1

    Current is the stream of charged particles (electrons). Voltage is the electric pressure (which can push electrons to move). Current is not power! Power is energy per time (one Watt is a Joule of energy per second). Power = Voltage x Current.

  • @nicovandyk3856
    @nicovandyk3856 Před rokem

    Current = Coulomb/Time (I = Q/t) - That literally means the amount of electrons per measure time which is equivalent to the formula for Speed = Distance/Time (v = d/t). That means CURRENT are equivalent to the speed in the water analogy. Voltage is the energy done per charge (V = E/Q) which is akin to pressure in the water analogy

  • @jjarango2
    @jjarango2 Před rokem +2

    Paul. It seems to me that it got very complicated in this video. Not all answers can be improvised. I would be pleased to see a better prepared answer to this question. You are much better than this.

  • @stimpy1226
    @stimpy1226 Před rokem +2

    Charge is water, voltage is the pressure on the water and current is the flow of the water which may vary with the change of pressure. The resulting power (P) is the product of voltage (E) multiplied by the current (I) or in electrical terminology is P= E X I

    • @jakubkamas8547
      @jakubkamas8547 Před rokem

      and than comesa funny part. Power is voltage squared and divided by resistance (P=V2/R) - where is current? magically disapeared :-D ...... the point is simple, Current always needs to be equal characteristic like Voltage :-) if you are layman, you can say, current is constant only driven according impedance / resistance. For example 10volts signal and 4 ohms load is 25Wats of power, from that power you can find current by your equation, which is 2,5 amps for driving 25W of power on 4ohms load. if you want to have same 25W output power on 8ohms system, you will need higher voltage, aprox 14V, which is 1.8Amps on 8ohm load :-) I love those paradoxes :-D

    • @jakubkamas8547
      @jakubkamas8547 Před rokem

      that particular equation could easily lead into next question. If voltage is representation of intensity Air resonation travel distance, what does the output power means? :-D Somebody could easily tell, that 8ohm system is more effective than 4ohm system, simply because you can handle same voltage on both system, but on 8hm you will have less power , means less current :-D ..... and that leads into understanding of Output power, preamp output power (gain for poweramp) input power from music instrument source, to mechanical Output power, thy physical what we hear - decibels (not talking about clarity etc)...... this is in overall pretty freaking topic :-) in root its simple, but such a simple things is heavy to explain :-D
      But my recomendation (as a semi advanced engineer) , you can take care of current only when you are designing Cables (diameter and of course its resistance comes to play also) for the system you want to use on particular power output.... otherwise, this is something you cannot monitor or control. Every time its only about the load you will put into the system. And load have its resistance, its the only key factor you can adjust....

    • @TheLucasthatyouknow
      @TheLucasthatyouknow Před rokem

      This is the way it was always explained to me.

  • @digggerrjones7345
    @digggerrjones7345 Před rokem +3

    This guy has covered this topic repeatedly and gets it *wrong* every single time.

    • @user-od9iz9cv1w
      @user-od9iz9cv1w Před rokem

      I like Paul and enjoy most of his videos. When he tries to explain electrical principles, it gets painful.

  • @michaelschunk5522
    @michaelschunk5522 Před rokem

    For the water analogy I always thought of voltage as the "pressure" and the current as the "flow rate" (or as Paul loosely says "speed"). When he explains starting at 0:56, he seems to say the opposite. It seems either he or I have it backwards?

  • @mr.b4444
    @mr.b4444 Před rokem

    So my question is if have a pair of speakers that requires a high current amp to push them. Where can I look at the amp's spec sheet that indicates it is a high current amp instead of trying to guess?

  • @florianmartin5931
    @florianmartin5931 Před rokem

    what about transimpedance/conductance amplifier? how can the representation of voltage and current can be justified there? because we transform the waveform of voltage audio signal into current signal, so current isn’t representative of power here anymore

  • @jareknowak8712
    @jareknowak8712 Před rokem

    Schrödingers cat - paradox of quantum superposition.

  • @jeffreythurston1822
    @jeffreythurston1822 Před rokem

    Paul I think your water analogy is backwards

  • @fixnreview
    @fixnreview Před rokem

    Got it Paul! Thanks

  • @dangerzone007
    @dangerzone007 Před rokem +20

    Yes you didn't explain it correctly. The velocity of water in a pipe is like current. The pressure the pipe has is like voltage.

    • @googoo-gjoob
      @googoo-gjoob Před rokem +2

      *NO,* you didn't explain it correctly.

    • @GaryB007
      @GaryB007 Před rokem +1

      You got it the wrong way around there.

    • @Audiogeek-kf2ez
      @Audiogeek-kf2ez Před rokem +1

      As my tech school instructor always said. Use piping in a home, the water running thru the pipes, and the pressure behind the water. 45 years later people (instructors too) are still using the same idea. Cool

    • @GaryB007
      @GaryB007 Před rokem +1

      @@googoo-gjoob I was referring to the comment poster, not you.

    • @EliasTheHunter
      @EliasTheHunter Před rokem

      @UCMlbf8XZhxnIeDv7UAtIGzw linguistics is a descriptive field, not a prescriptive one.

  • @JerryRutten
    @JerryRutten Před rokem +1

    Dear writer,
    I’m very sorry the hear and see that nobody answers your question. I hope you are not getting disappointed in the audio community. I like to try and give you an answer. It’s kind of a long answer.
    Your question was: Could you explain the difference between current signal transfer and voltage signal transfer?
    The type of signal transfer is determined by the output impedance and the input impedance of the systems which are connected for the signal transfer.
    If the output impedance is much lower (*edited*) than the input impedance, then there is voltage signal transfer. The sourcing system, which gives the output is seen as voltage source, the receiving system is seen as voltage controlled. Note that it is not about absolute impedances, but about impedances relative to each other.
    If the output impedance is much higher (*edited*, both, thanks to G Fowler) than the input impedance, then there is current signal transfer. The sourcing system, which gives the output is seen as current source, the receiving system is seen as current controlled.
    If the output impedance is equal to the input impedance, then there is power signal transfer. This is done in long distance cables and in radio communications (getting signal from or into an antenna).
    The type of signal transfer you should use is influenced by the transducer being used. A transducer is a system that converts from one physics domain to the other. In the case of electric transducers one of the two domains is the electric domain, like microphones and loudspeakers in the case of audio, where the ‘other’ domain is the acoustics domain.
    Electrodynamic systems, for example an electrodynamic microphone, gives a voltage signal. This is determined by physics. An electrodynamic system generates a voltage (called electromotive force) by induction. In this case the signal transfer should be a voltage transfer. So the input impedance should be much higher (preferably more than 100 times higher) than the output impedance of the microphone.
    An electrodynamic system as an output system, like an electrodynamic loudspeaker (by far the most), is a current controlled device. This is because of Ørsted’s law. It is the current that produces the force, and in the end the output, the sound. To drive a current driven transducer, the loudspeaker in this case, you should use current transfer. So the output impedance should be much higher than the input impedance of the loudspeaker.
    So, the type of signal transfer must be matched to the the type of transducer, whether it is a sensor (an input or source like a microphone) or an actuator (an output system like a loudspeaker). If there is a mismatch between the signal transfer and the requirements of the device you get all kinds of unnecessary distortions like distortion of the frequency response, compression and harmonic and intermodulation distortion.
    I’ll hope this gives you an answer.
    Sadly, this leaves the question (the biggest mystery of the audio world) why there are so few power amplifiers operating as current sources putting out a current signal to drive (electrodynamic) loudspeakers. Gladly there are more and more manufacturers that produce the so called current-drive amplifiers, integrated into the loudspeaker or as a separate

    • @PlatypusPerspective
      @PlatypusPerspective Před rokem

      I understand your concern at the poor addressing of the question here, but I have to wonder if your information is likely to confuse people. In your initial description of signal transfer and source/load impedance the relationships of source and load impedances are reversed. The later reference to a microphone is the correct way around. As you say, for the signal transfer from a dynamic microphone, being a voltage transfer, the load impedance should be much higher than the source impedance. However your initial definitions say voltage signal transfer is when the output impedance is much higher than the input impedance.

    • @JerryRutten
      @JerryRutten Před rokem

      @@PlatypusPerspective You're absolutely right! Thanks, and I will correct it!
      Good to see that people actually reading it.

    • @PlatypusPerspective
      @PlatypusPerspective Před rokem

      @@JerryRutten Glad I spotted it. 🔍

    • @JerryRutten
      @JerryRutten Před rokem

      @@PlatypusPerspective I’m glad you spotted it.

    • @JerryRutten
      @JerryRutten Před rokem

      @@PlatypusPerspective And, have you any idea why there are so few current source or current-driven amplifiers?

  • @middle_pickup
    @middle_pickup Před rokem

    Question for you, Paul. Do high end CD players or transports utilize DSP to color their outputs? Why do so many audiophiles say a digital player outputting a digital signal can sound better than a cheap DVD player with S/PDIF out? It seems logical that these audio nerds could be actually hearing subtle DSP EQ curves happening to their music in these expensive players.

    • @peterlarkin762
      @peterlarkin762 Před rokem

      Its more that the digital circuitry is less noisy, less error correction. Even though it's digital output, it's not 'raw'. It will get upsampled, reclocked, etc. Each IC doing this will differ between a cheap and dear CDP. That's where the difference in sound is.

    • @middle_pickup
      @middle_pickup Před rokem

      @@peterlarkin762 how can error correction color the sound? The data is either intact or corrupt.

  • @SteveWille
    @SteveWille Před rokem

    Here is something confusing that Paul mentioned (maybe I misunderstood): How is a speaker’s impedance, say 8 ohms, a “steeper hill” than a power amp’s input impedance of, say, 10,000 ohms? I understand intuitively that speakers are harder to drive than power amp inputs, but why does a lower number like 8 ohms mean more resistance and a higher number like 10,000 mean less resistance?

    • @lasskinn474
      @lasskinn474 Před rokem

      Its not a good analogy. The current is higher with lower ohms. With a superconductor its infinite(not really). With high ohms its very little. If the ohms are near zero it'll burn up whatever is trying to drive it as those parts can't handle the current that would flow through them

    • @SteveWille
      @SteveWille Před rokem

      @@lasskinn474 Thanks for the response and clarification… so the car, the horsepower and the hill is not a good analogy?

    • @lasskinn474
      @lasskinn474 Před rokem

      @@SteveWille its really not great.
      A simple isolated electric circuit of say a charged capacitor and a resistor and how it will discharge itself really is better. Theres not so much push as there is flow of electrons and effects of that.
      The thing with the road and river analogies is that none of them really tell you anything about what gauge of wires you shoul.. Could be using or why an amp blew itself or what protection circuits do or what a ratings on a capacitor mean or how big of an airgap the electricity can jump and when it would do so, so they're not useful for determining if flipping a switch is a good idea or a very bad idea.

    • @lasskinn474
      @lasskinn474 Před rokem

      @Douglas Blake the way i look at it the problem with the uphill analogy is that the low resistance flows electricity more freely, so it takes more electricity to maintain the potential difference across it, which is ultimately what an amp is trying to do.
      Consequently maintaining potential difference over a high resistance load needs less because it flows less freely across it and if you wanted same power drop across it you'd have to crank the potential difference much higher across it which is what i'd see as "harder push".
      Of course actually providing higher currents tends to be harder in practice than providing higher voltages so that mixes things up.. But the low ohm load itself is easier to pass electricity through like i don't think anyone would describe a low ohm cable as an uphill.

  • @ikemi1
    @ikemi1 Před rokem

    This is all explained in AC/DC's High voltage Rock n Roll😁

  • @Phil_f8andbethere
    @Phil_f8andbethere Před rokem

    Schrodinger's cat. The cat in the box is both dead and alive until we observe it.

  • @davidfromamerica1871
    @davidfromamerica1871 Před rokem +1

    As long as my phone battery understands it. 👍

  • @davidcross890
    @davidcross890 Před rokem

    Based on the Comments so far it appears so many do not have any advanced knowledge of how power really works.

  • @mikeeygauthier2959
    @mikeeygauthier2959 Před rokem

    Take 2, please!

  • @geddylee501
    @geddylee501 Před rokem

    Current is flow rate, voltage is pressure, hifi system is resistance

    • @slode1693
      @slode1693 Před rokem +1

      Current is not flow rate. Watts is flow rate. Current is just the volume. You need to apply voltage (pressure) to get flow.

  • @bingdong8571
    @bingdong8571 Před rokem

    Size and pressure

  • @richardsmith2721
    @richardsmith2721 Před rokem

    Voltage is the horsepower and current is the torque.

    • @slode1693
      @slode1693 Před rokem

      NOOO. Voltage is the torque, RPM is current, and horsepower is watts. It's not a great analogy in any case, but that's the closest way to describe it.

  • @ptg01
    @ptg01 Před rokem

    Hmmmmm.. Current flows in a given direction; voltage is the potential difference between one point in a circuit to another point... Power is the product of the two !

  • @ladsonbeach5438
    @ladsonbeach5438 Před rokem

    Analogies can be good educational tools if they are accurate. Voltage versus amperage is analogous to pressure versus volume. Applying that analogy to horsepower or watts is problematic since those terms combine the two and are used to define the amount of work performed. A more accurate analogy to amperage would be torque rather than horsepower.

    • @zulumax1
      @zulumax1 Před rokem

      You can have torque without movement, as in a clock mainspring, or a weight and pulley. That would be more analogous to voltage stored energy potential. You cannot have flow without pressure, but you can have pressure without flow.

    • @ladsonbeach5438
      @ladsonbeach5438 Před rokem

      @@zulumax1 Agreed. Voltage is also a differential potential. The use of the term horsepower is what caught my eye. I really appreciate Paul taking the time to educate those of us without engineering degrees.

  • @christkallimanis4621
    @christkallimanis4621 Před rokem

    Hopefully one day before I die my mind will be able to grasp electricity. Power, current, ohms, Amps, Capacitors. Maybe a simple kit I can solder together to make something work would help.

    • @user-od9iz9cv1w
      @user-od9iz9cv1w Před rokem

      A kit is a good starting point. I started tweeking speakers and cables. Build kit amps and DACs. Over time built a complete system from scratch actually downloading a patent for a tube amp. Very educational and satisfying.

    • @slode1693
      @slode1693 Před rokem +1

      Once you start comparing electronics to hydraulics it becomes much simpler. Watts (power or flow rate) equals volts (pressure) time amps (volume), resistors are just flow restrictors, capacitors and batteries are like pressure tanks, switches are valves, and diodes are just check valves. Pretty much every electrical devise acts like some hydraulic control.

  • @PSA78
    @PSA78 Před rokem

    In the car analogy: Volt is Rpm, Ampere is Torque and work done is Watt or Horsepower. 😄

    • @slode1693
      @slode1693 Před rokem

      Other way around, voltage is the force. Amps is just the volume, or in this analogy the amount of spinning so RPM. The torque/rpm/horsepower analogy does not relate well to electricity though. A better analogy is hydraulics where pressure = volts, volume = amps, and flow rate (gallons/min or whatever) = watts.

    • @PSA78
      @PSA78 Před rokem

      @@slode1693 Yes the other way around is perhaps better, but it does translate well as work done can be expressed by both hp and kW while you can interchange the other two to get the same amount of energy. 🙂

  • @ssleddens
    @ssleddens Před rokem

    So clear Paul

  • @wonderboy7768
    @wonderboy7768 Před rokem

    Observer effect (physics)

  • @mrroofcutter
    @mrroofcutter Před rokem +1

    I like my Dads analogy better...pushes finger against upper arm...this is voltage...pulls back and punches my upper arm...and that is current. don't play around with it.

  • @stimpy1226
    @stimpy1226 Před rokem

    Schrödinger’s cat

  • @geoff37s38
    @geoff37s38 Před rokem +1

    Painful to watch. Paul, stick to your sales pitch and leave technical stuff to a qualified engineer.

  • @boblehman1726
    @boblehman1726 Před rokem

    As an electrical engineer, it's a bit painful to listen to and read through the confusion in many of these explanations. Sorry, I can't untangle it in a short paragraph - it's relatively simple, but not that simple.

    • @PlatypusPerspective
      @PlatypusPerspective Před rokem

      My observation is, as frustrating as it is to see people giving thanks for now "understanding" some dubious explanation, and various other people demonstrating that they don't understand much of the subject at all, there's rarely much benefit achieved by offering technically accurate input. I've seen a notable Audio Engineer such as Bill Whitlock offer some points of correction in a topic on another channel, and all that happened was a bit of milling about, a couple of people said that they were glad at least someone had spoken up, but the uncomprehending posts continued in the topic and the presenter of the video made no response, and presumably is just as likely to present the same misconceptions ongoing.

  • @bingdong8571
    @bingdong8571 Před rokem

    For plumbers

  • @LuxAudio389
    @LuxAudio389 Před rokem

    Low denominator here😜

  • @atzeotze2256
    @atzeotze2256 Před rokem

    It makes no sense to bring the frequency into a analogie of Voltage and Current.
    Pressure is the Voltage, the water is the Current.
    Both are moving with the frequency.

  • @cengeb
    @cengeb Před rokem

    ?

  • @erod9088
    @erod9088 Před rokem

    Yeah...no. That's not it. Lol