Audio Karma Glossary

d-ray657

Ain't this boogie a mess
For some newbies, and for some of us who will, to some extent, always be newbies, I suggest that AK (Audio Karma) needs a glossary. I will start with a few acronyms and AK lingo that I know, some that I don’t know, and ask some of the Old-Timers to pick it up from there.

Note: Contributions from posters and others have been incorporated into this glossary. Thanks to all who have contributed so far.

Readers are invited to provide more definitions that will help anyone who peruses the pages of Audio Karma to better understand the terminology being used.


Acronyms and forum terminology

AFAIK - as far as I know
AK – Audio Karma
AOCD - Audio Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Audiophile – Don’t get me started
BITD - Back in the day, often referring to the '70s, regarded by many as the high point in consumer audio equipment.
BOTL Bottom of the line - the cheapest in a line of gear by a particular manufacturer
BPC – black plastic crap- cheaply made electronic components that lacked the sonic quality, visual appeal and durability of components most commonly manufactured in the 70’s, but continually produced by some high quality and usually high cost manufacturers. - A step below BOTL.
BS – I heartily disagree with you
BTW - By the way
Curb Find - An piece of equipment place out by the curb for trash pick-up or otherwise thrown out as trash, only to be rescued by an enterprising audio lover.
DeOxit - A miracle chemical that will sometimes solve numerous ills in aging stereo equipment. It generally comes in a spray can with a stray and is used to clean and deoxidize electrical contacts within the equipment. Also useful for cleaning off RCA connectors and many other things. See sticky by Arkay with instructions for using DeOxit.
DOH - A statement of exasperation with oneself derived from The Simpsons television series, and more specifically, the character Homer Simpson.
FWIW - For what it's worth
High-Fi-High fidelity, refers to equipment capable of coming close to the actual sound of voices and instruments when they were recorded. The equipment demonstrates fidelity toward the original sound.
IIRC – if I recall correctly
IMHO – In my humble opinion
KISS - keep is simple stupid
LMAO - I find that quite humorous
LOL - Laugh out loud
Mid-Fi - Refers to quality consumer grade audio gear, a step below considerably more expensive, generally high quality gear. The more expensive high-fi gear is designed to be capable of coming closer to the actual sound of the voices or instruments being recorded and reproduced.
Mod - Moderator, representatives of AK, usually volunteers, who work to maintain civility on the threads. They enforce "All Audio no Attitude."
NIB - New in Box, unopened
NIP - New in Package, unopened
NOS - New old stock - Usually describes parts of or for vintage gear that have been discontinued, but are available new, years later, having remained in someone's stock or collection.
OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer - parts or equipment made by the original manufacturer of the equipment for that equipment.
OP – original poster, or thread starter
OTOH - On the other hand
PO - Previous owner
POS - Lacking in quality, a parcel of waste product.
PM – private message sent through the AK servers
QFT - Quoted for truth
RTFM - You really should consult the materials that came with the gear. (Read the effing manual)
Score – a purchase of audio gear (usually) at significantly less than the perceived market value.
Scroe – a misspelled score
TBTI - the best there is
Thread – a series of ostensibly related posts addressing a topic
Thread Crapping - Going into an established thread and completely trying to change the intended subject without adding productive input. See Troll
TOTL - Top of the line
Troll – Someone else provide a better definition, but generally one who tries to disrupt online forums with off-topic, silly or intentionally inflammatory comments.
TT - Turntable; also DD direct drive, BD belt drive, ID Idler drive turntables
Tuna - a slang reference to a tuner
Unobtanium - Parts for a vintage piece of gear that are no longer manufactured for which there are no longer any remaining stock
WAF - Wife Acceptance Factor, whether the equipment is visually pleasing, consistent with existing decor, and doesn't take up more than it's fair share of space (or funds).
WPC - Watts per channel
WTF – I am really confused
YMMV - Your mileage may vary, also shorthand for - your experience and observations my be different than mine.


Marketing

BIN – purchased as a buy it now
BT - Barter Town
CL – Craigslist, a free online service for offering items or services for sale locally.
DAV – For-profit thrift stores that purportedly donate a portion of their sales to disabled American veterans.
Epay, Fleabay, “that auction site” all refer to Ebay, the huge corporate online auction site
GW – Goodwill thrift stores
SA – Salvation Army, a charitable organization that supplements its fundraising with the sale of donated items at “thrift stores.”

Components

CDP - Compact Disc Player
DAC - Digital to Analog converter
Integrated amplifier – an amplifier with the preamp built in, i.e., components may be connected directly to the case housing the amplifier.
Jumpers – U shaped metal pieces that connect the preamp portion of an integrated amplifier or receiver to the power amplifier portion
Phono preamp – please help with this one
Preamp – a voltage amplifier suitable for operation with a low level input and whose output is intended to be connected to another amplifier operating at a higher input level. Pre-amplifiers are commonly used with low-level microphones and phono pickups. They are also used to as a place to organize all sources to allow them to be played through the power amp.
Receiver – an integrated amplifier with a tuner also included
RTR - Reel to reel tape player
Transport - a device, such as a CD or DVD reader that translates the digital data from the source and feeds it to the DAC for translation into an analog signal.
Tuner – a component that tunes in and receives radio signals and passes them on to the preamp or amp.
TT – turntable

Miscellaneous audio info

Damp To absorb energy, for instance adding weight or other materials to speaker cabinets to reduce resonance
Damping the materials used or process employed to absorb energy.
IC – interconnect cables, usually RCA tipped that connect components to a preamp, amplifier or receiver, or sometimes to a graphic equalizer.
IC - Also an abbreviation for integrated circuit
Line level inputs – some one else could explain it better than me.
Rumble - An effect most noticable on phonograph recording, but entirely exclusive to it is called rumble. This is caused by mechanical vibration in the turntable.
SS – solid state – uses transistors rather than tubes
Toob - Tube
Wow and Flutter – If a phonograph record is not mounted true, this will result in change in speed along the groove, which will cause pitch to vary once per revolution, an effect called wow. Variations in speed at a greater speed than once per revolution are called flutter because of the effect they cause on the reproduction.

Speakers

Driver – the part of the speaker, usually consisting of a cone, a metal frame and a magnet that make the sound coming out of the speaker.
FR – Frequency response graph?
HF – high frequency
Imaging –a speaker's ability to place musicians and vocals accurately within a soundstage as represented by the musical images recorded on the media from which we play the music over a sound system. On accurate reproduction equipment and speakers, the imaging occurs when the music sounds like it is occurring within the listener's room - that the musicians or vocalists are present in the room, and are placed within the room where they would be placed within the recording venue where the music was performed. Because the music is presented throughout the listening room (and sometimes beyond the confines of the room) the speakers are said to have disappeared.
Kabuki - A derisive term for speakers built with multiple drivers, one of which is usually at least 12" to 15." Such speakers usually appear to have been built for the impressive appearance rather than impressive sound.
L-Pad - A knob on the back of a speaker usually used to control the tweeter or horn. It is actually a rheostat in the crossover circuit, and the L stand for Losser. Think of it as a volume control for your tweeters.
LF – low frequency
Q Unitless measure of the sharpness of a driver's resonance. Can be electrical resonance (Qes), mechanical resonance (Qms) or combined resonance (Qts).
Racooned Woogers - a reference to a hoplessly bad speller trying to describe woofers in which new cones had been installed. It is not a reference to the hopelessly bad tupist maintaininf this posr.
Refoam – the process of replacing the foam surrounds which are used on many drivers. When the surrounds have rotted, the speaker will not function properly. To the delight of many AKers, numerous consumers believe that drivers are useless once the surrounds are shot and dispose of them. The problem can be resolved with an inexpensive replacement foam surround, which is easy to install.
Soundstage – It is the representation, in audio, of the balance (front to back and bottom to top) and the panorama (left to right) intended by the engineer to represent a three dimensional playback environment (as in, where the band is intended to be for the particular song: a stage, a cave, a hallway, a large concert setting etc.) when monitored from the "sweet spot". How various reverb decay lengths, phase shifts as well as equalization characteristics are employed within the mix lend to the various "soundstage" or "imaging" cues that our brain computes as having that width, length and height
T/S - Thiele/small parameters. An ensemble of measurments that allow modeling and enclosure design for a dynamic driver. If supplied by the manufacturer of the driver, discard and measure yourself.
White Van – speakers with names deceptively similar to quality brands of speakers, generally sold out of a van by salesmen who provide a phony story and attempt to capitalize on the greed of customer/victims by offering to sell them for considerably less than their retail price (not their value but the inflated price placed on them by the backers of this scam)
Woofer – Usually the largest driver in the speaker, designed to reproduce the lowest frequencies.
Wooger – See woofer
XO – crossover, electronic components in speakers that filter the signal to send frequencies to those drivers designed to handle the particular frequencies.


Regards,

D-Ray
 
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Guilty here Im a newbie. I found this site while searching out a bryston amp initially. my name is Chris and Im an audio junkie :D
 
Phono preamp – please help with this one
Wow and Flutter – Help??

From Basic Audio - Norman H. Crowhurst, 1959 John F. Rider Publisher.

If a phonograph record is not mounted true, this will result in change in speed along the groove, which will cause pitch to vary once per revolution, an effect called wow.

Variations in speed at a greater speed than once per revolution are called flutter because of the effrect they produce on the reproduction.

Also: An effect most noticable on phonograph recording, but entirely exclusive to it is called rumble. This is caused by mechanical vibration in the turntable.

From Radiotron Designer's Handbook 4th Edition 1953 - F. Langford Smith, RCA Publisher.

A pre-amplifier is a voltage amplifier suitable for operation with a low level input and whose output is intended to be connected to another amplifier operating at a higher input level. Pre-amplifiers are commonly used with low-level microphones and phono pickups.
 
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Always wondered what "AFAIK - as far as I know" and "IIRC – if I recall correctly" meant.
 
Tuna - An informal term for "tuner".
"Intergrated" amp - for shame! It's "Integrated".
Raccooned woogers - Woofers that have been re-coned (had the paper cones replaced). I believe this originally came from eBay auction text written by a poor speller.
OTOH - On the other hand.
FWIW - For what it's worth.
POS - Piece of excrement; a turd.
PO - Previous owner.
NOS - New old stock. An item that has never been used, despite often being several years old and possibly unobtanium.
NIB or NIP - New in the box or new in the package; never opened.
HTH - Hope this helps!
 
Speakers:

Q: Unitless measure of the sharpness of a driver's resonance. Can be electrical resonance (Qes), mechanical resonance (Qms) or combined resonance (Qts).

Suggest to add:

T/S: Thiele/small parameters. An ensemble of measurments that allow modeling and enclosure design for a dynamic driver. If supplied by the manufacturer of the driver, discard and measure yourself. :D
 
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