attenuator - encyclopedia article about attenuator.

“Attenuator” redirects here. For other uses, see Attenuator (disambiguation).

An attenuator is an electronic device that reduces the amplitude or power of a signal without appreciably distorting its waveform. Attenuators are usually passive devices made from resistors. The degree of attenuation may be fixed, continuously adjustable, or incrementally adjustable.

Low level attenuators

An attenuator is effectively the opposite of an amplifier, though the two work by different methods. While an amplifier provides gain, an attenuator provides loss, or gain less than 1.

A fixed electrical attenuator is often called a pad, especially in telephony and audio engineering. The input and output impedances of an electrical attenuator are usually matched to the impedances of the signal source and load, respectively.

A line-level attenuator in the preamp or a power attenuator after the power amplifier uses electrical resistance to reduce the amplitude of the signal that reaches the speaker, reducing the volume of the output. A line-level attenuator has lower power handling, such as a 1/2-watt potentiometer. A power attenuator has higher power handling, such as 10 or 50 watts.

Power attenuators

In audio electronics, attenuators are used as a dummy load by sending all of the power to the resistor and none to the speaker, in order to silence or reduce the output volume of an audio amplifier (for example, a guitar amplifier). Silencing an amplifier is useful for biasing the positive and negative signal crossover, for running bench tests such as measuring the amplifier's maximum output wattage, and for adding line-level effects between a guitar amplifier and a guitar speaker.

External links

An attenuator has three distinct meanings:

attenuator (electronics) is an electronic device that reduces the amplitude of a signal
attenuator (genetics) refers to specific regulatory sequence transcribed into RNA

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Electronics is the study of the flow of charge through various materials and devices such as, semiconductors, resistors, inductors, capacitors, nano-structures, and vacuum tubes. All applications of electronics involve the transmission of power and possibly information.
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amplitude is a nonnegative scalar measure of a wave's magnitude of oscillation, that is, the magnitude of the maximum disturbance in the medium during one wave cycle.

Sometimes this distance is called the peak amplitude
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For delivered electrical power, see .

Electric power is defined as the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.

When electric current flows in a circuit with resistance, it does work.
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signal is any time-varying quantity. Signals are often scalar-valued functions of time (waveforms), but may be vector valued and may be functions of any other relevant independent variable.

The concept is broad, and hard to define precisely.
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A distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation. Distortion is usually unwanted.
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Waveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a solid, liquid or gaseous medium.

In many cases the medium in which the wave is being propagated does not permit a direct visual image of the form.
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resistor is a two-terminal electrical or electronic component that resists an electric current by producing a voltage drop between its terminals in accordance with Ohm's law: The electrical resistance
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Attenuation is the reduction in amplitude and intensity of a signal. Signals may be attenuated exponentially by transmission through a medium, in which case attenuation is usually reported in dB with respect to distance traveled through the medium.
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amplifier is any device that will use a small amount of energy and convert it to a larger amount of energy. In popular use, the term today usually refers to an electronic amplifier, often as in audio applications.
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In electronics, gain is a measure of the ability of a circuit to increase the power or amplitude of a signal. It is usually defined as the mean ratio of the signal output of a system to the signal input of the same system.
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Electricity (from New Latin ēlectricus, "amberlike") is a general term for a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. This includes many well-known physical phenomena such as lightning, electromagnetic fields and electric currents,
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In telecommunication, telephony (IPA pronunciation: [tə'lɛfəˌni]) encompasses the general use of equipment to provide voice communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other.
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Audio engineering is a part of audio science dealing with the recording and reproduction of sound through mechanical and electronic means. The field draws on many disciplines, including electrical engineering, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and music.
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Input is the term denoting either an entrance or changes which are inserted into a system and which activate/modify a process. It is an abstract concept, used in the modeling, system(s) design and system(s) exploitation. It is usually connected with other terms, e.g.
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For the British independent record label, see Output Recordings

Output is the term denoting either an exit or changes which exits a system and which activate/modify a process.
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Electrical impedance, or simply impedance, describes a measure of opposition to a sinusoidal alternating current (AC). Electrical impedance extends the concept of resistance to AC circuits, describing not only the relative magnitudes of the voltage and current, but also the
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Impedance matching is the practice of attempting to make the output impedance of a source equal to the input impedance of the load to which it is ultimately connected, usually in order to maximize the power transfer and minimize reflections from the load.
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Load may refer to:

Structural load, forces which are applied to a structure
Cargo, Freight, or Lading
The load of a mutual fund (see Mutual fund fees and expenses)
The genetic load of a population
The parasite load of an organism

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Electrical resistance is a measure of the degree to which an object opposes an electric current through it. The SI unit of electrical resistance is the ohm. Its reciprocal quantity is electrical conductance measured in siemens.
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A potentiometer is a variable resistor that can be used as a voltage divider.

Originally a potentiometer was an instrument to measure the potential (or voltage) in a circuit by tapping off a fraction of a known voltage from a resistive slide wire and comparing it with the
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A guitar amplifier is an electronic amplifier designed for use with an electric or electronic musical instrument, such as an electric guitar.

History

The first electronic instrument amplifiers were designed for use with electric guitars.
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