Equipment Types Please note that many pieces of equipment contain more than one of the components described below. For example, a stereo receiver is a tuner, pre-amplifier, and amplifier combined. A. Signal Generation. This category includes devices to generate signals, as well as devices which reproduce signals from some form of storage. Microphones make use of a transducer, which responds to air-pressure changes by creating an analog electrical signal.
Microphone signals are typically low-voltage, and often balanced.
This may be a stand-alone device, or is often part of a piece of equipment such as some tape decks, or, more commonly, a mixer. Microphones known as condenser microphones require a power source in order to operate. This is sometimes a battery, especially in inexpensive models. The mixing board or a dedicated phantom power supply are the source of this signal. Sound playback devices include turntables, CD players, radio tuners, and tape decks.