| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Cabin Gain | The low frequency boost normally obtained inside a vehicle interior when subs are properly mounted. |
| Capacitor | A device made up of two metallic plates separated by a dielectric (insulating material). Used to store electrical energy in the electrostatic field between the plates. It produces an impedance to an ac current. |
| Center Channel | In home theater, sound decoded from the stereo signal sent to a speaker mounted in front of the listener, specially designed to enhance voices and sound effects from a movie soundtrack. Used in car audio to help offset skewed stereo imaging due to seating positions in... Read More |
| Channel Balance | In a stereo system, the level balance between left and right channels. Properly balanced, the image should be centered between the left-right speakers. In a home-theater system, refers to achieving correct balance between all the channels of the system. |
| Circumaural | Circumaural headphons have foam or leather pads that go around the ears, and are large and quite comfortable. They are the most popular type of headphone used by professional engineers in recording studios and are very popular among audiophiles. The design, in some cases limits... Read More |
| Clipping | Refers to a type of distortion that occurs when an amplifier is driven into an overload condition. Usually the "clipped" waveform contains an excess of high-frequency energy. The sound becomes hard and edgy. Hard clipping is the most frequent cause of "burned out" tweeters... Read More |
| Closed | Closed headphones have a sealed backing, which attenuates soundwaves propagating in the direction away from the ear. As a result, listeners away from the headphones cannot hear the produced sound easily. In addition, sound from outside is attenuated by the sealed... Read More |
| CMS | Mechanical suspension compliance of a driver, consisting of the spider and surround. |
| Co-axial | A speaker type that utilizes a tweeter mounted at the center of a woofer cone. The idea being to have the sound source through the full frequency range become "coincident". |
| Coaxial Driver | A speaker composed of two individual voice coils and cones; used for reproduction of sounds in two segments of the sound spectrum. See also triaxial driver. |
| Coherence | Listening term. Refers to how well integrated the sound of the system is. |
| Coloration | Listening term. A visual analog. A "colored" sound characteristic adds something not in the original sound. The coloration may be euphonically pleasant, but it is not as accurate as the original signal. |
| Compliance | The relative stiffness of a speaker suspension, specified as Vas. |
| Compression | In audio, compression means to reduce the dynamic range of a signal. Compression may be intentional or one of the effects of a system that is driven to overload. |
| Cross-talk | Unwanted breakthrough of one channel into another. Also refers to the distortion that occurs when some signal from a music source that you are not listening to leaks into the circuit of the source that you are listening to. |
| Crossover | A frequency divider. Crossovers are used in speakers to route the various frequency ranges to the appropriate drivers. Additionally, many crossovers contain various filters to stabilize the impedance load of the speaker and or shape the frequency response. Some... Read More |
| Crossover Slope | High and low pass filters used for speakers do not cut-off frequencies like brick walls. The roll off occurs over a number of octaves. Common filter slopes for speakers are 1st through 4th order corresponding to 6db/oct to 24db/oct. For example, a 1st. order, 6db/oct high pass... Read More |
| Current (I) | The flow of electrical charge measured in amperes. |
