Why is professional-quality dynamic processing so essential?
Small- and medium-size systems, particularly car sound systems, are often limited by their amplifier and speaker power. There are several potential limiting factors: In car systems, the barrier is simply the 12-V supply, which limits the maximum output power to about 20 W rms into 4 ohms, or 40 W rms into 2 ohms. In mini-components there is a space constraint on transformer size, and there are thermal constraints. Another factor is speaker equalization: In small and medium systems, we typically see small cabinets containing small loudspeakers. A popular solution is to use relatively heavy equalization, particularly in the bass section (bass boost) calling for increased power at low frequencies, to compensate for this acoustically imperfect setup. Finally (driven by the younger generation), there is a common desireif not a demandthat these systems have a high maximum volume. This combination of limited amplifier power, heavy bass equalization, and significant total loudness of the syste
