What does Gain Mean on an Amp?

What does Gain Mean on an Amp?

What does gain mean on an amp?

Gain can mean different things in different contexts. The meaning of gain when talking about electronics is different from the meaning of gain when it is discussed as a verb or noun. The gain that we discuss here is in the context of electronics.

Gain is nothing but a measurement. Gain is the measure of a unit by which the ability of a two-port circuit is measured. An amplifier is a two-port circuit; hence, this is what gain means when speaking about an amplifier.

The work of a two-port circuit is mainly to increase the amplitude of the signals that go from the input to the output port. While increasing the power or amplitude of the signal, the port also adds energy to the signal. The gain is nothing but the mean ratio of the power or amplitude at the output port to the power or the amplitude of the input port.

Even in this connotation, the word gain has a very vague meaning to it. This is because there are two types of gain, and they are voltage gain and current gain or power gain.

The mean ratio of output to input that we discussed above is the voltage gain, while current gain means the frequency of current or electric power when it is used in the context of radiofrequency amplifiers.

A circuit that is active will have a gain that is more than one. This gain is nothing but amplification and the circuit is called an active component or active circuit. On the other hand, a dormant circuit will have a gain of less than one.

The dormant circuit is also known as a passive circuit. One of the most important aspects of the gain discussed here is that the gain of an electronic device is majorly dependent on the frequency of the signal applied.