EXPERIMENT NUMBER 10

Pre-emphasis and De-emphasis Networks

AIM: To design and set up an experiment to test pre-emphasis and de-emphasis circuit for 75s between
2.1KHz to 15KHz and plot the waveform accord ing to the recorded results.

EQUIPMENT REQUIR ED COMPONENTS REQUIRED

THEORY: In processing electronic audio signals, pre-emphasis refers to a system process designed to increase
(within a frequency band) the magnitude of some (usually higher) frequencies with respect to the magnitude of
other (usually lower) frequencies in order to imp rove the overall signal-to-noise ratio by min imizing the adverse
effects of such phenomena as attenuation distortion or saturation of recording media. The whole system is called
emphasis. The frequency curve is decided by special time constants. The cut-off frequency can be calculated
fro m that value. Pre-emphasis circu it is a h igh pass filter.
De-emphasis is the complement of pre-emphasis. De-emphasis is a system process designed to decrease (within
a band of frequencies) the magnitude of some (usually higher) frequencies with respect to the magnitude of
other (usually lo wer) frequencies. De-emphasis is done after the demodulation in the receiver systems to offset
the amplification. De-emphasis circu it is a low pass filter.
The fact that the carrier deviation in the presence of noise is given by:

implies that noise voltage density increases linearly with frequency. Since power increases as the square of
voltage, we obtain the following noise characteristics:

In order to keep a constant S/N ratio over the entire b roadcast band, it is necessary to pre -emphasize o r boost
high frequency signals. This naturally requires performing the opposite function at the receiver, otherwise the
signal would sound quite tinny.
In commercial FM broadcast, the pre-emphasis and de-emphasis circuits consist of a simple RC network. The
RC t ime constant is 75 Sec, and the corner frequency is 2125 Hz. The magnitude of the pre-emphasis response
is defined by
PROCEDURE

1. Connections are made as shown in the circuit d iagram.

2. Apply a sine wave of 10Vpp amplitude and vary the frequency in regular steps between 50Hz - 2MHz
or more and note down the corresponding output voltage.
3. Plot frequency response on semi-log graph paper for gain (in d B) vs frequency.
4. Mark cut-off frequency corresponding to 3-dB points.
5. Repeat the above steps for de-emphasis circuit .

Circuit Design:

The time constant RC of the c ircuits is 50s. Take C = 0.1f. Then R = 500. We can use 420.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Pre-emphasis De-emphasis

TABLE

f (Hz) Vo (volts) Log f 20 log (Vo /Vin) dB

WAVEFORM

The standard pre -emphasis and de-emphasis curves resemble: