hi,
i'm new to being interested in sound and im trying to learn what certain teminologies mean in relation to sound.
max input power
The rated maximum power (in watts) that can be handled safely. Usually stated for speakers but is often very conservative and the speaker can actually handle a bit more, at least for short periods of time. If you greatly exceed the max power it can blow components of the speaker but too little power can also be detrimental if the waveform is severly clipped because the amp is struggling to produce the required current to accurately reproduce the waveform.
voltages
Voltage is analogous to pressure in an electrical circuit. The significance of voltage depends on the context in which we are talking about. All amps/receivers have a set 'rail voltage' that they operate within.
amps
An amp takes an input signal and makes it bigger by increasing the voltage, thus increasing the volume. But actual volume levels depend on many other factors such as impedance of the speakers, sensitivity of the speakers, distance from the speakers, the room acoustics, etc.
sound frequency
Sound is essentially the sum of a potentially infinite number of sine waves. A sine wave oscillates around zero and the number of times it makes a complete round trip is one cycle. One cycle is defined as 1 Hertz (Hz).
The human ear can hear from 20 Hz (20 cycles per second) to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz) although as we age we naturally lose the ability to hear higher frequencies. Low numbers are 'bass' and high numbers are 'treble' but of course there are lots of shades in between and people attempt to name certain regions with more specific terms such as 'mid-bass', 'low treble', 'high treble'.
impedance (i know these are calculated in ohms)
It's basically a measure of how much resistance the speaker or other device puts up to the flow of current. Lower impedances mean less resistance but counter-intuitively means it is harder to drive (ie requires more current which requires more voltage).
Those are simple definitions to get you started. Feel free to ask more detailed questions if you have them. Many people will chime in on this type of question.
