DBV Scale

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Another dB scale is the dBV scale which sets 0 dBV to 1 volt. Thus, a 100-volt signal is

$\displaystyle 20\log_{10}\left(\frac{100V}{1V}\right) =$ 40 dBV

and a 1000-volt signal is

$\displaystyle 20\log_{10}\left(\frac{1000V}{1V}\right) =$ 60 dBV

Note that the dBV scale is undefined for current or power, unless the voltage is assumed to be across a standard resistor value, such as 600 Ohms.

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written by Julius Orion Smith III
Julius Smith's background is in electrical engineering (BS Rice 1975, PhD Stanford 1983). He is presently Professor of Music and Associate Professor (by courtesy) of Electrical Engineering at Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), teaching courses and pursuing research related to signal processing applied to music and audio systems. See http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jos/ for details.

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