T

T*: Proprietary multicoating process developed by Carl Zeiss and used exclusively on their best lenses. See Multicoating.

Tangentially Tracking Tonearm: A turntable tonearm that tracks the record horizontally, rather than radially. Tangentially-tracking tonearms are capable of more accurate sound reproduction as the stylus stays at the exact same angle all the way across the record, but tangental trackers are more complex and expensive to manufacture and implement.

Tape Loop: Tape loops are found on receivers or preamplifiers and allow a tape deck to be connected and used for recording. Typically the tape loop is comprised of a stereo pair of inputs and stereo pair of outputs. When the tape look is engaged the component sends out a signal to the tape deck, and the tape deck sends a signal back for playback. Equalizers can also be inserted into the tape loop. It is called a loop because the signal goes out and back in again, like a loop, vs. the one-way connections typically used.

Tape Monitor: Switch or button used to listen to the Tape Loop. See Tape Loop.

Telephoto: Camera or camcorder lens (or long end of a zoom) that magnifies the subject.

THD: Total Harmonic Distrortion. THD is a measurement of distortion in audio signals and THD level is often included in audio component specifications. Distortion below .1% is considered inaudible. Distortion over 1% is considered significant, which is why most magazines rate power at clipping at 1% distortion. See Power at Clipping.

THX: THX is a company that establishes quality assurance programs to guarantee high-quality image and sound reproduction for film, audio and video. To be THX certified, an audio or video component must pass tests that ensure its performance over a wide set of criteria. Components that do not have THX certification are not necessarily inferior to their THX-certified competitors… many components would easily meet THX standards, but the manufacturer opted to not submit the component for certification and pay the associated fees. THX was established by George Lucas and gets its name from his film THX 1138. The company is now a separate entity from Lucasfilm.

TIFF: Tagged Interlaced File Format. TIFF files are uncompressed digital image files that retain 100% of image quality when saved, unlike jpg images which lose quality due to compression. Because 100% of quality is retained, they are useful when working in software and when preserving image quality is a must. TIFF files are very large compared to jpg and other compressed file formats. See Lossy Compression.

Timbre: Timbre (tam-ber) is the tonal characteristic of sound, also described as tone color or tone quality.

TiVo: Digital video recorder subscription service. TiVo uses proprietary software to automatically find and record the user’s favorite actors, shows, and programming likely to be of interest to the user. It is widely considered to be a step above the “generic” digital video recorder services offered by cable and satellite companies. Comcast has begun to offer a version of TiVo to its subscribers. See DVR.

Tone Controls: Adjustments for bass and treble. Tone controls are volume adjustments that only effect certain frequencies, in this case low frequencies (bass) or high frequencies (treble) . Most audiophiles do not use them at all as they change the proportion of sound from what the artists and engineers inended. See Flat Tone Controls.

Tonearm: Moving arm mounted on a turntable that holds the phono cartridge as it tracks across a record. See Radial Tracking Tonearm, Tangentially Tracking Tonearm.

Toslink: See Optical Digital Audio

TotalHD: High definition videodisc patented by Warner Bros. as a possible solution to the Blu-ray Disc/HD DVD “format war.” TotalHD discs had an HD DVD side and a Blu-ray side so they would play in either a Blu-ray Player or HD DVD player. With no studios other than themselves releasing in both formats, Warner Bros. did not find any takers and abandoned the technology, never using it themselves or releasing it to market.

Tower Speaker: A floorstanding speaker. Even if it is short, most speakers that stand on their own without a stand or wall mounts are referred to as towers.

TFT: Thin Film Transistor, a variant of LCD display. Using TFT technology enhances image quality of LCD screens. See LCD.

Time Coherence: Term frequently used to descibe the ability of a loudspeaker to properly reproduce audio signals in the time domain. When two signals start at the same time but combine together later, you can compare the delay of the start of one signal to the start of the second signal. If there is no delay, they signals are time coherent.

Transducer: Transducers convert mechanical energy into electrical energy (like a phono cartridge) or electrical energy into mechanical energy (like a loudspeaker.) Converting between electrical and mechanical energy is much more difficult than creating or modifying digital or electrical signals, which is why phono cartridges and especially speakers can sound dramatically different from one another.

Trinitron: Sony brand name for its line of CRT tubes using a shadow mask held by thin vertical wires to hold the mask in place. Trinitron tubes are widely regarded as the finest available and are used in CRT televisions and computer monitors from other manufacturers such as Mitsubishi (Diamondtron) and Gateway Computer (Vivitron.)

Tuner: A component or device for receiving radio waves for AM, FM, satellite radio, television, etc. Most tuners allow you to tune variable frequencies, such as across the FM or UHF band.

Turntable: Strictly speaking, the turntable is a combination of the platter, bearing, drive mechanism and plinth, assembled together to turn a record. The term has come to represent any record-playing system, meaning the combination of a turntable, tonearm, and phono cartridge. See Phono Cartridge, Plinth, Platter, Tonearm.

True HD: Marketing term used to describe 1080p televisions. It has no actual meaning as it is a marketing term only, and 720p and 1080i are also high definition resolutions. (Taking this into account, saying only 1080p is “True HD” is FALSE!) Not to be confused with Dolby TrueHD, a surround sound format with lossless compression. See 1080p.

Tv (Exposure Mode): See Shutter Priority.

Tweeter: High-frequency driver of a loudspeaker. Name is derived from tweet, the high-pitched bird sound.