Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Simply How Much Wattage Can Stereo Power Amplifiers Deliver To The Speakers?

By Sherry Lambert


Picking the ideal type is easier said than done while confronted with a huge amount of different terms as well as specifications, including "T-amp", "channel separation", "efficiency" et cetera. You may not even fully know the most basic of these terms, including "amplifier power". I am going to describe the term "amplifier wattage" a bit more in this editorial. "Output power" is one of the most basic terms describing amplifier functioning. However, it is time and again misunderstood. A number of producers also in history have used this term in a confusing manner to hide the actual performance.

The output wattage of the amps is given as "wattage". This shows how loud your amplifier can drive your speakers. If you own a small room then you don't require much more than a few watts. If you want to install speakers in the open or in a live concert then you will require several hundred watts of power. Most amps will show increasing music distortion as output power increases. Therefore, you wish to pick an amp which has bigger output power than you will actually require. This is going to ensure that you will never drive the amplifier into regions of high distortion.

There are two widespread ways to show amplifier wattage. These are "peak power" and "rms power". "Peak power" shows how much wattage the amp can provide to your loudspeakers for a quick burst. Alternatively, "rms power" describes how much power the amplifier can deliver for a prolonged amount of time without being damaged. The peak wattage spec in the past often led to producers stating huge wattage ratings for tiny amps. On the other hand, in practice those amplifiers would not be able to maintain larger levels of output power for larger amounts of time.

There are 2 common ways to publish amplifier power. These are "peak power" and "rms power". "Peak power" shows how much wattage the amp can provide to your loudspeakers for a quick burst. Alternatively, "rms power" shows how much power the amp can deliver for a longer amount of time without being damaged. The peak power spec in the past often led to makers showing huge wattage specs for small amplifiers. On the other hand, in reality these amps would not be able to maintain larger amounts of output power for larger amounts of time. Still, even as the rms rating will tell you more about the amplifier's real performance, be certain though that the amp offers a peak power specification that is quite a bit bigger than the rms rating. This is because most likely you will be using the amplifier to amplify music or voice. Music and voice signals by nature always vary by way of their power, i.e. the power envelope of the audio is going to change over time. The main reason is that audio signals are going to have brief bursts of high power which the amplifier has to handle. Rms power is measured with a uniform sine wave which hardly compares with a music signal in terms of the power envelope.

Though, be conscious of the fact that the largest output power also is dependent upon which model of loudspeakers you are using, specifically the impedance of the speakers. Loudspeakers typically have impedances between 4 and 8 Ohms. An audio amplifier that has a fixed internal supply voltage will have a maximum output signal swing that is restricted by that supply voltage. If you are driving an 8-Ohm speaker then the amplifier must output two times the output voltage than when driving a 4-Ohm speaker to output the same amount of wattage. Accordingly often largest output power is given for a specific loudspeaker impedance.




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