Wow, what a rabbit hole you guys took this poor guy. His question was a simple one, one I try to answer from time to time, but within a couple of responses you guys were into slew rate, and it went down from there, with different people flexing their knowledge muscles. And I know you were trying but like a lot of forum questions it takes very little to take your eye off the ball. I thank you, for you enhanced my general knowledge but I'm not sure anyone answered his question.
Amplifier current vrs watts; why is current more important?
Lately when talking to knowledgeable people in the audio industry I’ve been hearing how current delivery is more important than watts in determining weather an amplifier will drive a speaker.
So what exactly is current and how does it effect speaker performance? How can a amplifier rated at 150 watts into 8 ohms vs one rated at 400 watts into 8 ohms be a better match for a hard to drive speaker?
hiendmmoe
So what exactly is current and how does it effect speaker performance? How can a amplifier rated at 150 watts into 8 ohms vs one rated at 400 watts into 8 ohms be a better match for a hard to drive speaker?
hiendmmoe
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Yes, keep simple! those 1, 2, 15 W watt amps are useless. Get a good amp w minimum 250-300W at 8ohm. Don’t look back, all this nonsense of if 1 watt is great, why have more......?? Really? jackalope! Power works, these flea watt, moth,bunny, butterfly fart amps w 1, to 15 watts amps are a joke. done mess around. get a good amp, and don’t look back. silly stuff. 1 watt, HAHAHAHAH |
The sound level of reproduced music is proportional to the voltage. Hence, voltage is most important.; A sagging voltage would ruin the experience. How much current you need, depends on your speaker’s resistance to AC (a.k.a. impedance) in the audible range. Well-engineered cone loudspeakers like Tannoy, Lowther, Wilson, etc. have a high resistance to AC and require hardly any current to prevent the voltage from sagging. Electrostatic speakers, which have a low resistance to AC require a lot of current to prevent the voltage from sagging. |
those 1, 2, 15 W watt amps are useless.Really,... have a list to these 20w only into 80hm amps, and say that again. https://img.canuckaudiomart.com/uploads/large/2097160-65b80b07-mark-levinson-ml2-class-a-mono-block-... |
I'm currently planning an amplifier upgrade (current one is an Arcam PA240), and read through this thread with a lot of interest as my speakers (Focal Kanta 3) have some pretty large impedence dips in lower frequencies which has led me to look for an amp that has strong current capabilities. I'm far from an electrical expert but I'm starting to understand the above. So far the criteria I've gathered from research is to look for:
Is there anything I'm missing in terms of specs to look for that indicate good current output? Amp manufacturers don't make this easy as many list out spec sheets with varying degrees of information.
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- 67 posts total