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How Much Power Can Stereo Power Amplifiers Deliver To Your Speakers?

The latest audio amplifiers appear in all shapes and sizes. Finding the ideal type for your application may often be tough. There is a flood of different names and technical jargon describing power amplifiers, just like "Class D" or "T-amp". In addition, each producer publishes a large number of specifications, such as "SNR", "dynamic distortion" et cetera. In this expose, I am going to have a glimpse at one of the most essential of these terms: "amplifier output power". This term is also known as "wattage".

Amp specs are from time to time tricky to understand as they are not completely standardized. Therefore it may be tricky to figure out the true performance of the amplifier only by looking at the specifications. One decent approach though is to do a listening test ahead of buying your amplifier. Through this trial you ideally want to set up the amp in a comparable setting as your use. Let me now go ahead and explain the power spec of stereo amplifiers.

"Wattage" is from time to time also called "Power" or "amplifier output power". To put it in a nutshell, "wattage" relates to how high the amplifier can drive your speakers. The higher this number the louder your loudspeakers. Based on your application, you may go with a small amplifier delivering merely a few watts or a larger one delivering several hundred watts. Many home radios only have amps which have a few watts output power which usually is sufficient for a small room. If you intend to shake your walls then you obviously want to opt for an amp that offers as much as several hundred watts. Please note that many amplifiers will begin clipping the audio as soon as the audio reaches higher wattage. If you want to enjoy low-distortion audio then you may want to go with an amp that will offer you more wattage than you will actually require.

A few specifications will give the wattage in "Watts peak" while some others are going to publish "Watts rms". "Peak" means that the amplifier is able to deliver the wattage for a brief amount of time only whilst "Watts rms" means that the audio amplifier will constantly provide that amount of power. The peak rating has been to some extent misused by manufacturers showing excessive peak audio power whilst their amplifiers are actually built with small power supplies unable to handle more than merely a few watts rms power. Nowadays most amplifiers are going to state rms power that provides a better indication of the amplifier's true performance. Though, please ensure that your amp offers adequate headroom to steer clear of clipping of the audio. Having adequate headroom is vital because music signals differ a great deal from sine wave signals which are used to determine rms power. Short peaks of large power are repeatedly found in music signals. These peaks will drive the amplifier into large distortion unless the peak power is large enough.

Please notice that frequently the peak power of the amp will depend upon the impedance of your speakers which is commonly between 4 and 8 Ohms. Due to the limited amplifier supply voltage, the largest output power is going to be half if you connect an 8-Ohm loudspeaker of the peak power that the amplifier is able to output to a 4-Ohm loudspeaker. Thus often maximum output power is given for a specific loudspeaker impedance.

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