If you have spent a good amount of money on a pair of good-quality loudspeakers, you wish to be sure that you get an amplifier which will provide brilliant sound quality while meeting your budget. I will provide a number of tips about audio amp devices to assist you make the correct buying decision.
It is tricky to choose the perfect audio amp because of the large quantity of models. All of these types have different specs. They are built on different technologies and come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. By following some simple rules, you will be able to select the type that best fits your application and budget.
Amplifiers differ in their size and range from types that will take up a good portion of your living room whereas a few of the latest mini amplifier models are as tiny as a deck of cards. Numerous models will be the size of a ordinary audio rack so that you can simply stack it on top of your audio equipment.
An audio distortion of up to 10% is usual for tube amplifiers whereas solid-state amps have less audio distortion depending on the specific technology. A few of the most popular technologies in the past have been "Class-A" and "Class-AB" technologies. These technologies use different arrangements to amplify the audio. Amplifiers based on any of these technologies are also referred to as "analog amplifiers". This technology offers relatively small audio distortion. However, the power efficiency is only 10 to 30%. This means that most of the electrical power supplied to the amplifier is wasted as heat whereas a tiny fraction is utilized to amplify the audio signal.
In comparison, "Class-D" amplifiers which are also named "digital amplifiers" offer a power efficiency of typically 80 to 90%. This allows the amplifier and power supply to be made a great deal smaller than analog amplifiers. The tradeoff is that digital amps often have larger audio distortion than analog amplifiers. This is for the most part a consequence of the switching distortion of the output power stage. Newest digital audio amplifiers, however, utilize a feedback mechanism and can reduce the audio distortion to below 0.05%.
Your amp should deliver sufficient power to drive your speakers. The amount of power will depend on the power handling rating of your loudspeakers. An additional parameter is the size of your room. There are two values for speaker power handling: peak and average power handling. The peak value indicates how much power the loudspeaker can tolerate for small periods of time. The average value on the other hand describes how much power the loudspeaker can handle constantly without harm.
If your listening area is rather small then you may not require to drive your speaker to its rated power handling value. You would almost certainly be good getting an amp that can deliver 20 to 50 Watts although your loudspeakers may be capable to handle 100 Watts of power. Loudspeakers though differ in their impedance and sensitivity. As a rule of thumb speakers with low impedance offer higher sensitivity. High-sensitivity speakers are easier to drive to high volume than low-sensitivity speakers. Be sure that your amplifier can drive your speaker impedance. You can easily find the rated speaker impedance range in your amplifier's user manual.
Two other significant parameters to look at when selecting an amplifier are signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response. Signal-to-noise ratio describes how much noise the amplifier will introduce and should be at least 100 dB for a high-quality amplifier. The frequency response indicates which audio frequency range the amp covers and should be at least 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
It is tricky to choose the perfect audio amp because of the large quantity of models. All of these types have different specs. They are built on different technologies and come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. By following some simple rules, you will be able to select the type that best fits your application and budget.
Amplifiers differ in their size and range from types that will take up a good portion of your living room whereas a few of the latest mini amplifier models are as tiny as a deck of cards. Numerous models will be the size of a ordinary audio rack so that you can simply stack it on top of your audio equipment.
An audio distortion of up to 10% is usual for tube amplifiers whereas solid-state amps have less audio distortion depending on the specific technology. A few of the most popular technologies in the past have been "Class-A" and "Class-AB" technologies. These technologies use different arrangements to amplify the audio. Amplifiers based on any of these technologies are also referred to as "analog amplifiers". This technology offers relatively small audio distortion. However, the power efficiency is only 10 to 30%. This means that most of the electrical power supplied to the amplifier is wasted as heat whereas a tiny fraction is utilized to amplify the audio signal.
In comparison, "Class-D" amplifiers which are also named "digital amplifiers" offer a power efficiency of typically 80 to 90%. This allows the amplifier and power supply to be made a great deal smaller than analog amplifiers. The tradeoff is that digital amps often have larger audio distortion than analog amplifiers. This is for the most part a consequence of the switching distortion of the output power stage. Newest digital audio amplifiers, however, utilize a feedback mechanism and can reduce the audio distortion to below 0.05%.
Your amp should deliver sufficient power to drive your speakers. The amount of power will depend on the power handling rating of your loudspeakers. An additional parameter is the size of your room. There are two values for speaker power handling: peak and average power handling. The peak value indicates how much power the loudspeaker can tolerate for small periods of time. The average value on the other hand describes how much power the loudspeaker can handle constantly without harm.
If your listening area is rather small then you may not require to drive your speaker to its rated power handling value. You would almost certainly be good getting an amp that can deliver 20 to 50 Watts although your loudspeakers may be capable to handle 100 Watts of power. Loudspeakers though differ in their impedance and sensitivity. As a rule of thumb speakers with low impedance offer higher sensitivity. High-sensitivity speakers are easier to drive to high volume than low-sensitivity speakers. Be sure that your amplifier can drive your speaker impedance. You can easily find the rated speaker impedance range in your amplifier's user manual.
Two other significant parameters to look at when selecting an amplifier are signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response. Signal-to-noise ratio describes how much noise the amplifier will introduce and should be at least 100 dB for a high-quality amplifier. The frequency response indicates which audio frequency range the amp covers and should be at least 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
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