Looking at some of the technical specs of today's power amplifiers, one cannot help but be at a loss in trying to compare different models and terms, such as "t-amp", "THD" etc. I will give a short overview of the output power spec in order to help you better understand the meaning of this term and how they relate to the performance of an amplifier.
Amplifier specifications are sometimes hard to interpret since they are not fully standardized. As such it may be difficult to figure out the true performance of the amp simply by looking at the specs. One good method though is to do a listening test before purchasing your amp. During this test you ideally want to set up the amp in a similar environment as your application. Now I will give some details about "amplifier wattage". This spec is often misunderstood. It is important to look fairly closely at how the manufacturer shows this parameter.
"Wattage" shows how loud your amp can drive your speakers. Depending on your application, you can go with a small amp delivering only a few watts or a larger one delivering several hundred watts. Most home stereos only come with amplifiers that have a few watts power which usually is enough for a small room. If you plan to shake your walls then you obviously want to opt for an amp that has up to several hundred watts. Most amplifiers will have increasing audio distortion as output power increases. Therefore, you want to pick an amp that has higher output power than you will actually need. This will assure that you will never drive the amp into areas of high distortion.
Some specs will give the wattage in "Watts peak" while others will show "Watts rms". "Peak" means that the amplifier is able to deliver the wattage for a short period of time only while "Watts rms" means that the amplifier will continuously deliver that amount of power. The peak rating has been somewhat abused by vendors stating enormous peak audio power while their amps are in fact built with tiny power supplies unable to handle more than just a few watts rms power.
Music and voice is not constant in terms of loudness. As such the peak power rating is still important, although not as important as the rms power rating. Ideally the amp will show both the rms and peak power rating. Having a high peak power rating will ensure enough headroom for power peaks with are common in music signals. The main reason is that music signals will have short bursts of high power which the amplifier has to handle. Rms power is measured with a constant sine signal which hardly compares with a music signal in terms of the power envelope.
Usually the impedance of the speakers which you connect to the amp will determine how much power the amp can deliver. Speaker impedance is measured in Ohms. Typically speakers have an impedance between 4 and 8 Ohms. Amps have a limited output voltage swing due to the fixed internal supply voltage. As such the maximum output power will vary depending on the speaker impedance. The lower the speaker impedance the higher the maximum power the amp can deliver. If the maximum power is not referenced to a speaker impedance, you should contact the manufacturer. Usually a 4-Ohm speaker is used as a reference.
Amplifier specifications are sometimes hard to interpret since they are not fully standardized. As such it may be difficult to figure out the true performance of the amp simply by looking at the specs. One good method though is to do a listening test before purchasing your amp. During this test you ideally want to set up the amp in a similar environment as your application. Now I will give some details about "amplifier wattage". This spec is often misunderstood. It is important to look fairly closely at how the manufacturer shows this parameter.
"Wattage" shows how loud your amp can drive your speakers. Depending on your application, you can go with a small amp delivering only a few watts or a larger one delivering several hundred watts. Most home stereos only come with amplifiers that have a few watts power which usually is enough for a small room. If you plan to shake your walls then you obviously want to opt for an amp that has up to several hundred watts. Most amplifiers will have increasing audio distortion as output power increases. Therefore, you want to pick an amp that has higher output power than you will actually need. This will assure that you will never drive the amp into areas of high distortion.
Some specs will give the wattage in "Watts peak" while others will show "Watts rms". "Peak" means that the amplifier is able to deliver the wattage for a short period of time only while "Watts rms" means that the amplifier will continuously deliver that amount of power. The peak rating has been somewhat abused by vendors stating enormous peak audio power while their amps are in fact built with tiny power supplies unable to handle more than just a few watts rms power.
Music and voice is not constant in terms of loudness. As such the peak power rating is still important, although not as important as the rms power rating. Ideally the amp will show both the rms and peak power rating. Having a high peak power rating will ensure enough headroom for power peaks with are common in music signals. The main reason is that music signals will have short bursts of high power which the amplifier has to handle. Rms power is measured with a constant sine signal which hardly compares with a music signal in terms of the power envelope.
Usually the impedance of the speakers which you connect to the amp will determine how much power the amp can deliver. Speaker impedance is measured in Ohms. Typically speakers have an impedance between 4 and 8 Ohms. Amps have a limited output voltage swing due to the fixed internal supply voltage. As such the maximum output power will vary depending on the speaker impedance. The lower the speaker impedance the higher the maximum power the amp can deliver. If the maximum power is not referenced to a speaker impedance, you should contact the manufacturer. Usually a 4-Ohm speaker is used as a reference.
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