If you have paid a good amount of cash on a pair of good-quality loudspeakers, you wish to be confident that you get an amplifier which will deliver outstanding sound quality while meeting your budget. I will provide a number of tips about audio amp products to assist you make the perfect buying decision.
Audio amplifiers come in all different shapes and sizes. They employ different technologies and have a lot of technical specs. On the other hand, you don't have to be a specialist to select the right type. By following some fundamental rules you won't regret your buying decision.
One vital criterion is the size of the amp. You can purchase models that can fill half a room. In contrast, a few of the latest miniature amplifier types are no larger than a deck of cards. A large number of amps are the size of a regular rack. This enables your amplifier to be stacked on top of your other audio devices.
Tube amps will have audio distortion of up to 10%. Solid state amps will have lower audio distortion depending on the amplifier technology that is used. The most conventional amps use a "Class-A" and "Class-AB" technology. These amps are also known as "analog amplifiers". This technology offers fairly small audio distortion. Though, the power efficiency is only 10 to 30%. Power efficiency refers to how much of the electrical power is actually utilized to amplify the signal. The remaining portion is wasted as heat. An amp with low power efficiency will radiate most of its power as heat.
Another technology is referred to as "Class-D". This technology offers far greater power efficiency than analog amplifiers, typically around 80 to 90%. "Class-D" amplifiers are also called "digital amplifiers". The disadvantage is that digital amps frequently have higher audio distortion than analog amplifiers. This is mostly a result of the switching distortion of the output power stage. Newest digital audio amplifiers, on the other hand, employ a feedback mechanism and can minimize 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 speakers. Another parameter is the size of your room. There are two values for speaker power handling: peak and average power handling. The peak value shows how much power the loudspeaker can tolerate for small periods of time. The average value on the other hand denotes how much power the loudspeaker can handle constantly without harm.
If you have a fairly small listening environment then 20 to 50 Watts of power should be enough although your speaker might be rated for 100 Watts or higher. Low-impedance speakers normally offer high sensitivity and are simpler to drive to high volume than high-impedance speakers. Not all amps can drive any speaker impedance. Find out the impedance of your speaker which is given in Ohms. Then take a look at your amplifier manual to make sure that your amplifier can drive this impedance.
Other vital parameters are the signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response which should be in the order of no less than 100 dB signal-to-noise ratio and 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response for high-quality amplifiers.
Audio amplifiers come in all different shapes and sizes. They employ different technologies and have a lot of technical specs. On the other hand, you don't have to be a specialist to select the right type. By following some fundamental rules you won't regret your buying decision.
One vital criterion is the size of the amp. You can purchase models that can fill half a room. In contrast, a few of the latest miniature amplifier types are no larger than a deck of cards. A large number of amps are the size of a regular rack. This enables your amplifier to be stacked on top of your other audio devices.
Tube amps will have audio distortion of up to 10%. Solid state amps will have lower audio distortion depending on the amplifier technology that is used. The most conventional amps use a "Class-A" and "Class-AB" technology. These amps are also known as "analog amplifiers". This technology offers fairly small audio distortion. Though, the power efficiency is only 10 to 30%. Power efficiency refers to how much of the electrical power is actually utilized to amplify the signal. The remaining portion is wasted as heat. An amp with low power efficiency will radiate most of its power as heat.
Another technology is referred to as "Class-D". This technology offers far greater power efficiency than analog amplifiers, typically around 80 to 90%. "Class-D" amplifiers are also called "digital amplifiers". The disadvantage is that digital amps frequently have higher audio distortion than analog amplifiers. This is mostly a result of the switching distortion of the output power stage. Newest digital audio amplifiers, on the other hand, employ a feedback mechanism and can minimize 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 speakers. Another parameter is the size of your room. There are two values for speaker power handling: peak and average power handling. The peak value shows how much power the loudspeaker can tolerate for small periods of time. The average value on the other hand denotes how much power the loudspeaker can handle constantly without harm.
If you have a fairly small listening environment then 20 to 50 Watts of power should be enough although your speaker might be rated for 100 Watts or higher. Low-impedance speakers normally offer high sensitivity and are simpler to drive to high volume than high-impedance speakers. Not all amps can drive any speaker impedance. Find out the impedance of your speaker which is given in Ohms. Then take a look at your amplifier manual to make sure that your amplifier can drive this impedance.
Other vital parameters are the signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response which should be in the order of no less than 100 dB signal-to-noise ratio and 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response for high-quality amplifiers.
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