If you have spent a good amount of money on a pair of good-quality speakers, you wish to be confident that you get an amplifier which will deliver brilliant sound quality while meeting your budget. I will offer several pointers regarding audio amp products to help you make the perfect purchasing decision.
Audio amps appear in all different shapes and sizes. They utilize different technologies and have countless technical specs. This makes it tricky to decide which model to choose. You don't have to be a specialist. Just follow some simple suggestions and you ought to be satisfied with your amplifier.
The vast majority of recent audio amps are solid state amplifiers as opposed to more conventional tube amps. Tube amps have been dominant a decade or so ago. Tube amplifiers, on the other hand, have a fairly high level of harmonic distortion. Harmonic distortion refers to how much the audio signal is degraded while being amplified. This expression is frequently used while evaluating the audio quality of amplifiers.
There are various core amplifier technologies available. One technology is labeled "solid-state". Solid-state amps now make up for the greater part of audio amplifiers. In the past, tube amps have been popular. Even today tube amplifiers are still available. Tube amplifiers, on the other hand, have a fairly high level of harmonic distortion. Harmonic distortion describes how much the audio signal is degraded while being amplified. This expression is often used while comparing the audio quality of amps.
In contrast, "Class-D" amps which are also called "digital amplifiers" offer a power efficiency of typically 80 to 90%. This enables the amplifier and power supply to be made a good deal smaller than analog amplifiers. The tradeoff is that digital amplifiers often have larger audio distortion than analog amps. This is mostly a consequence of the switching distortion of the output power stage. Newest digital audio amplifiers, though, utilize a feedback mechanism and can reduce the audio distortion to below 0.05%.
When selecting an amplifier, ensure that the output power is adequate to drive your loudspeakers. The needed power will be determined by how much power your loudspeakers can handle as well as the size of your space where you will be listening. Speaker power handling capability is given as peak power and average power. The peak power value refers to how much power the speaker can handle for a short period of time whereas the average power handling value describes how much power you can drive the loudspeaker at continuously without damage.
In a small listening setting, you may not need to drive your speakers to their rated value. 20 to 40 Watts of power will almost certainly be plenty. Loudspeakers though differ in their impedance and sensitivity. As a rule of thumb speakers with low impedance offer higher sensitivity. High-sensitivity speakers are less difficult to drive to high volume than low-sensitivity speakers. Check your amplifier manual to make certain that your amp can drive your loudspeaker impedance.
Two additional key parameters to look at when choosing an amplifier are signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response. Signal-to-noise ratio denotes how much noise the amp will generate and should be at least 100 dB for a high-quality amp. The frequency response indicates which audio frequency range the amp covers and should be at least 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
Audio amps appear in all different shapes and sizes. They utilize different technologies and have countless technical specs. This makes it tricky to decide which model to choose. You don't have to be a specialist. Just follow some simple suggestions and you ought to be satisfied with your amplifier.
The vast majority of recent audio amps are solid state amplifiers as opposed to more conventional tube amps. Tube amps have been dominant a decade or so ago. Tube amplifiers, on the other hand, have a fairly high level of harmonic distortion. Harmonic distortion refers to how much the audio signal is degraded while being amplified. This expression is frequently used while evaluating the audio quality of amplifiers.
There are various core amplifier technologies available. One technology is labeled "solid-state". Solid-state amps now make up for the greater part of audio amplifiers. In the past, tube amps have been popular. Even today tube amplifiers are still available. Tube amplifiers, on the other hand, have a fairly high level of harmonic distortion. Harmonic distortion describes how much the audio signal is degraded while being amplified. This expression is often used while comparing the audio quality of amps.
In contrast, "Class-D" amps which are also called "digital amplifiers" offer a power efficiency of typically 80 to 90%. This enables the amplifier and power supply to be made a good deal smaller than analog amplifiers. The tradeoff is that digital amplifiers often have larger audio distortion than analog amps. This is mostly a consequence of the switching distortion of the output power stage. Newest digital audio amplifiers, though, utilize a feedback mechanism and can reduce the audio distortion to below 0.05%.
When selecting an amplifier, ensure that the output power is adequate to drive your loudspeakers. The needed power will be determined by how much power your loudspeakers can handle as well as the size of your space where you will be listening. Speaker power handling capability is given as peak power and average power. The peak power value refers to how much power the speaker can handle for a short period of time whereas the average power handling value describes how much power you can drive the loudspeaker at continuously without damage.
In a small listening setting, you may not need to drive your speakers to their rated value. 20 to 40 Watts of power will almost certainly be plenty. Loudspeakers though differ in their impedance and sensitivity. As a rule of thumb speakers with low impedance offer higher sensitivity. High-sensitivity speakers are less difficult to drive to high volume than low-sensitivity speakers. Check your amplifier manual to make certain that your amp can drive your loudspeaker impedance.
Two additional key parameters to look at when choosing an amplifier are signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response. Signal-to-noise ratio denotes how much noise the amp will generate and should be at least 100 dB for a high-quality amp. 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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