Recommendations For Buying The Ideal Audio Amplifier

Choosing a good audio amp for your speakers is not a trivial chore. You want to guarantee that your amplifier matches your loudspeakers. I will describe some basic amplifier vocabulary and give some recommendations to assist you select the right amplifier.

There is a variety of different audio amplifiers available which all differ in their specifications, shape and size. By following some straightforward guidelines, you will be able to pick the model that best meets your application and budget.

The most obvious criterion is the size of the amplifier. There are types that are as large as half your living room whilst a number of of the latest mini amplifier types are as tiny as a bar of soap. A big number of amps are the size of a typical rack. This allows your amp to be stacked on top of your other audio devices.

Nearly all of today's audio amps are based on solid-state technology whilst a tiny portion is based on tube technology which has been popular over a decade ago. However, tube amps have relatively high audio distortion. Audio distortion refers to how much the audio signal is being degraded while passing through the amplifier and is given in percent. This value is frequently used when comparing the audio quality of amplifiers.

An audio distortion of up to 10% is characteristic for tube amplifiers whereas solid-state amps have lower audio distortion depending on the specific technology. In the past, for the most part "Class-A" and "Class-AB" amps were available which are also called "analog amplifiers". Audio amps which are based on these technologies usually have low harmonic distortion. Moreover, this technology is relatively economical. Though, the drawback is that the power efficiency is merely in the order of 20% to 30%. Power efficiency refers to how much of the electrical power is actually utilized to amplify the signal. The left over part is wasted as heat. An amplifier with low power efficiency will radiate most of its power as heat.

"Class-D" amplifiers, though, which are also named "digital amplifiers" have a power efficiency of no less than 80% and are smaller and have a smaller power supply than similar analog amplifiers. The disadvantage is that digital amps frequently 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, employ a feedback mechanism and can reduce the audio distortion to below 0.05%.

When picking an amplifier, ensure that the output power is sufficient to drive your speakers. The needed power will be determined by how much power your speakers can handle as well as the size of your space where you will be listening. Loudspeaker power handling is given as peak power which denotes the maximum amount of power during short bursts whereas average power refers to how much power the loudspeakers can tolerate constantly.

If your listening environment is fairly small then you may not need to drive your loudspeaker to its rated power handling value. You would most likely be ok getting an amp that can provide 20 to 50 Watts despite the fact that your loudspeakers might be capable to tolerate 100 Watts of power. Speakers on the other hand differ in their impedance and sensitivity. As a rule of thumb speakers with low impedance offer higher sensitivity. High-sensitivity speakers are simpler to drive to high volume than low-sensitivity loudspeakers. Be certain that your amp can drive your speaker impedance. You can without problems find the rated speaker impedance range in your amplifiers user manual.

Lastly, be certain that your amplifier introduces little noise and has a broad enough frequency response. High-quality amplifiers will have a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 100 dB and a frequency response of at least 20 Hz to 20 kHz.