If you have paid a good amount of cash on a pair of good-quality speakers, you want to be certain that you get an amplifier which will provide outstanding sound quality while meeting your budget. I will present a few tips about audio amplifier devices to assist you make the correct purchasing decision.
Audio amplifiers are available in all different shapes and sizes. They employ different technologies and have countless technical specs. Still, you don't have to be a guru to select the perfect model. By following some key rules you won't regret your buying decision.
The most obvious parameter is the size of the amp. There are types that are as big as half your living room while some of the newest mini amplifier types are as small as a bar of soap. Many models will be the size of a ordinary audio rack so that you can simply stack it on top of your audio equipment.
The majority of today's audio amplifiers are based on solid-state technology whilst a small part is based on tube technology which has been popular over a decade ago. However, tube amps have fairly high audio distortion. Audio distortion refers to how much the audio signal is being degraded whilst passing through the amp and is given in percent. This value is frequently used when comparing the audio quality of amplifiers.
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 utilized. Some of the most popular technologies in the past have been "Class-A" and "Class-AB" technologies. These technologies use different arrangements to amplify the sound. Amplifiers based on any of these technologies are also named "analog amplifiers". Audio amplifiers which are based on these technologies typically have low harmonic distortion. In addition, this technology is fairly economical. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that the power efficiency is merely in the order of 20% to 30%. Power efficiency describes how much of the electrical power is utilized to amplify the audio as opposed to being wasted as heat. Amps with low power efficiency will need quite large heat sinks since the majority of the power is radiated.
In contrast, "Class-D" amplifiers which are also referred to as "digital amplifiers" offer a power efficiency of normally 80 to 90%. This permits the amp and power supply to be made a great deal smaller than analog amplifiers. The disadvantage is that many digital amps have higher audio distortion than analog amplifiers though a number of of the most recent types utilize a feedback mechanism to minimize distortion to levels of 0.05% and lower.
When selecting an amp, make sure that the output power is adequate to drive your loudspeakers. The required power will be determined by how much power your loudspeakers can handle as well as the size of your room where you will be listening. There are two values for speaker power handling: peak and average power handling. The peak value shows how much power the loudspeaker can handle for small periods of time. The average value on the other hand denotes how much power the loudspeaker can tolerate continuously without harm.
If you have a rather small listening area then 20 to 50 Watts of power should be plenty while your speaker may be rated for 100 Watts or higher. Low-impedance loudspeakers typically offer high sensitivity and are easier to drive to high volume than high-impedance loudspeakers. Check your amplifier manual to ensure that your amplifier can drive your loudspeaker impedance.
Two other key parameters to look at when selecting an amplifier are signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response. Signal-to-noise ratio denotes how much noise the amplifier will introduce and should be at least 100 dB for a high-quality amp. The frequency response reveals which audio frequency range the amp covers and should be at least 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
Author Resource:
Gunter Fellbaum has been designing audio and electronic products for over a decade. You can find further information concerning t-amp models and stereo amplifiers from Amphony's website.
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