Selecting The Perfect Audio Amplifier For Your House
Audio amplifiers are available in a flood of diverse technologies and types. Selecting the perfect model for a specific application seems to be a overwhelming task. Regardless of your application, I will explain some essential amplifiers vocabulary which will be helpful when selecting the right type.
Audio amplifiers are the crucial link between your source such as a DVD or Blu-Ray player and your loudspeakers. An amplifier will convert the fairly weak source audio into a signal strong adequate to drive your loudspeakers.
Even though some audio sources have already a built-in amplifier, a separate amplifier gives you more flexibility for picking the model that best complements your speakers. Some of today’s miniature amplifier types can be hidden virtually anywhere due to their small size.
Output wattage is one of the factors that many people will consider first when selecting an amplifier since driving low-sensitivity speakers or driving speakers in large rooms or outdoors calls for relatively high wattage. Don’t overdrive your speakers though since this may irreparably damage your speakers.
However, amplifier wattage is not everything. Good sound quality is most likely more important than rare power. A 20 to 50 Watt amp should be sufficient for most real-world applications.
Amplifier output power is given in Watts rms (continuous) and Watts peak. The rms or continuous value tells you how much power the amplifier can provide constantly while the peak power figure tells the highest wattage that the amplifier can deliver for short intervals of time. You ought to select an amplifier that has sufficient rms power, although 10 to 30 Watts ought to be sufficient for most uses but has an adequate amount of headroom for peaks that happen in music signals.
Audio quality is just as significant as having enough audio power and thus you ought to also look at figures such as total harmonic distortion or THD. No amplifier is perfect. There will be some level of signal distortion which is brought on by the amplifier. The amount of distortion is expressed in percent or dB. The level of distortion varies between amplifier types. A smaller distortion means higher audio quality. Audiophile-grade amps will have distortion figures of at most 0.05% whereas consumer-grade amps have distortion of up to 10%.
Signal-to-noise ratio is another amplifier characteristic. This number describes the level of noise which the amplified will add to the audio. The figure is expressed in dB. Audiophile-grade amps will have an SNR of 100 dB or higher. Consumer-grade amps will have at least 80 dB signal-to-noise ratio.
The majority of today’s amplifiers are based on a technology known as Class-D which offers higher power efficiency than amplifiers based an Class-A or Class-AB technologies. High efficiency means that little power is wasted as heat which can make the amplifier rather small. Some of today’s mini amplifiers are no bigger than a deck of cards. On the other hand, when choosing a Class-D (digital) amplifier, be certain that the amplifier has low distortion and a high signal-to-noise ratio.