|   A question about watts | 9ball
Aug 17, 2002 11:40 PM | | I've been told that the only thing that makes a difference in the sound quality of an amplifier is the amount of watts it produces, and that a watt from one manufacturer cannot be audibly distinguished from a watt from another manufacturer. How much truth is there to this? |
| re: A question about watts | Doug C
Aug 18, 2002 7:11 AM | | I have a 2 watt/channel tube amp connected to Klipsch RF-5 speakers. For critical music listening I prefer this system to my 300 watt/channel Home Theater system. So in my case anyway, less is more. Let your ears be the judge.
Doug C. |
| Watt?? | Lazarus Short
Aug 18, 2002 8:43 AM | | In my case, I tried a 50-watt solid state amp to replace my 40-watt tube amp. Well, it sounded OK, until I put the tube amp back in: glorious midrange!! If the watts-is-watts argument is true, we should all be using Bogen PA amps or the like, whatever we can pick up cheap. |
| re: A question about watts | RGA
Aug 18, 2002 1:28 PM | | Watts have nothing to do with sound quality. Generally I find more watts the amp has to sound WORSE.(Unless you spend mega money).
Watts don't even tend to do alot for volume in most systems. If you have speakers that handle 200Watts and you use a 100Watt amp...and then you "Upgrade" to a 200 Watt amp you will get a 3db increase in volume level(which is virtually inaudable). To get a doubling of the perceived volume leve you'd need to purchase a 1000 watt amp...but since you're speakers in this example can only handle 200 then an amp beyond that is wasted.
Distrotion is a big key of course as well...because more watts are useless if it distorts. A 40 Watt clean amplifier will be able to play louder cleare than the a muddy receiver rated at 130Watts.
Tube amps are tyoically said to equate to a solid state at roughly three times the amount. In other words a 30 Watt tube amp will seem to be the same as a solid state(A good solid state) amp at 90Watts. This article is interesting on tubes. http://www.stereophile.com/printarchives.cgi?357
Plus tube amps are very reasonable nowadays...starting as low as $198.00 for two Tube monoblock power amplifiers from Antique Sound Labs. Add $150.00 for a Bottlehead Foreplay and A good set up for less than $450.00. http://www.divertech.com/antiquesl.html#MONO At 10 Watts they can drive most speakers rated at 90db Sensitive or better with relative ease. |
| A different opinion. | A
Aug 19, 2002 10:11 AM | | A watt is a watt. However, if you are thinking about the specifications of an amplifier, you should keep in mind the fact that the output capabilities of an amplifier will vary according to the impedance of the load (speaker) that is put on it. So two amplifiers may have the same rating at a particular impedance, but be quite different from each other for different impedances. This can make a big difference if one has speakers with difficult impedances (generally speaking, this means with unusually low impedances).
Plus, the output capabilities also depend on the frequency; an amplifier that is rated as 100 watts per channel @ 8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz @ 0.01% THD is a better rating than 100 watts per channel @ 8 ohms, 1 kHz @ 0.01% THD. There is also the issue of distortion, so one amplifier could be rated as 100 watts per channel @ 8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz @ 0.01% THD, while another could be rated worse as 100 watts per channel @ 8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz @ 1% THD. And, the level and type of distortion encountered when attempting to exceed the amplifier's capabilities also varies considerably. Tube amplifiers typically do not sound as bad when driven to clipping as solid state amplifiers, though solid state amplifiers are typically much less expensive, so you can, with the same money, buy something that can put out more power to avoid clipping at all for the same volume.
Also, some manufacturers are more conservative in their ratings than others; one may rate something at 100 watts that another would call 120 watts (with the same other parameters). The actual output capabilities, in other words, are not identical to the specifications. If it is a good company, typically the actual output will be something more than the specifications indicate. With many (though by no means all) surround sound receivers, the specifications are misleading because the amplifier cannot output the rated amount when driving all channels simultaneously; they typically can only perform at the specified level with one or two channels driven.
Another thing to consider is the fact that not all amplifiers are as distortion free at normal volumes as they can be, and this may sound good to some people. I used to have a very old tube system that made everything sound 'smooth', so Jimi Hendrix sounded like Mozart (an exaggeration, but I hope you get the idea). This was probably due to diminished treble and added distortion, but I did not ever fully investigate what it was doing to the sound. In any case, it was not unpleasant sounding, but it definitely did not sound the same as the original source.
So, although a watt is a watt, you cannot simply buy the amplifier with the bigger advertised number and expect that it will necessarily be better. |
| |
