How much amplifier power do you actually need? Is it tens of Watts or hundred of Watts. This goes through the factors that determine how much power you need as well as a couple of practical examples.
I've just watched this for the third time and this time I took notes! I have just retired and now have time to learn more about Hi Fi and this video was extremely helpful. Nice balance between being technical yet understandable for someone who is not a tech whiz. Add to this is Tarun's typically professional and pleasant presentation.
Wow, you really know your stuff. I'm usually the one teaching others about audio but you explaining how impedance/sensitivity works helped me to better understand it
A very good and informative video. One thing not mentioned though, is that a speaker's sensitivity rating is for ONE speaker, not a pair of them in a room. For two speakers playing in the same room, the output will be 3 dB higher. Another thing not mentioned is how live or dead the room is. Highly absorptive rooms will require significantly more power to achieve the same SPL at the listening position as rooms that are highly reflective, such as the one you were sitting in when recording the video.
I agree with the others, you explained in a way that we can easily understand not only the concepts, but also their interactions in a very practical way. The other thing I see is that this kind of videos are educational, they help us to be more thoughtful when the inner Max wants to change the amplifier or the speakers without the need to do so. Implicitly we find financial education (... make informed and effective decisions with our financial resources). Thanks for what you do. Keep up the good work.
Thank you centinel6505. I do try to get the balance right between informing and entertaining. I am hoping to get the information across without shoving it down people’s throats . I appreciate you watching and sharing generous support 😊👍
As always, so informative and great presentation. It's really refreshing to hear someone talking about the hobby and not about the next shiny new thing. Also, the gear at hand does show that u can produce great sound without jeopardizing your marriage or mental health. Big thumbs up
Very informative and well presented. Sometimes the way something is said is as important as what is being said. You have a gift that many clever people on youtube lack that makes them difficult to learn from.
Paul McGowan (PS Audio) did an excellent explanation of the relationship between decibels/power/watts a while back...... but I think this explanation is actually better. Many thanks
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I don't mean to tackle Paul's professional knowledge - it is exceptional. But he is definitely one mean dude, unlike you - I think I have an "academical crush" on your content! 😂 Cheers.
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Hi there Tarun, could you explain about power specs in class a? How does it compare to a/b? I find class a amplifiers with 20watts trying to compete with 150watts in classe a/b.. Could you explain a bit more? Best regards!
Great learning for me! Used my money on a nice streamer instead of the poweramp. My area is only 30m2. ( 250W Icepower 250ASX2 before). After a lot of testing in my flat and using LED to show 1W and 2W levels I realiuzed I very, very seldom passed 2W per speaker output. Typical flats in Sweden are usually 40-100m2 and smaller amps work fine. The frequencies below 100Hz goes thru KEF KC62 and I can use smaller speakers above 100Hz. Again many thanks for this great and very pedagogical and clear presentation of facts!
Great video Tarun. I often demo in the lab how load 1 watt can be. There are of course other important factors, damping factors being one and of course bandwidth is measured at the 1/ power point, going above 1/2 power will compress the frequency range. Active crossovers add another advantage of reducing inter modulation in the power amp. Love the fact the those original Naim Naits go for silly money, giant killers to this day.
Great video as always Tarun. I recently started working at richer sounds and was feeling a bit overwhelmed but thanks to discovering your videos, I am beginning to become less and less nervous about going to work lol
Hi Jay, Richer Sounds has a great reputation for looking after it’s employees as well as its customers. I think you should be in good hands. Thank you for watching my videos. I am glad you found some value in them. Good luck in the new job 😉👍
Very warm and authoritative explanations, very pleased to have had RU-vid recommend this channel. He's definitely the sort of guy I would happily buy a second hand car from!
Your success is well earned, Tarun. You consistently find the sweet spot between the quantitative reviewers who make our eyes glaze over with graphs, and the qualitative reviewers who do little more than report how a piece of equipment made them feel when they listened to a favorite song. You might want to tweak the reflective surfaces in front of your microphone, though - you've got a bit of an echo chamber going on. Other than that, all aces - as usual.
Bravo! Your video has been the best I have ever seen on this subject. I learned that 3 decibels increase in sound equated into twice the power from an amplifier maybe 20 years ago. When I learned this a lot of other light bulbs went on. I won't go into details but I am running my speakers at around 2 ohms and I have plenty of power to spare. Nelson pass had it right when he said it's the first watt that matters. By the way, I have just subscribed to your Channel based on this video alone. Just thought you'd like to know.
I almost never log in to leave a comment, but this is one of those cases. I really love the way you explained this here - this topic has never before made as much sense to me as it does now. Best wishes, Lucas
I absolutely love your videos. You're one of my favorites. Being pedantic, I have to point out that the Klipsch Heresy has a sensitivity of 99 dB. Regardless, keep up the brilliant work!
For me it has always been 200WPC as a sweet spot and when I listen to them, they are barely hitting 20WPC but when dynamics and crescendo happens, its heavenly sweet.
Well, I’ve 50 years of experience since my first ‘hifi’, though I’ve never been able to afford the top notch stuff, and I’ve learnt loads from the Internet including from your videos. I particularly appreciate your more technical approach ( I’m an engineer myself, though not your sort ). I just love music and the better detailed and more lifelike, the better. But if there’s one single thing I’ve learnt is that you never stop learning! Please keep up your excellent videos. Have you done interconnects?
Thank you Andrew. I appreciate you kind words of support. I did a video on cables which included interconnects 😊👍 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Nx4CAwSLXkY.html
Well presented. I cannot imagine listening at 70, my wife gets all over me at 54, 48 being the happy place. And it is plenty for my space and neighbor considerations. Thank you for a concise explanation that let me know that my gear is room/level appropriate.
This is a such rare case, where the explanation makes sense. Listening to a lot of demanding classical music (large orchestras and operas) in very modern recordings with a lot of dynamic range, statements that 40 Watts would be enough never matched my experience. Maybe if you are listening to a jazz trio, although would have to be at moderate levels for low sensitivity speakers. When auditioning gear, my experience has been that when I needed the "horses" lots of candidates for amplification (and speakers) did not perform as great as what small ensembles hearing would suggest. Excellent!
6:10 When I worked as EMC test engineer, we had an anechoic chamber for emission testing. While it was an anechoic chamber made for EM waves instead of air pressure waves, it also did its job for audio. So one time, we had permission to use it for personal experiments on a Saturday afternoon (business was normally closed on Saturdays). Everyone of my test department brought some audio equipment from home to test in the chamber by performing some basic measurements. We already expected that It would sound a bit weird; it's noticeable while talking inside the chamber, but with music it's 10x worse, so it sounds very nasty. It's like there's a black hole in the corner of the room where all sound is drawn in to; it really kills everything about music. Nevertheless, it was a fun and interesting Saturday afternoon.
I know that this comment is, in the hi-fi world, about the same as postulating the earth is flat in other fields of science, but please hear me out. :-) Maybe is room acoustic or at least the way we do it now, a bad thing! Why do I say that?! Imagine any cafe, bar, gym hall or any place where music gets played inside. It do sound live and is what we do all try to copy at home, but no one have treated the bar to acoustic perfection, placed the speakers correct to the walls or covered the floor with a acoustic dampening carpet. In fact may the bar / cafe be the worst sounding room in the century and still do the live sound, fare exceed what can be done at home in the scientific perfectly corrected room.
Qorax I understand and appreciate this comment. Anechoic chamber tests make little sense. Some people like to refer to them as a means of eliminating the room. However the real world is a reverberant space.
@@navinadv Ah yes, taking measurements is just a means to check one very specific part of the audio reproduction. All other aspects need to be ruled out from the measurement, that's why the anechoic chamber is used. You can compare it with a painting: it's like looking up close to a painting, where you can only see 1 swipe of paint that looks like a stain, it looks ugly. By measuring this swipe of paint you check that it's the exact way as it should be. But only by stepping back from the painting, the swipe of paint becomes an integral part of the full picture and you discover it's part of something like a tree or house. The same goes for listening to the full sound image vs. just measuring one specific property of the sound.
Hey Tarun seems your videos are like addictive soap operas I have seen this video so many times and every time learning new things ... similar to your other videos they are addictive as we are gaining knowledge from your experience. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge about High-end audio .. 🙏
Good video. Tarun, I've been around HiFi since the early seventies so I very familiar with all the technical aspects you discussed. My take on amplifiers is that when putting together a system 1.) Find speakers that you like the sound of. And 2.) Find an amplifier that will properly drive those speakers. 3.) Choose which playback format you are going to use most often and get the best possible piece of equipment that you can afford. 4.) Then spend weeks, months even find the best sounding placement of those speakers in your listening room. Since 1984 I've been using systems with a vacuum tube preamp and a very good solid state power amp. I've been using a Forte 4a (50 wpc pure class A) power amp since the mid nineties. Fortunately, all the speakers that I own are easy to drive. That said, I would rather have a great sounding 50 WPC amp than an average sounding 200 WPC amp. Back in '96 I brought my Forte amp to a friend's house to compare it to a Parasound HCA 2200 II and the Forte blew it away (it sounded more "musical", the high frequencies were much more defined and smoother, had better pace, and actually sounded more dynamic).
Great advice miles. Thank you for sharing. This video was really trying to deal with the obsession that many people have about judging an amplifier on how many watts it produces. I wanted to give the actual amount of watts that people use some kind of context. Thank you for watching 😉👍
To summarize: Get speakers that you like, an amp that will work with them, a playback device , then put the speakers in the best sounding place. You talk WAY too much. Lonely? No friends? Living in a basement apartment with a cat and one house plant? I thought so.
@@randypecker6995 You didn't personally find this video informative so you go to the comments section to belittle the creator... Keep up the great work Tarun!
Thank you 🙏 spot on watts doesn't mean how loud you're speakers are it's all about the sounds with wattage equal dB and Ohms if you say you got 8ohms and you're speakers is only 100 watts and yes you're got watts you haven't got power! Compared 6ohms 100 watts speakers! Then you're got power ! Is very much depends on your equipment because it's all about driving those speakers and what type your amp your got. And the room is a big player in this games.
I have seen a couple of videos on this topic as of late, and I feel that your video gives the most accurate and useful information of the videos. The only thing that you could have provided to bring things home would have been to measure the voltage at your speaker terminals to verify what you are explaining. I listen to music at a similar volume as you, but my speakers are more efficient than yours, about 90db sensitivity. When I checked the voltage on my speakers, I seldom exceed.5 volts. A large peek of.75 volts was rare. And if I turned it up louder than I like normally, I would hit 1 volt. That is still not 1/2 watt of power. So my average power output is between 1/4 and 1/2 watts. And with your speakers in your room you would likely have a higher demand on your amplifier, but I would bet that you would be in the 1/2 to 1 watt range. In one of the videos they used a scenario similar to your setup, and he calculated that you would need north of 250 watts to listen to dynamic audio programming, at an 85 db average volume. Just ridiculous. I have a 100 watt solid state amplifier that I use, but I also have a 4 watt single end triode amplifier that I use. And I have no problem reaching suitable listening levels with that 4 watts. And I used the same kind of amp to power a pair of ProAc studio 1’s. They were a little bit more efficient than yours, but not much. I think they were maybe 87db sensitive. Keep up the good work.
In my experience over the years of playing with all sorts of power amplifiers, I prefer high current amplifiers. Also a higher wattage amplifier of like 300w per channel with high current capability is all you will ever need. Even though you may not use all those watts the music just sounds more effortless and you for the most part cover all your speaker types without going into extremes. I would just say the sound is not strained because you have so much power on tap and the amp is up to any task. Just make sure its a well designed amp, since there are many powerful amplifiers out there that are just dj amps and do not sound good with a few exceptions, which I actually use in my set ups. They are called sleeper amps and are somewhat of hidden secrets. Some class D amps are not to bad, but in my opinion a well designed classic AB amp is hard to beat unless you pay K's of dollars and you can definately avoid that.
At last an explanation that gives me an understanding of why I find my Sugden A21a and ProAc floor mounted speakers perfectly loud enough at low volume control settings! Is it the whole story of what power you need? Probably not, but given I knew nothing before I watched this, I think the amount of detail and maths was pitched perfectly (sorry about the pun).
Hi Paul, thank you for watching and sharing your experiences. This video was aimed at debunking the myth about how much power most people actually need. There is an obsession with Watts when evaluating amplifiers. As you say, is this the whole story? Far from it.
Funny today i was listening to combo of Sudgen a21se with proac d20 floorstanding and I found them absolutely amazing combination. Stunning sound , stage and detail..
Very Informative. It is very kind of you to take the trouble to explain these technical terms which now finally make sense. I will watch this again sometime.
Hi Tarun, thank you for explaining some of the myths and misconception. But I am still a bit confused. In your excellent review of the H95 (60W) you compared it to your H160 (150W) and mentioned (at around 11:05) the extra current capabilities of the H160 comes into play and that the effortless dynamics and wider and deeper soundstage were expected. Is this a matter of power only? In other words, if you had two completely identical amps but one with 50W and the other with 100W, would the bigger amp produce a more enjoyable experience (presentation, dynamics, soundstage) at the same reasonable listening level? Regards from Canada.
Hi my friend, in this video I was trying to get across that most people don’t use anywhere near the power they envisage. It was a rather simplistic explanation. I didn’t want accuracy to get in the way of clarity. The reality is that nothing in this hobby is that straightforward. In most cases, what is more important is the ability for an amp to deal with the changes in power requirements as the load changes. Probably a bit too much to get into here but an amplifier that has a true rating of 50W into 8 ohms and doubles to 100W into 4 ohms is like to have more dynamic power capability than an amplifier that produces 80W into 8 ohms and 100W into 4 ohms. The slew rate of an amplifier, its peak current capacity as well as other factors all play their part. The quality of components, the robustness of the power supply, the amount of power supply capacitance, the amount of output device, impedance characteristics are all important considerations when examining a design from a technical stand point. I mentioned “true rating” as power specs can easily be manipulated. Are we describing the power as RMS, dynamic power, peak to peak power, driving how many channels, into what load, across what frequency range and to what level of distortion? Hopefully, you can see how it is so easy to manipulate specs. This is why manufacturers power specs should only be used as a guide. All things being equally (which is rarely the case but was the case when comparing the power amp of the H190 with the H95) the larger power amplifier will deal with dynamic swings more effortlessly. I hope my explanation helps to clear up the some of the confusion. Unfortunately, the more deeply you get into it the more complex it gets 😊👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314Thank you Tarun for taking the time to write back to me with a detailed explanation. It all makes more sense to me now… and I also just watched your video “Hifi Tips - How to choose an amplifier” which explains it very well (I should have watched it before asking my question). I will keep an eye on those ratings as I shop for a new amp to replace an old Yamaha that doesn't have the oomph I'm looking for. I really enjoyed your Audiolab review. It will be on my short list. Again, thank you for explaining these concepts to mere mortals. Have a nice day.
i think this listening room is crying out for a carpet. since the dawn of the 80s these modern floorings have been an absolute godsend for hifi dealers.
Phil Allison my comment re hifi dealers and modern floorings being a godsend for them , is meant to hi-light the fact that whilst many dealers mat have carpeted listening rooms their customers do not, enabling the dealer to sell them more hi end gear and keep them on the 'upgrade path' . ie ' modern floorings are good for business...
Tarun has a nice big thick throw rug and if you watch some of his other vids you will see it. Tarun has a vid coming on room treatments so you're all in big big trouble.
I did not really learn anything new here, but i think you explain something important for audiophiles in a pretty practical way. It is important to think about (esp. speaker sensitivity) your equipment requirements before desciding on the final product for your room and listening preference! thanks for putting numbers intoo practicality, this was good. And i hope more people understands their needs after watching this video! :)
i just want too enjoy the music. doing a bit research before the purchase eg go listen to a few diffrent combos. hi fi shows. helps u thru the maze. .great presentation thank u
@ gerard....most hi do shows are notoriously poor places to demo gear. Great to see what's going on in the audio world, but not to hear gear sound good (unfortunately).
only poorly designed speakers need a sub they cant produced real bass that's why there are different size speakers for different size rooms no subs needed when you have a good designed speaker .
@@justinparkman3585 thats 100% bullshit. Subwoofer will always up your game in the low end freq, no matter what kind of bookshelf speakers you got. Don't spread misinformation
@@justinparkman3585 it depends if you have a speaker capable of hitting down to the low frequencys. For the majority of music a speaker 40hz - 20khz will be fine. But certain genre's some classical, organ, drum & bass songs etc get down to 20hz or slightly lower. A speaker with 20hz - 20khz specs is very very expensive, cheaper to just buy good speakers and a good subwoofer. My bookshelf speakers get down to 30hz low frequency bass. I actually prefer listening to music without my subwoofer on. Sound's more natural to me plus I don't listen to organ, drum & bass music. And my speakers are capable of good natural low end bass for the genres that I do listen to.
Neither statement that a lot of subs are shit nor saying most people cant set them up properly is a valid argument, so I'm just gonna ignore these. Actually everything you said is to be ignored, sorry xD Good sub added to good set of bookshelf speakers will always improve the overall listening expierience, period. Why am i even arguing about this with you? It's so basic knowledge yet you claim your 40 years in the industry say otherwise.
Is a subwoofer absolutely necessary? No. As long as you have a good pair of bookshelves that sound great from 100Hz all the way up to 20kHz, you're probably not going to lose too much sleep over the rolled-off frequencies below 100Hz. And in a small room, a sub is probably going to do more harm than good.
Thanks, Tarun, that's the first explanation I've heard that lets me run the numbers for my own gear. It also explains why Americans generally demand more powerful amplifiers than Europeans; they have bigger living spaces to fill.
This is how an Audiophile channel should be ran and done!!! Your channel should be called Max Headroom, I know, I know its a headphone channel, but you are expanding peoples minds here. You take Audiophilia and explain it in a way that is better than most that have been doing this longer than you. Where should you take the channel, you might ask? Into full scale reviews with manufacturers sending you products and you appearing at Audio shows and events. You have talent and a flare for making complexity, simplicity. With someone doing video work for you, if you decide to take it to that level, you could give John Darko a run for his money. Keep up the great work and take a bow, you are on your way my friend!!!
Hi sid, I actually remember Max Headroon from the 80s - “I can’t get no sleep.” That is killer tune that I still think defines the era! Thank you for expressing your support for what I am doing. The reality is when you start doing something like this, you don’t know if you have anything to offer or how your message will be received. You hope that you can add some value and that people will connect with what you are trying to say - but don’t know for sure. I am still very much at the sharp end of the learning curve and hearing supportive messages like yours mean more than you probably know. Thank you my friend.
@ Nev....a interesting take on things. Quite possibly true, but I'd also suggest there's a kind of car mentality. Very simply: the bigger/more powerful the better. Of course (as I write), you could say that's due to the size of the roads US v European....I've just countered my point at hand. 😂 Hmmmm....let's just say not all Americans live in large dwellings, conversely not all Europeans live in small living spaces. Cheers!!!
I love your teaching about understanding HIFI. This was very helpful, albeit I have to rewind to the point about our perception of loudness of sound, that's a bit confusing, but I'll get it. All in all, this was very helpful. Thank you.
Tarun, I am a new comer to, what I call high end audio. Ever since back in 1999-2002 ish I heard my mates Dali floor standing speakers through a Marantz KI Signature CD player and KI Signature amp, it played Bruce Springsteen Streets of Philadelphia, I was blown away, the hairs on back of my neck were up. I vowed then that one day I would get myself a decent sound system. Fast forward 20 years, wife and kids and couple of house moves out the way, we have moved into our 'forever home' and I am finally going to take the plunge. Your videos are helping each one I watch, I wish I could say I understand 10% of what you are saying, but this video has helped me a lot, I think I get it. After research I was going to be settling on the Cambridge Audio CXA81 and the Cambridge CXN V2, as I stream my music now, all sorted. Or so I thought, the shop I am using, a well respected chain then threw the NAIM Uniti Atom, now I am considering going this route, however it has a rating of 40w and the speakers that I am considering are Focal Aria 926 or the Triangle Genese Quartet floorstanders, and I was worried that the NAIM would not be up to drive those. If I think I have got it, I think I should be fine and not need to buy a separate amplifier, as the NAIM is retailing at £500 over what I wanted to spend on amplifier and streamer. I live in an old Yorkshire stone built property, the walls just under 1m thick all around, but the room is large where the sound system will live 6m L x 4m W x 4m H (96 cubic meters) and I will be listening from about 3.5m to 4m distance. So after all that, I hope, if you read this you have not nodded off, I think I will be fine and your video has put my mind at ease. Roll on the demo of said equipment on 17th Feb. Once again, thank you as it is a struggle to find a British channel that reviews and gives out advice.
Thank you for sharing Mark. The Naim Unity Atom is a good unit but a little pricey for what is on offer. Depending on how you are streaming, you may want to consider a Hegel H95 😊
One of the biggest myths: AVR power ratings. They might say "180 wpc!" which is only measured at 1khz @10%THD, not 20hz-20khz both channels driven. That means maybe 1/3 rated power in the real world. These things almost never deliver the power they claim. Not even close.
Don't forget the eBay traders who quote the power consumption on the back panel as the power rating. By their logic, we should all be getting huge sound from our microwaves!
Not all AVRs have BS numbers. It's also worth noting that a single/two channel rating is what that channel(s) will output. ANY amp is limited by your voltages and current delivery. Here in the US, 120 volts and 15/20 amps is the norm, and usually for the entire room (TV, DVR, internet box, gaming system and other sources must be considered as draws.). 1800/2400 watts is the absolute limit from the plugs. (Some folks have dedicated 240V lines but it's pretty rare for those who are going with an AVR.) So if you go with a nine channel unit and grant it 2/3rds of the available power at the lower limit (design parameters are for the 'commoners') 1200 watts and relevant inefficiencies, 120 watts per channel is about it (1080 watts total). AVR designers route UNUSED power to the channel requiring the added input. This is a sane policy. When I see conventional amps with 50% useful conversion rates and or less efficiency, pumping more than a 100 watts continuous, you got a space heater on that shelf. The cure is moderation in peak demand, cut the levels or gather high efficiency speakers. If you have unlimited funds, multiple power lines coming into the house and MANY dedicated HT outlets with high gauge everything will work. And good luck with that.
I’ve just started watching your videos and am very impressed. There are so many RU-vid channels run by people who have no idea about hi fi. The only thing I’m disappointed about is that you haven’t got a record deck as that’s what my passion is along with all my friends. I’ve tried but just don’t like listening to digital music and after years and thousands spend trying to find a decent player I’ve given up. My deck and records just sound so much better. I will now watch a few more of your videos, thanks for excellent work.
I fully agree with the first half of your comment. As to record decks: I think you just like the colouring of a record player. (not meant to be judgemental)
Paul Hughes Hi, I would have to hear that with my own ears because from a technical point of view I don’t understand how that would work. But you’re not the only one that prefers records so there must be something.
As much it might be partly your mics fault, I agree with David there is definitely echo in your listening room. All that hard surfaces, high ceiling and no visible room treatment is at fault in my opinion. I had similar problem and fixing it with a room treatment made amazing difference!! I just subscribed, I like your videos, all the best!!
I must disagree with a lot of commentators here - I am far from thinking, that this is a good explanation. It is a basic explanation at its best. The huge wattage amps often have much better control - even at lower listening levels. They also tend to clearly make the music stand much more "in the room" out of the loudspeaker boxes - so to speak. No technical explanations - give the same experience of what really works as listening in real life. My Snell Eiii's sound quite good with my 80watt integrated stereo tube amp - But they sound way better with my friends 200watt audio research mono blocks.. At the same average listening level - the mono blocks make the speakers dissappear! My integrated 80watter cannot do that... Even though its a great amp
Double-blind listening test, same room, same voltage output confirmed from each amp? If not, then there just might be a bit of "confirmation bias" involved in your observations... :-)
"Huge wattage" has very little to do with how much control an amplifier has over a loudspeaker. Damping factor, current delivery and output impedance are much more significant.
Unfortunately the higher power comes with higher noise for the same S/N ratio. All amps have a noise floor. Lower power quality amplifiers have less gain, less gain noise, and therefore less noise at normal listening power.
You are correct. A 50 watt little speaker with a 500w amp will have dynamics unherd of in any dealer and will defy it's size in sound. A 100w amp (A mini) and next to it a 500w amp (The Rangerover) both going up a hill at the same speed. The mini will be stressed and hot but the big beast will be purring and cool
I owned the 1SC for about 6 years and everything you said about these is accurate. I had an extreme tax issue and had to sell them and everything else and have always regretted it. Hang on to these as long as you can; they are special.
Hi Michael, I am sorry to hear that you had to get rid of yours. I hope you can find a good second hand pair when you are able to rebuild your system one day. Thank you for watching and stay safe.
Hey, great videos mate, I had a Denon 80 watt per channel amp and a pair of 12" Tannoy dual concentric speakers, sounded nice. I turned it up a little too much one day and burned one of HF voice coils. Brothers in arms is a pure digital recording on CD. I just wanted that little bit more but no more BS, I went out and bought two NAD amps, 1x C-270 and one C-370, both approx 120 watts per channel into 8 Ohms, both are bridgeable and are bridged. Now I have 300 watts into each Tannoy giving heaps of overhead. I approached the local loudspeaker engineer (Krix Loudspeaker Engineers) and asked them to construct 2 new enclosures including the drivers and amps from their Siesmix subwoofer model. Total bliss, blows me away every time and yes you definitely gotta be careful of your ears. Been browsing for a nice DAC lately to upgrade my system as all digital sources are a little dated.
Great presentation...inded...I am electrical engeener...and with some 40 Years of experiance in Hi-Fi... but never the less I am at home with all this ... it was my great pleasure to listen to You. BTW at home I have varios hi fi audio stereo systems in three rooms...but in "A" system I have also Proacs, the Studio Monitors w. 88dB/1W/m and SET tube amp. I listened and watched also the others yours videos...They are great too ! Best regards...be safe!
Hi Hrvoje, thank you for your kind words of support. I hope I didn’t bore you too much. Thank you for watching and sharing. What do you think about your ProAcs? 😉👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Thank you kindly on your respectful replay. Yesterday I have forwarded to my hi fi entusiasts friends your videos...course I think thay are really useful. In short ProAc are inreplaceble for me...for decades...already. Best regards ...be safe stay well!
Got to learn many things from this video, explained with all technicalities. Thank you. Loving your channel. You have a very different approach of reviewing audio gears which is quite enjoyable and adds to knowledge. Found the channel today only (auto recommendation by youtube) , subscribed and watched a lot of your reviews. Enjoying them.👍👍👍
I have B&W 604 S3 and have paired it with Technics SU-VX800 amplifier rated at 100w. Whenever I increase the volume by more than half, or increase the bass to full, the bass woofers make a weird cranky sound. Can you pl help? Is the amplifier not powered well or is something wrong with the speakers. The B&W S3 is rated for 200W.
Super helpful thank you! I've always wondered how a 15w systems can seem to be "loud enough" and an 80w system can feel like there's not much headroom. I'm starting to understand the importance of a good preamp now. When I was using a vintage receiver it felt like once I went past 11 o'clock I was "turning it up" and now that I'm using something with a cleaner circuit it feels like anything below max volume is just "turning it down". So I guess if you are running low watts you better have a nice clean preamp so that you can ride the level in the upper register without any degradation to the sound.
Hi Marc, thank you for sharing you experiences. Certainly a good preamp can help to lower distortion and clean up the sound. Most people don’t need as much power as they think 😉
Thank you Patrick. My intention with this video was to give people a sense of how much power they actually need. Not as much as you would think in most cases. 👍😉
Hi, thanks for another very well done video. Like you say, there are other factors, pushing a 40 watt amp might bring you into non linearity, greater distortion (not the good kind!) and even damage. I generally run higher power which keeps the amp running in a favorable place. My speakers are in the mid 85 SPL's like yours and I find the transients and headroom from higher power amps does make a difference, especially with respect to dynamics. Since I design my own amps I have the benefit of adding L/R level controls so this gives me the best of both worlds.
I was already aware of the dB scale but the example of Max has explained how easily the power required multiplies. And the impedance explanation was excellent, I understand volts, amps, watts and ohms but had never thought of the consequences of an impedance varying with frequency and how significant it is to the required amplifier power.
Very good explanation. Most of us use less power than they think. The VU’s on my Accuphase confirm you’re explanation. Most of the audiophiles prefer class A amplifiers but they have mostly less power, take the Accuphase E-650 =30Watt the E-470 = 180watt. Driving large B&W’s witch a tube amp of 30 watt and never had lack of power. No earbleeding levels for me...
Nice explanation, indeed. One factor is also input levels from source. Just learned that with a new TT set-up, a VPI Super Prime Scout with a Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC* cartridge and a Vincent PHO701 preamp going to the aux in of an integrated amp (Rotel RA1572). With previous set-up (Ortofon 2Mblue to Phonostage of Rotel) I turned volume to around 35%, with the new set-up I have to crank it up to 50% to get similar sound level. This has to do with gain of the phono-stage and the low output MIMC cartridge.
Please don’t apologise for poor audio quality. It seems to be part of providing information about hifi. You are not alone! And it doesn’t matter anyway as long as you are giving good advice. 👍
Great video. I cannot agree more. 95% of us need 20W or less. Just built (DIY) monoblocks class A 25W @ 8Ohm. They replaced 350W @8Ohm monoblocks class D and sound fantastic. speaker sensitivity 91.5dB/v/m, 50m2 room, 2m from speakers, average listening volume 75dB, peaks 83dB. No need for more power. Invest in quality, not in Watts!
Just not my experience! Small UK living room various mix of British and Japanese amplifiers (Arcam Rega Technics Denon etc etc ) latest Arcam was 120 watts. 25 year old Ruark Acoustic Templars 87db sensitivity Always running out of steam especially on vinyl. Experimented with valve preamp and Class D 600 watts per channel. Very happy No strain maximum headroom total clarity and the bass is alive and palpable I think the audio industry used to be like the car industry. The big comfortable family car starts with a 1 litre engine which is inadequate and they shaft you financially to get the 6 litre engine you really really need
