Speaker wattage and amplifier wattage
Your local drive-in DJ, the next-door neighbour or even your best friend bragging about their new sound system might sound familiar to you. Sure, a 1, Watt speaker is louder than a Watt model but definitely not times as loud. As a matter of fact, sometimes a 1, Watt speaker can produce more volume than a 1, Watt one. This blog is written to separate the facts from fiction and show you how it really works when it comes to the power capacity of speakers and amplifiers. An amplifier outputs power and passes it on to a speaker. In turn, the speaker takes the power and processes it.
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Content:
- Speaker wattage explained (200 vs 1000 watts)
- Speaker Impedance Changes Amplifier Power
- Can An Amplifier Be Too Powerful For Speakers? Let’s Find Out
- Matching Amplifier To Speakers Guide
- New Insights into the Dangers of Using Power Amplifiers That Are Too Small
- Audio power
- How Much Power Do Speakers Need? Speaker Specs Explained
- Determining power needed for speakers
Speaker wattage explained (200 vs 1000 watts)
We often get asked what size power amplifier we recommend for a particular passive i. This means that a speaker with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms and a continuous average power rating of watts, for example, would require an amplifier that can produce watts into an 8 ohm load.
The short answer is that a quality professional loudspeaker can handle transient peaks in excess of its rated power, if the amplifier can deliver those peaks without distortion. Using an amp with some extra headroom helps assure that only clean, undistorted power get to the loudspeaker. For a more complete answer, JBL published a Tech Note a few decades ago that goes into more details about the drawbacks of using too small of a power amplifier.
An example is the addition of an explanation of the shortcomings of relying too much on limiters for protection of the loudspeakers and the misimpression that adding a limiter now makes it okay to use a smaller amplifier. Here is an advanced view of the upcoming Tech Note revision:. Understandably, they may wonder how it is that such an amplifier can actually burn out components when the loudspeaker system is rated to handle larger amounts of power.
Driving an amplifier too hard in order to get higher sound level from it whether perceived or real can damage some components, especially the high frequency components. To understand this more clearly, it is necessary to understand the nature of music as it relates to amplifier power and distortion. The Nature of Music Not all musical notes are created equal. There is much more power in the lower registers of music than in the midrange and high-frequency regions.
If we examine the accompanying graph, we can see that the energy content of high frequencies 6 kHz and above is typically 10 to 20 dB less than bass and midrange frequencies. Therefore, even if we allow for 10 dB peaks in the high frequency program material — which is common — the high frequency driver of a system will be called upon to handle only about one-tenth of the power that the low and mid frequency components must sustain.
This natural distribution of musical energy means, for example, that a loudspeaker system capable of handling watts should have a high frequency unit capable of handling 10 watts which is dB in the frequency region where the natural distribution of content is 10 dB lower. The result is that the capabilities of the components of a loudspeaker system parallel the natural energy distribution of music.
Energy distribution of typical rock and electronic music. Orchestral music tends to follow the same general contour, although with slightly reduced low-bass content. The Nature of Amplifier Power The power output specification of an amplifier is not absolute. Under certain operating conditions — such as when the volume control is set too high or when the input signal is too great or for shorter periods of time — the amplifier can exceed its published output.
The power output of an amplifier is rated with reference to a given level of total harmonic distortion THD. If required to produce more power, the amplifier will try to do so, but at considerably greater distortion levels. Between the fact that the amplifier is trying to produce more output power and the fact that people perceive distortion as being higher output, it may be natural for some users to do this at times — it sounds louder.
For example using round numbers , an amplifier rated at watts at no more than 0. Under these same adverse conditions, an amplifier rated at watts could deliver watts to the loudspeakers; a watt amplifier could deliver watts, and a watt amplifier could be overdriven to deliver watts. Distortion Generally Affects High Frequency Drivers The additional power generated by overdriving the amplifier is rich in harmonics distortion.
In a passive non-powered full-range speaker, these harmonics get routed by the crossover network to the high frequency driver.
Harmonics are higher frequency multiples of the original signal. Therefore, the high frequency component of a loudspeaker system must bear the brunt of the distortion — even though the original signal may be at a lower frequency.
Average output power is one-half the peak output power. Typical Sine Wave. Average output of a sine wave is one-half of the peak output.
This will not damage the speaker unless it is too much power for the Low Frequency or mid-range driver. The average power approaches the peak power. In a clipped Sine Wave the average output approaches the peak output. The Frequency Response of a highly clipped Hz Sine Wave shows that the Hz fundamental content is higher, plus there is additional high frequency harmonic content, which can easily exceed the power rating of the high frequency driver.
Switching to using a higher powered amplifier instead, the required power levels can be generated without clipping, allowing the loudspeaker system to receive clean program material containing a normal distribution of energy levels. Under these conditions, damage to the high frequency driver is unlikely.
Summary We are not saying that any clipping of a power amplifier will blow your loudspeaker. But for passive non-powered speakers, if a small amplifier must be heavily overdriven to obtain the desired volume levels in the listening space, thus generating high power and distortion levels, the user would be better advised to purchase a larger amplifier capable of producing the required power with negligible distortion.
In any case, the ideal situation is that an amplifier should be selected with an output power rating that is greater than the maximum power that will be used — the general recommendation is that the amplifier should be capable of delivering double the power rating of the loudspeaker.
This margin of reserve power will ensure that the amplifier will not attempt to deliver more power than its design allows. The net result will be distortion-free sound reproduction and longer loudspeaker life. Rick has been involved in various aspects of professional audio for more than 40 years. He has been overseeing the development of commercial installed loudspeakers for JBL Professional for more than 25 years.
He enjoys sharing his knowledge on various pro audio industry forums and by writing educational materials. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I really liked your note, quite clear, precise and technically explained information, I am writing to you from Lima, Peru I am a sound technician, I have a doubt for a while and I do not find anywhere the power in RMS watts of the PRX series JBL , please maybe you can clarify that question, I would appreciate it, thank you very much.
October 22, Rick Kamlet Rick has been involved in various aspects of professional audio for more than 40 years. Subscribe for Email Updates. Leave a Reply Cancel Reply. March 18, July 24,
Speaker Impedance Changes Amplifier Power
Speaker impedance changes amplifier power output. In fact, your amplifier power could be nearly half or double its capacity — depending on the impedance of your speakers. But how much should this concern you? Impedance is measured in ohms. The specifications might say the output power is watts RMS at 8 ohms.
Can An Amplifier Be Too Powerful For Speakers? Let’s Find Out
Home » Audio-Wissen » Watt really matters — facts about electrical performance. The power output of loudspeakers and amplifiers depends a lot on the wattage. For sound, it is crucial that the speakers convert the provided power into good sound. However, it is not always clear what the watt number exactly means in terms of working speakers functionality. Resilience and watt RMS are important key terms here. A Watt is the physical unit for power. First of all, we clarify where the electrical power comes from and what it is used for. The power of alternating current — which is what audio technology is all about — depends on the current and voltage and is always measured over a certain period of time.
Matching Amplifier To Speakers Guide
I'm playing folk music in a coffee shop. How much amplifier power do I need? Our rock group will be playing in a seat concert hall. How many watts will we need?
New Insights into the Dangers of Using Power Amplifiers That Are Too Small
Some speaker specs can be confusing and this is especially true for power ratings wattage that are often misleading to the average tech consumer. Different manufacturers also have different methods of testing speakers. Speaker wattage is a specification used to express the amount of electrical power a speaker can draw from an amplifier. So, is watts louder than watts? In this guide, I am going to explain why this is the case and why driving speakers at watts is a bad idea. A decibel dB or a 10 th of a Bel is a unit used to show the relationship between electrical power and acoustic energy on a logarithmic scale.
Audio power
Audio power is the electrical power transferred from an audio amplifier to a loudspeaker , measured in watts. The electrical power delivered to the loudspeaker, together with its efficiency , determines the sound power generated with the rest of the electrical power being converted to heat. Amplifiers are limited in the electrical energy they can output, while loudspeakers are limited in the electrical energy they can convert to sound energy without being damaged or distorting the audio signal. These limits, or power ratings , are important to consumers finding compatible products and comparing competitors. In audio electronics , there are several methods of measuring power output for such things as amplifiers and power handling capacity for such things as loudspeakers.
How Much Power Do Speakers Need? Speaker Specs Explained
To determine how much amplifier power is needed for a single speaker you need to know a few things. An example of speaker sensitivity would be: 90 dB 1W,1M. This would be found in the speaker specification literature. In this case more is better.
Determining power needed for speakers
Last Updated: April 2, References. This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Eric McClure is an editing fellow at wikiHow where he has been editing, researching, and creating content since There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
For example, how do you choose the right amplifier for your speakers? A good rule of thumb is to choose an amplifier that delivers at least the same amount of power as the RMS or continuous program power that the speaker can handle. It is a better practice to choose an amplifier that is twice the RMS or continuous power because that way, you will have more headroom. There is more to it than just selecting the number of watts. When you jump into audio forums and message boards or check articles on how to set things up, it can get confusing quickly with all the fancy jargon and equations thrown at you. Am I right? The first question to ask is, why do you need to match your speakers and amp?
This is the procedure for matching amplifier to speakers guide according to current standards. Just go below to the step by step guide to understand everything in five minutes. We start defining Ohms and Watts according to current standards too. Basically, amplifiers often also called amps amplify an audio signal so that the desired level is emitted from the loudspeakers.
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