Amplifier current vrs watts; why is current more important?


Lately when talking to knowledgeable people in the audio industry I’ve been hearing how current delivery is more important than watts in determining weather an amplifier will drive a speaker.
So what exactly is current and how does it effect speaker performance? How can a amplifier rated at 150 watts into 8 ohms vs one rated at 400 watts into 8 ohms be a better match for a hard to drive speaker?
hiendmmoe
hiendmmoe

Showing 2 responses by mijostyn

Hi atmasphere. I love your amps by the way. If I had reasonably normal loudspeakers I'd have a pair for sure. I have my eye on a pair of Soundlabs which I understand do wonderfully with your MA 2s.
I am not sure I understand your last statement. Are you saying that zero feedback amps can supply more current and would do better driving low impedance loudspeakers?
With digital room control you can do whatever you want as long as you have enough power, volts and current to support the corrections. Power is everything in a SOTA system. The problem with low power high efficiency solutions is that power requirements are geometric. They go up dramatically with peaks. Low power systems can't support this unless you just listen to string quartets. The other problem, and this is my ears talking, is that horns always sound like PA systems to me.
An amplifier is a voltage source. It's job is to pump electrons stored in the power supply into the speaker. If the speaker is high impedance fewer electrons (current) are required to do the job. Lower impedance than more electrons. If the power supply runs out of electrons all the pumping power (voltage) in the world will not do any good. None of this says anything about efficiency.