2. amps-preamps
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amplifier DB meters

How come amps no longer have meters? I personally like them, I find it very useful to know how many watts I am using while tuning my system.

If you have a pair of speakers and they require a certain amt of power whether it be 1 watt or 100 watts isn't good to know? Lets say you are only using 4 watts to drive your speakers isn't this the only way to find out that you can use a much "smaller" amp rather than the 200watt behemoth you are currently using? Also vis-a-versa to find out you need more watts as you may be going into clipping or just always using the most you amp can give.

If an amplifier does not have meters can you hook one up or use a test meter to find out how many watts you are using?
Bob.
acoustat6

Showing 1 response by south_park

south_park
103 posts
 
One more thing- if you listen to pop/rock, there will be no peaks and you will never need more power than you see on your meters. Why? Because the mastering engineer has basically compressed the recording to have less than 5dB of dynamic range. Play a CD on your computer with a sound program and watch the "peaks" and you will see that 90% of the song is at the maximum volume you can have.

Classical is different- lots of dynamic range there.
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