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How could 100 Watt class a has more head room than a 300 Watt amp Class AB

Put aside which brand or make.
I put two amps into a test, both highend amp came from the same manufacturer.
Both double down the power with half of the impedance load, and THD is about the same.
Regardless of the size and cost difference, from a pure science perspective.
300 watt in theory should provide more headroom and sound ease when it reaches 100db, but the reverse is the true, the class A 100 watt seems to provide more headroom.
I have tried to use another set of speakers which is much easier to drive and it reaches the same conclusion.
Can someone explain why?
Quality or quantity of watt, how do we determined?
samnetw

Showing 1 response by enliten

enliten
44 posts
 
'Headroom' can have a lot of meanings in the audio world...

At system-level you may think extra db from the average listening level the system can play before non-linearity/distortion, for example. This does involve the amplifier, but all other elements also including acoustics.

Headroom for amplifiers can mean extra power capability above rated, typically for shorter peak periods. But that's not all the possibilities for the meaning.

If you are using speakers that reach down to low impedance at some frequencies (as mentioned by georgehifi previously), power supply / output stage current capability and output impedance may be way more important that rated output power. First Watt Class A is a great example of that type of amp that can drive low impedance easily w/o fatigue on difficult loads.

But it all depends if that's a factor in your particular speakers/system/listening style. Really. An apple may not be the right fit for a person who is looking for an orange...

Unfortunately there's no general rule of thumb figure, it's all situation-dependent.
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