I had a question related to Class D


Hello all, I 'm testing TDA7498 100 watt class D amplifier. I had a question that relates to Class D. I'm thinking about buying a Class D solid state guitar amplifier, but I heard that Class D amps lose a lot of their power (more than Class A or A/B amps do) when they drive speakers above 4 ohms, and my speaker happens to be 8 ohms. Is this so? If it is, the high watts the amp manufacturer claims for the amp don't seem as impressive.

bryant11

Showing 1 response by helomech

My experience is that in practice, class D amps generally sound about half as powerful as an AB counterpart of the same power rating. This isn’t to say that will be the case with any class D amp, but it’s a pattern that was prominent in the early 2000s and seems to persist today. It seems as though many class D designs struggle with full bandwidth power, at least that’s how they usually sound to me — a prevalence of sounding thin in the two lowest octaves.

The only class D amps I’d ever consider are those anchored by the Purifi modules and possibly some Bel Canto models.