2. amps-preamps
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My 30 Watt class A is louder than my 100 Watt Class AB?

Curious observation…

I had just done some work on my DIY Hiraga 30 Watt Class A amp, and decided I would do an A/B comparison with my Adcom GFA 545.

To my great surprise, when I switched from the Hiraga to the Adcom, leaving everything else in the set up the same, and when I turned the music back on, it needed to be turned up to play at the same volume.

Input impedance is different, and I’m wondering if this is what could be causing this counter intuitive finding? Hiraga is around 33K and the Adcom around 100K.

Wondering if anyone has any thoughts as to why this is what I’m experiencing.

Thanks

 

perkri

Showing 1 response by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,854 posts
 

The voltage gain of amplifiers is a convention, but not a rule. I think most solid state amps have 23 or 26 dB of voltage gain, but there’s no rule that forces this number. Lower gain may be a good thing given that so many preamps have too much gain already.

Also, there's no correlation between amplifier power and voltage gain.  From 50 to 500 Watts, amps following the convention will be just as loud at the same input.

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