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Question about high current amps versus "not high current amps"

Recently I read a reply to a post about a certain speaker, and the person who replied typed that (and I am going to paraphrase somewhat) the speaker required a high current amp to perform well and it wasn’t the WPC that was important.

Sorry as I am afraid that these are probably going to be  "audio electrical questions for dummies," but here goes:

I vaguely remember being taught the PIE formula, so I looked it up online for a quick review and if I am understanding it correctly,

P (power/watts) = I (current/amps) x E (electromotive force/voltage) .

My first question would be: if I am understanding that correctly, how can wpc NOT matter since watts are the sum of current x voltage? I mean if you have so many WPC, don’t you then HAVE to have so much current?

My next question would be, if I am understanding PIE correctly, is E/voltage going to be a fixed 110 vac out of the wall, or is that number (E) determined by the transformer (so it would vary by manufacturer) and it is that (different transformers that are used in different amps) going to be the difference between a high and a lower current amp?

Or am I completely off base thinking that P is wpc and P is actually the spec in my owners manual that lists "power consumption as 420 watts operate 10 watts stand by"?

And lastly, what would be an example of a high current amp and what would be an example of a low current amp?

Thanks.

 

immatthewj

Showing 1 response by immatthewj

immatthewj OP
3,076 posts
 

Thank you to @everybody for the great feedback!!!!

I am going to try to simplify what I think I got out of the answers that were generously provided, and see if I've got it:

C WPC are a product of the voltage that the power supply supplies x the current.  The amp could be rated at a certain amount of WPC but if the current dropped off whenever it (the amp) encountered a significant drop in impedance then the amount of wpc that it was theoretically rated as putting out would also drop way below what it was rated at?  Unlike a "high current amp" in which the current would not drop so therefore the wpc would remain constant?

(So would this mean that the rated wpc is almost meaningless if the current isn't enough to sustain that wpc?)

So if I have that right, does the 4 ohm tap have any bearing at all on whether the amp is a high or low current amp?

And would there be a specification listed that would tell me how an amp stacks up as far as the amount of current?

Again, thanks for all the input, it is greatly appreciated!  

 

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