2. amps-preamps
  3. 153225-130247

Watts and power

Can somebody break it down in layman's terms for me? Why is it that sometimes an amp that has a high watt rating (like, say, a lot of class D amps do) don't seem to always have the balls that much lower rated A or AB amps do? I have heard some people say, "It's not the watts, it's the power supply." Are they talking about big honkin' toroidal transformers? I know opinions vary on a speaker like, say, Magnepans - Maggies love power, right? A lot of people caution against using class D amps to drive them and then will turn around and say that a receiver like the Outlaw RR2160 (rated at 110 watts into 8 ohms) drives Maggies really well! I'm not really asking about differences between Class D, A, or AB so much as I am asking about how can you tell the POWER an amp has from the specs? 
redstarwraith

Showing 2 responses by arcticdeth

arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 
Used several amps over the years.

 Some Carvin 2000W guitar amps for driving my cerwin Vegas 
they were great sounding, but their reliability were atrocious.

Crown amps used to be very good, had the studio ref I FOR A WEEK, didn’t have a 30 amp outlet, sad day that day.

used the QSC Rx amp for a couple years.

most my speakers were either 4 ohm or lower., so. The amps output was a little more than the 8 ohm output at rated power.

another great amp is the Carver sunfire amp, either the 300 or the 600,
great sounding amp all around., LOVED the 1 ohm capacitor for making the sound a bit boomy like a tube amp, killer little feature
i still love my sunfire 600 signature.

odyssey stratos or  Kismet is a great amp. 200W at 4 ohm, so about 300+wpc into 4 ohm speakers.  

Emotiva amps are a great great start into separate audio.
their gain is a bit high, but there not too bad..

a more expensive option check the audiogon for pass, McCormack, threshold, any mnay others.

good luck, auditioning gear is a blast.




arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 
Repeat:

 I’ve been through a min of 7-8 amplifiers over the years, since about 1990 or so.

 Once I went beyond 300WPC @ 8 OHMs, I NEVER looked back.
during crescendos, and power chords, you will need that headroom to keep up,  o clipping. I have two setups......one is 750W @ 8 OHMS, ........second is 600W @ 8 OHMS. 

NEVER CLIP, always sounds careless, amps rarely get hot.
  I have heated up my upstairs system pretty good, while playing at a constant high volume, always sounds good,
  
 You will thank me later.

 These 2W or 150W maps are,nice for a bookshelf, if u have fullrnage speakers,get a,minimum of 200W at @ 8 ohms
  personally, I’ve had no less than a minimum of 500W/chaannel/rms into 8 ohms.

ive never looked back.

just use caution with your volume knob ;)
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