+1 …..
(1) it’s important to highlight the logarithmic relationship in adding more volume (db) with the the added amp watts required by themselves - in isolation specs - to get the volume increase.
A 100W amp is only twice as loud as a 10W amp. And a 1000W amp is twice as loud as 100W. This might put the cost of high wattage amps into some perspective.
The size, quality, quantity and impedance of a speaker has a huge effect on the volume of an amp. First off, if you match the impedance of an amp with that of the speaker, the amp is able to deliver its full power. Mismatching to a lesser degree won’t sound as loud dynamic as hoped, and perceived as disappointing.
(2) Speakers matter too in terms of your expected volume increase boost.
(A) For example, your speakers may are rated at about XX dB. You may be faced with a more expensive speaker to boost volume upwards to XX + 3db. . That’s double the volume step.
(B) Other speaker choice variables include the speaker projection and dispersion. The more speakers or bigger speakers you have, the more air they’re pushing and the louder it is. But if you’re on an open stage or a large listening room, they won’t sound as loud as they do if you’re in a small, enclosed room. The reverberation helps to redirect the sound waves back at you rather than disperse into open air.
(3) The wildcard of additional amp “ headroom” to provide a clean audio output, especially if you are cranking up the volume .
So, what is amplifier headroom? Amplifier headroom is the amount of power that an amplifier is able to generate before it starts overdriving. Overdriving means adding gain to the signal, natural gain coming from either the preamp, or the power amp section, or both. In other words, amplifier headroom is just how loud and clear can an amplifier performance be heard naturally.
Relying on the speaker manufacturer’s estimate of power handling is pretty much useless marketing bafflegab and maybe even grossly misleading as incomplete information. The fact that a speaker can possibly handle 300 watts doesn’t mean it’s ever going to see that much power. In fact, most amplifier power spent driving speakers under musical conditions is typically below 50 watts, with an average of around half that.
Where peak power gets big is on low frequencies and large transients. Which is why equipment manufacturers once attempted to rate amplifiers with Musical Power rather than their RMS power.
. When music demands power the last thing you want is to run out, or even get close to the system’s limitations. On those short event peaks and crescendos, we hope for unfettered performance whose sonic qualities match those of softer passages. Unfortunately, this is a rare achievement because of too little headroom. Hint: it gets worse the louder you crank it if the headroom is modest or limited.
Amp Headroom is the necessity for reproducing effortless music.
Headroom maintains an amplifier (or speaker’s) linear performance region—an area we hope to keep proper. Once we exceed an instrument’s linear region, its sweet spot, sound changes and not for the better. The closer we get to a device’s limits the less free and open the music will sound.
Here’s a good way to calculate this. Most amplifiers and speakers are comfortable at about 20% of their rated OEM marketing specs published output. Exceed that and you are a risky venture into areas of strain, struggle, and compression.
TAKEAWAY; amp Headroom matters big-time when music matters,,,and volume heads whims are tested.