Looking at today's audio amplifier products, one cannot help but be overwhelmed by the number of technologies and models. I will explain some basic amplifier terms and help you pick the best model no matter what your particular application might be.
Audio amplifiers are the basic link between your source such as a DVD or Blu-Ray player and your speakers. An amplifier will convert the fairly weak source audio into a signal strong enough to drive your speakers.
Depending on your application, you may want to go with a source that already has a built-in amplifier. However, using a separate amplifier will give you more flexibility in choosing the model that best complements your speakers. Some of today's mini amplifier models are small enough to hide them virtually anywhere.
When picking an amplifier, your first consideration probably is the amplifier output wattage. You will need a high wattage if you are driving speakers with a low sensitivity (expressed in dB/W), for driving speakers in large rooms or for outdoor speakers. However, be careful not to overdrive your speakers. This can damage your speakers beyond repair.
But don't be overly concerned about wattage. An amp supplying 20 to 50 Watts will give you more than plenty of power to sufficiently drive a speaker in any but the largest room.
Amplifier output power is given as Watts rms (continuous) and Watts peak. The rms or continuous value tells you how much power the amplifier can deliver continuously while the peak power figure tells the maximum wattage that the amplifier can deliver for short periods of time. You should choose an amplifier that has sufficient rms power, although 10 to 30 Watts should be plenty for most applications but has enough headroom for peaks that occur in music signals.
There are other parameters that are more important than wattage when selecting an amplifier. One important parameter is called total harmonic distortion or THD in short. No amplifier is absolutely perfect and the amplified signal will include some error components which will distort the signal to some degree. THD is either expressed in percent or dB. A smaller distortion number means a lower distortion of the audio signal by the amplifier. Audiophile amplifiers will have distortion numbers of typically less than 0.05%. Consumer-grade amplifiers will have distortion figures of up to 10%.
Another specification is called signal-to-noise ratio. This number specifies how much undesired components such as hum and noise the amplifier will add to the audio signal. Higher-end amplifiers will achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 100 dB while consumer grade amplifiers will typically have a signal ratio of at least 80 dB.
The majority of today's amplifiers are based on a technology called Class-D which offers higher power efficiency than amplifiers based an Class-A or Class-AB technologies. High efficiency means that little power is wasted as heat which can make the amplifier fairly small. Some of today's mini amplifiers are no larger than a deck of cards. However, when picking a Class-D (digital) amplifier, be sure that the amplifier has low distortion and a high signal-to-noise ratio.
Gunter Fellbaum has been designing audio and electronic products for over 10 years. You can get additional information about audio amplifier technologies and mini amplifier products from Amphony's website.
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