Power Amplifier: Buying Guide

Power Amplifier: Buying Guide Power Amplifier: Tech Tips Power Amplifier: Glossary

Power Amplifier Topics:

» Matching Amps to Speakers
» Damping Factor Demystified
» It's All in the Ohms
» Slew Rate, Does it Really Matter?
» What to Look for in a Power Amp

The right amount of power, and the right features, that's what marks the right
power amp for your live PA system. This Sweetwater Buying Guide
includes information that can help you choose a power amp for your needs. Since there's so much to consid
when purchasing a power amp, don't hesitate to call us at 1-800-222-4700 for more information.

Matching Amps to Speakers

Tapco's J-1400 offers

1400W @ 4 ohms (bridged)
When you're matching a Power Amp to a PA Speaker, a good rule of thumb is to pick an amplifier that can
deliver power equal to twice the speaker's continuous IEC power rating. This means a speaker with a "nomi
impedance" of 8 ohms and a continuous IEC power rating of 350 watts will require an amplifier that can
produce 700 watts into an 8-ohm load. For a stereo pair of speakers, the amplifier should be rated at 700 wa
per channel into 8 ohms. A quality professional loudspeaker can handle transient peaks in excess of its rated
power if the amplifier can deliver those peaks without distortion.

Using an amp with some extra "headroom" will help assure that only clean, undistorted power gets to your
speakers. Some professional amplifiers are designed so they have additional headroom. These amps can
cleanly reproduce transient peaks that exceed their rated power. In this case select a model with an output
power rating equal to the continuous IEC power rating of the speaker. Consult the amplifier manufacturer o
owner's manual to learn more.

In some applications, such as critical listening in a studio environment, it is important to maintain peak
transient capability. For these applications, use an amplifier that can deliver 6db (or four times as much) mo
power than the continuous IEC power rating.

If budget restraints or legacy equipment force you to use an amplifier with less power, extreme care should
taken to see that the amplifier is not driven into clipping. It may surprise you to learn that low power can
result in damage to your speaker or system.
Damping Factor Demystified
Loudspeakers have a mind of their own. You send them a signal and they add their own twist to it. They ke
on vibrating after the signal has stopped, due to inertia. That's called "ringing" or "time smearing." In other
words, the speaker produces sound waves that are not part of the original signal. Suppose the incoming sign
is a "tight" kick drum with a short attack and decay in its signal envelope. When the kick drum signal stops
the speaker continues to vibrate. The cone bounces back and forth in its suspension. So that nice, snappy ki
drum turns into a booming throb. Fortunately, a power amplifier can exert control over the loudspeaker and
reduce ringing. Damping is the ability of a power amplifier to control loudspeaker motion. It’s measured in
Damping Factor, which is load impedance divided by amplifier output impedance. Let’s explain. If the
speaker impedance is 8 ohms, and the amplifier output impedance is 0.01 ohms, the damping factor is 800.
That’s a simplification. Since the speaker impedance and amplifier output impedance vary with frequency,
does the damping factor. Also, the impedance of the speaker cable affects damping. Thick cables (with low
AWG) allow more damping than thin cables with (high AWG). The lower the amplifier’s output impedance
the higher the damping factor, and the tighter the sound is. A damping factor of 1000 or greater is considere
high. As you might suspect, damping factor is most important at low frequencies, say 10 Hz to 400 Hz. Hig
damping factor equals tight bass.

- How It Works
How does an amplifier control speaker motion? When the loudspeaker cone vibrates, it acts like a
microphone, generating a signal from its voice coil. This signal generated by the speaker is called back EM
(back Electro Motive Force). It creates a current, which travels through the speaker cable back into the
amplifier output, then returns to the speaker. Since back EMF is in opposite polarity with the speaker’s
motion, back EMF impedes or damps the speaker’s ringing. The smaller the amplifier output impedance, th
greater is the effect of back EMF on the speaker’s motion. An amplifier with low output impedance short-
circuits the back EMF, so the back EMF drives the loudspeaker with a relatively strong current that works
against the speaker’s motion. When the speaker cone moves out, the back EMF pulls the speaker in, and vic
versa.

In short, the loudspeaker damps itself through the amplifier output circuitry. The lower the impedance of th
output circuitry, the more the back EMF can control the speaker’s ringing.

It’s All in the Ohms

Ohms are measures of resistance. Audio amplifiers are commonly designed to work with 4, 8 or 16 ohms of
resistance, and optimum system performance will be obtained if the total resistive load (or impedance) of th
loudspeaker or set of speakers is exactly correct for the amplifier. If the total loudspeaker impedance is too
high, the power delivered to the loudspeakers will be reduced. If the total loudspeaker impedance is too low
the power delivered to the loudspeakers will be increased, which can result in speaker overload and damage
the amplifier.

You can connect any amount of speakers to one amplifier provided that they are correctly wired and do not
collectively fall below the specified output impedance of the amp. Multiples of loudspeakers can be connec
together by three different methods, termed Series, Parallel, and a combination of the two, Series/Parallel.

In the case of PA sound, calculating parallel loads is an important capability for two main reasons; first,
because dual speaker connections whether on an amplifier, a mixer/amplifier or a speaker enclosure are all
wired in parallel. Some people think that if you run separate speaker cables from each speaker output on the
amp or mixer/amp to the enclosures you somehow "avoid" putting the speakers in a parallel circuit. Others
think that if you run a speaker cable from one cabinet to another you put the cabinets in "series" and that jus
adds the two loads together (e.g., two 4-ohm speakers in series = 8 ohms). But the truth is that everything g
put in parallel. In fact it's quite difficult to put speaker enclosures in series - you need a special wiring harne

The following equations help you match the impedance of PA Speakers to Power Amplifiers for optimized
performance (avoiding overloads and other issues). Impedance (Z) is how much a device resists the flow of
AC signal, such as audio. Impedance is similar to resistance, which is how much a device resists the flow o
DC signal. Both impedance and resistance are measured in ohms

For ease of understanding, we’ll start with series calculations:

R = resistance (the ohm rating of your loudspeaker)
t = total
 
Series:
THE FORMULA: If we have four speakers, each with a 4-ohm rating, using the formula
Rt = R1 + R2 + R 3 etc.... equation for our example gives:
 
4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 16
Rt = 16 ohms

So in this case 16 ohms of resistance is presented to the amp, or in other

words, the output current of the amp would meet with 16 ohms of
resistance at the speaker.
 
Parallel:
To keep life as simple as possible, most people put enclosures of the same impedance in a parallel circuit. I
you do this it's all just a matter of dividing that impedance by the number of speakers. If you connect
speakers of different impedances, the power output will be greater to some, less to others, which means
some will be louder than others. (In higher tech circles, we commonly refer to this condition as “very not
good.”)
 THE FORMULA: Example; four 16-ohm loads in parallel = 16/4 = 4 ohms.
1/Rt = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3 +
etc. (Similarly, two 8-ohm loads in parallel = 8/2 = 4 ohms.)
("R" = ohms)
You can see that for the same number of speakers, the ohm load
presented to the power amp is significantly reduced. Use this formula to
Two 16R loads = 8R
insure that the impedance of your total number of speakers matches the
Two 8R loads = 4R
output impedance on the amp.
Two 4R loads = 2R
The following is a quick reference listing of some commonly used
Three 16R loads = 5.33R
parallel loads: (Avoid the ones that go lower than output impedance
Three 8R loads = 2.67 R
rating of your power amp.)
Three 4R loads = 1.3R

Four 16R loads = 4R

Four 8R loads = 2R
Four 4R loads = 1R.

Slew Rate, Does it Really Matter?

Slew rate is a measure of an amplifier's ability to follow its input signal. The term is used to define the
maximum rate of change of an amplifier's output voltage with respect to its input voltage. The unit of measu
is volts per microsecond. To put it in more technical terms, Slew Rate is nothing more than a term used to
describe how quickly the potential on a circuit node must change with respect to time. As far as slew rate
having an effect on perceived sound, the real issue is slew rate limiting, which relates to an amplifier’s abili
to pass complex waveforms without clipping them, resulting in an open musical sound. Slew rate is measur
by feeding an input signal that is too fast for the amplifier to cope with. So slew rate is an overload conditio
and it should not happen at all for an audio amplifier. Therefore, being proud of a slew rate is very strange
indeed

In fact, the following is taken from a lab assignment at MIT and is the only reference to slew rate regarding
the overall design and building of an audio amplifier:

6.101 Introductory Analog Electronics Laboratory No. 5

Objective: "Build a small audio power amp and play loud music to retaliate against the 6002 students!"

Slew rate: No visible slewing allowable within the frequency range of 10 Hz to 20 kHz at full output into 10
Ω."

Many mic amp specifications play a purely objective role. These include voltage gain (usually just called
"gain"), input noise, common mode rejection, and so forth. Other objective specifications, such as THD,
slewing, frequency response, and phase response curiously do not always translate into specific predictable
sound quality. Specifications should be treated with respect, but your ears should be the final judge of any
 preamp’s performance.

How do I choose the right amplifier power for my speaker system? When it comes to choosing a power amplifier there
are a number of factors to consider.

» Power
Generally you should pick an amplifier that can deliver power equal to twice the speaker's continuous IEC power rating. This
means that a speaker with a "nominal impedance" of 8 ohms and a continuous IEC power rating of 350 watts will require an
amplifier that can produce 700 watts into an 8 ohm load. For a stereo pair of speakers, the amplifier should be rated at 700 watt
per channel into 8 ohms.

» Headroom
A quality professional loudspeaker can handle transient peaks in excess of its rated power if the amplifier can deliver those
peaks without distortion. Using an amp with some extra "headroom" will help assure that only clean, undistorted power gets to
your speakers. Some professional amplifiers are designed so they have additional headroom. These amps can cleanly
reproduce transient peaks that exceed the amplifier's rated power. In this case select a model with an output power rating equa
to the continuous IEC power rating of the speaker. Consult the amplifier manufacturer or owner's manual to learn more.

» Budget
If budget restraints or legacy equipment force you to use an amplifier with less power, extreme care should be taken to see that
the amplifier is not driven into clipping. It may surprise you to learn that low power can result in damage to your speaker or
system, not to mention ear fatigue caused by the resultant distortion.

Of course, with all of the options available, the most logical thing to do is call a Sweetwater Sales Engineer at 1-800-222-4700 t
help you determine which amp is best suited to your needs.

Matching Amplifiers and Speakers

Always choose a system which will work well together!, and don't be tempted to try and run
your 100W speakers from a 1000W at high power levels. It is a good idea to have an amplifier
which is slightly higher rated than your speakers to allow for headroom. So if you have speakers
rated at 500W RMS @ 8 Ohms then buy an amplifier which can deliver 600W RMS @ 8 Ohms.
Remember that an amplifier will increase distortion levels the harder it is driven, so the sound
from an amplifier being driven at 40% of it's capacity will sound clearer and run cooler than an
amplifier being driven at 95% of it's design capacity!. So even if you only need 600W of output
power, it is wise to choose a 1000W system running at 60% capacity than a 650W System
running at almost full capacity!.

The amount of power which an amplifier provides does depend on the combined impedance of
the speaker load which is connected to it. So for example a Amplifier rated at 500W RMS @ 4
Ohms may only provide 2x 300W RMS @ 8 Ohms. More about speaker impedances can be found
by clicking the link below.
http://www.djsite.info/idx/7/001/article/Understanding-Speaker-Impedances.html

A "Channel" on an Amplifier refers to the individual module or circuit inside the amplifier which
takes in a signal mono low level signal and boost's it to drive a loudspeaker(s).

All Stereo amplifiers have 2 "Channels", one channel handles the left hand signal and speaker,
the other obviously does the same for the right. Other than some amplifiers sharing the same
powersupply, the internal Left and right "channels" or circuit boards are seperate, which means
in the event of a loudspeaker problem or component failure the opposite channel should
continue to work.

Okay - the load which determines how much power your amplifier provides to the speakers is
dependant on the actual number of speakers connected.

The load is called the impedence, and the level of impedence is measured in "ohms". Most
amplifiers will only work to a minimum of "4 Ohms" however some amplifiers such as Peavey,
and QSC etc will work into a 2 Ohms load (often refered to as being "2 Ohms Stable". However
this is rarely encountered since it needs 4x 8 Ohm Speakers to be connected to each channel
to acheive this.

Working out Ohms:-

Most Disco and P.A loudspeakers are rated at 8 ohms, so connecting one 8 ohm speaker to one
channel of the amplifier will present a load of 8 ohms to it.

Plugging in an additional 8 ohm loudspeaker into either the existing connected speaker or the
second socket on the same channel of the amplifier (if fitted) will equal 8 ohm + 8 ohm = 4
Ohms load to the amplifier (not 16 like maths would suggest!).

To get 2 ohms you would need to connect:-

8 Ohms + 8 Ohms + 8 Ohms + 8 Ohms = a 2 Ohm Load, so to get your amplifiers 2 Ohm rating
you need to connect (4x) 8 ohm speakers to it.

Given the fact that each channel is identical and seperate, your Amplifier has the capability of
running 4 x 8 ohm speakers per channel! - a total of 8 speakers - which is why I said to ignore 2
ohm ratings when buying an Amplifier and concentrate on the 4 or 8 ohm wattage ratings!.

2 Ohms of load on the Amp can also be acheived by connecting (2x) 4 Ohm loudspeaker cabs to
the same channel. Although 4 Ohm Speakers are usually used for Home Cinema or in car use,
but some manufacturers such as Carlsbro and Peavey offer 4 ohm versions of some speakers.

So some common speaker combinations are below

8 Ohms load can be acheived by connecting either

1 x 8 ohm speaker

or

2x 16 ohm speakers (16 ohm speakers are very rare nowadays)

4 Ohms load can be acheived by connecting:-

1x 4 Ohm speaker

or

2x 8 ohm loudspeakers

or

4x 16 ohm loudspeakers

or

1x 8 ohm and 2x 16 ohm loudspeakers

Bridge Mode

"Bridge Mode" means combining both the two internal amplifier boards together to double the
rated output. By doing this, your amplifier ceases to be a 2 channel or stereo amplifier, and
becomes a Mono amplifier with the combined power output of BOTH the amplifiers into half the
load.

For example - An Amplifier usually provides it's full rated power into 4 Ohms of load, which
means connecting 2  8 ohm speakers per channel (A total of 4 speakers) to get this.

However if you switched a compatible amplifier into "Bridge Mode", this essentially means that
both the left and right channels are combined and so you would get the combined power output
of both channels into 4 Ohms (one pair of speakers). However the output would be MONO.