mercredi 12 mars 2014

Don't Be Mislead By The Manufacturer Specs Of Today's Audio Amps

By Marta McBrian


Power amp suppliers often present the frequency response of their products which, sadly, doesn't always show you a great deal about the quality of sound. In order to help you make a wiser buying decision, I'll clarify what this spec means and how to interpret it. This I hope will ensure you're going to get the perfect amp for your project.

An amp is designed to amplify a sound signal sufficiently in order to drive some speakers to medium or higher volume. Suppliers typically present the frequency range over which the amp operates. This range is specified by showing 2 frequencies: a lower in addition to upper frequency. By way of example, the lower frequency could be 20 Hz and the upper frequency 20 kHz. Using this specification it seems the amplifier can function as a HIFI amplifier. You might be tempted to select an amp which provides the largest frequency response. Then again, there's more to knowing an amplifier's functionality than just knowing this simple range.

Then again, a number of producers push this standard to the limit and will show an upper frequency where the amplifier is going to barely deliver a signal anymore. Also, merely considering these 2 figures won't say a lot concerning the linearity of the frequency response. If possible you should really seek to get a frequency response chart from the supplier. In this diagram, you will find how the amplifier functions within the frequency response range. You can even spot any peaks and valleys the amp may have. Peaks as well as valleys can cause colorization of the audio. Ideally the gain of the amp should be linear through the entire working range. The circumstances under which the frequency response was measured are also necessary to recognize. One condition that may affect the frequency response is the impedance of the loudspeaker connected to the amplifier. Normal speaker impedances range from 2 to 16 Ohms. The lower the speaker impedance the greater the load for the amplifier.

To better understand the frequency response behavior of a particular type, you should try to determine under which circumstances the response was calculated. You'll find this information in the data sheet of the amp. Then again, a lot of producers won't show those in which case you ought to contact the manufacturer directly. In fact amplifiers may have different frequency responses depending on the speaker which is attached. Typically current digital or "Class-D" amps will show changes in the frequency response with different loads. The primary reason is the fact that Class-D amps use switching FETs as the power stage that produce a substantial amount of switching components. These components are eliminated by a filter that is part of the amp. The lowpass filter characteristic, on the other hand, heavily depends upon the connected load.

A few of the newest digital amps feed back the audio signal after the lowpass filter to compensate for this drawback and to make the frequency response of the amplifier independent of the connected load. On the other hand, if the amp is not constructed well, this type of feedback could cause instability and also bring about loud noise being produced by the amplifier if certain speakers are connected. An additional method utilizes audio transformers between the power stage of the amplifier and several outputs. Each output is designed to connect a different speaker load. This approach helps to ensure that the amplifier is going to be loaded equally and also improves amplifier efficiency.




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