Amplifiers Buying Guide

February 1, 2008

We all want the best experience in multimedia that is why we need to buy the best equipment around.

Even if we have the best LCD or Plasma television, or the top of the line DVD players, these modern gadgets can not be enjoyed if we do not have the best sound quality.

If is a fact that you can understand a story but simply listening to a reader but you can never understand it if you do hear a sound if you see the images.

If you want to buy an amplifier, if would greatly help if you understand the science behind sound. Sound is really just vibrations in the atmosphere moving the air particles which are then picked up by our ears and then sent to the brains for processing and interpretation.

Electronic equipment like amplifiers work the same way by recording the vibrations as electrical signals and then recreating them and giving amplification, hence amplifiers, before resending back to the air to be received by the ear.

So if you are buying an amplifier, here are some guides to make you get the best of your money’s worth and best quality of sound you can enjoy.

Power Rating
You will want to choose how powerful the amplification is going to be. Power rating is indicated in terms of watts root mean square (RMS). In general, it is advised that you choose an amplifier that is capable of delivering power that is twice the continuous IEC power rating of the speaker. As an example, if your speakers have an impedance of 8 ohms and IEC power of 350 watts, then you will want to buy an amplifier that can deliver 700 watts.

Preamplifier
As the name suggests, preamplifiers first processes low level audio signal before the final amplification with the amplifier. This can enhance final quality of audio output.

Channels
If you are tight on budget, you will want to buy a single amplifier to power all your speakers in your sound system. A single channel can power one speaker so you need to plan ahead especially if you already have an existing set of speakers.

One or Two Amp
A two-channel stereo amplifier which is built on one chassis can be a real space saver. A monoblock (single-channel) on the other hand are purchased as single units to be used in multi-channel systems.

Crossover
An amplifier with crossovers allows you to control the music frequencies such that you can split the highs and lows to obtain certain effects in your listening. For instance, in a car, the high frequencies may be assigned to the front speakers while the low frequencies go to the rear speakers.

Connection
Five way binding posts on the back of the amplifier are better than spring loaded speaker connections which are found in others.

Equalizer
An equalizer can be a circuit or a program that controls the frequency of a signal. A good equalizer allows you to do mixing of channels until you get your desired quality of sound output.

Distortion
Look for amplifiers that has the least distortion from the original signal

Gain
Amplifier gain refers to the output power to input power ratio. This is measured in decibels.

Efficiency
This can be determined by computing how much of the power input is actually used efficiently for amplifier output.

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