Saturday, April 5, 2014

Do Not Be Deceived By The Manufacturer Ratings Of The Latest Music Amplifiers

By Marta McBrian


The frequency response is by far the most commonly found parameter in order to define audio amps. Even so, it can often be misleading and might not necessarily give a good sign of the audio quality. I am going to make clear the meaning of this term and additionally give some recommendations on how to interpret it when searching for an amplifier.

An amplifier is only able to work within a specific frequency range. Any signals just outside of this range are going to be eliminated. As such the frequency response gives an important hint regarding whether a specific amp might be suitable for a particular application. This range is specified by showing 2 frequencies: a lower as well as upper frequency. For example, the lower frequency may be 20 Hz and the upper frequency 20 kHz. Using this spec it seems the amplifier can work as a HIFI amp. You might think the larger the frequency response the better the amp. That, on the other hand, may not always be the case. You need to consider the specs much more meticulously to properly understand all of them.

A large frequency response does not necessarily mean the amplifier has good audio quality. For example an amp having a frequency response between 30 Hz and 15 kHz might sound much better than a different amplifier having a response between 10 Hz and 30 kHz. Additionally, each supplier, it appears, implements a different procedure for specifying the minimum and maximum frequency of their amps. Typically, the frequency response displays the normal operating range of the amp. Within this range, the amplifier gain is basically constant. At the lower and upper cutoff frequencies the gain is going to drop by at most 3 decibels. On the other hand, a number of suppliers push this standard to the limit and may list a maximum frequency where the amp will barely deliver a signal any more. In addition, merely looking at these 2 numbers isn't going to say a lot concerning the linearity of the frequency response. If possible you should seek to get a frequency response diagram from the maker. In this diagram, you'll discover how the amplifier functions within the frequency response range. You can also discover any peaks and also valleys the amplifier could have. You can even wish to request a phase response chart which presents important hints regarding the audio quality.

You furthermore want to look at the conditions under which the frequency response was determined. You generally are not going to find any kind of specifics about the measurement conditions, however, in the manufacturer's data sheet. Actually amps could have different frequency responses depending on the loudspeaker which is connected.

Several of the latest digital amps feed back the music signal after the lowpass filter to be able to compensate for this tradeoff and also to make the frequency response of the amp independent of the attached load. Then again, if the amp is not designed well, this sort of feedback may cause instability and also result in loud noise being produced by the amplifier if particular speakers are connected. An additional strategy is to provide specific outputs for different speaker impedances which are connected to the amplifier power stage via audio transformers.




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