Amount of power needed for dynamic peaks?

[patate91]

And another one :

"...
Some examples are in order…
1. Suppose that you have a loudspeaker rated at 100 watts continuous and you wish to select an amplifier to use with it. The program material will be heavily com pressed music (6 dB crest factor). This means that you need 6 dB of headroom above the continuous output power of the amplifier.
An amplifier rated at 200 watts continuous (+23 dBW) can output 3 dB more on peaks (+26 dBW). Subtracting our crest factor (6 dB) leaves +20 dBW (100 watts). So, a 200-watt amplifier should be able to provide 100 watts continuous with 6 dB left for peaks.
2. Suppose you have an amplifier rated at 120 watts continuous. How much clean continuous power can it deliver to a loudspeaker when fed with a 20 dB crest factor signal?
Converting the amplifier rating into a level, we have 20.8 dBW. We can add 3 dB since the amplifier was rated using a sine wave (+23.8 dBW). Subtracting the crest factor of the signal (23.8 – 20) leaves 3.8 dBW. Converting back to watts we have 2.4 watts ... "

https://www.prosoundweb.com/understanding-the-nuances-of-crest-factor/

 

[patate91]

There's no sources so I dont know if it's good or not. (I'm looking to see if I can get crest factor from Audicity to do some tests )

"...
Symphonic = 17dB
Opera = 16dB
Chamber = 14dB
Jazz = 13dB
Speech = 13dB
Folk = 11dB
Blues = 11dB
Popular = 11dB
Heavy Rock = 9dB
Hip Hop = 8dB
Sine wave = 3dB
..."

http://www.richardbrice.net/leq.htm#:~:text=Symphonic, orchestral music can have,of only 8dB; see below.&text=It's interesting to note a,9dB greater than hip-hop.

 

[RichB]

An interesting read about the crest factor :

" ... With that in mind, let’s think about the crest factor of something a little more middle-of-the-road: a punchy, well-balanced mix, without much limiting. At the risk of sounding cliche, I’m going to suggest something (really, almost anything) from Steely Dan’s catalog. What we’ll see is that during sparser sections, like verses or solos, the crest factor typically hovers between 12–15 dB, while during denser sections like verses with stacked vocals, the values will come down to the 9–12 dB range. ...)


https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/wh..._medium=social&utm_campaign=What_Crest_Factor

There are many Dire Straits mixes are pretty good in the 15 to 16 dB range but some are not:

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=dire+straits&album=brothers+in+arms

The remasters drop to 12 dB and there may be some outliers because these are user submitted.

- Rich

 

[RichB]

And another one :

"...
Some examples are in order…
1. Suppose that you have a loudspeaker rated at 100 watts continuous and you wish to select an amplifier to use with it. The program material will be heavily com pressed music (6 dB crest factor). This means that you need 6 dB of headroom above the continuous output power of the amplifier.
An amplifier rated at 200 watts continuous (+23 dBW) can output 3 dB more on peaks (+26 dBW). Subtracting our crest factor (6 dB) leaves +20 dBW (100 watts). So, a 200-watt amplifier should be able to provide 100 watts continuous with 6 dB left for peaks.
2. Suppose you have an amplifier rated at 120 watts continuous. How much clean continuous power can it deliver to a loudspeaker when fed with a 20 dB crest factor signal?
Converting the amplifier rating into a level, we have 20.8 dBW. We can add 3 dB since the amplifier was rated using a sine wave (+23.8 dBW). Subtracting the crest factor of the signal (23.8 – 20) leaves 3.8 dBW. Converting back to watts we have 2.4 watts ... "

https://www.prosoundweb.com/understanding-the-nuances-of-crest-factor/

1. You can find recommended power for speaker but not for continuous power. 100 watts is a lot of power. Think about a 100 watt bulb inside your speaker cabinet. That's going to hot hot fast. Speakers are not going to take 100 watts to the tweeter but may have no problem in the lower frequencies.

2. Not all amps are rated the same. Many rate power at 1 kHz and may not deliver that power 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

The maximum volume of a digital file is always the same regardless of the dynamic range.
You could make computations based on voltage but power requires understanding the speaker load.

Consider buying an amplifier with clipping indicators and then you relax.

- Rich

 

[Trdat]

I've been experimenting with more power, switching through my NC122MP, NC252MP and a Chinese PA amp rated at 600watts at 8ohm and 900 watts at 4ohm with a variety of speakers.

I mean it just keeps getting better with more power. I will admit that it is mostly the recording and I am not getting this magical sound nor is the dynamic peaks improving just that the more power definitely gives more thump. Possibly cause you can play louder with more distortion but I feel something don't know what but its there.

Again, nothing magical just a slight improvement.