hwlr
Member
Hello everyone,
I've discovered this superb website a few months ago and I will start by saying thank you for what I've already learnt, how to equalize my headphones being the most important thing that comes to my mind. Now, the time has come for my first post...
Please correct me if I am wrong: in its purest principle, the role of an amplifier is to take a voltage at its input, to increase it, and to throw this increased voltage at its output. From this statement can be deduced that:
1/ Listening volume has to do with voltage, not with current or power.
2/ The power (or current as both are linked in the P = R I² formula) is here only to ensure the good voltage at the output of the amplifier. I mean that any load (speaker or headphone in our case) will demand current according to Ohm's law ( U = R I ), so that for a voltage U to be maintained across a speaker of impedance R, the amplifier needs to supply a current I.
3/ If the amplifier is not powerful enough, that is to say if it can't provide enough current, the voltage is capped and clipping occurs.
Am I still correct? If so, is it true to say that as long as there is no clipping during use, any additional usable power from your amplifier is useless? In other words, the transparency of an amplifier does not depend on its power rating at all as long as there is enough of it to prevent clipping, does it? The transparency only depends on figures like SINAD for example?
PS: apologies for the imperfect and maybe more complicated than needed language
I've discovered this superb website a few months ago and I will start by saying thank you for what I've already learnt, how to equalize my headphones being the most important thing that comes to my mind. Now, the time has come for my first post...
Please correct me if I am wrong: in its purest principle, the role of an amplifier is to take a voltage at its input, to increase it, and to throw this increased voltage at its output. From this statement can be deduced that:
1/ Listening volume has to do with voltage, not with current or power.
2/ The power (or current as both are linked in the P = R I² formula) is here only to ensure the good voltage at the output of the amplifier. I mean that any load (speaker or headphone in our case) will demand current according to Ohm's law ( U = R I ), so that for a voltage U to be maintained across a speaker of impedance R, the amplifier needs to supply a current I.
3/ If the amplifier is not powerful enough, that is to say if it can't provide enough current, the voltage is capped and clipping occurs.
Am I still correct? If so, is it true to say that as long as there is no clipping during use, any additional usable power from your amplifier is useless? In other words, the transparency of an amplifier does not depend on its power rating at all as long as there is enough of it to prevent clipping, does it? The transparency only depends on figures like SINAD for example?
PS: apologies for the imperfect and maybe more complicated than needed language
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