Does this power amp calculator make sense, or am I missing something?

[audioman91]

I have been working on a power amplifier calculator, and I’m looking for feedback from people who actually work with audio or electronics.

Current features:

• Calculates output power vs speaker impedance
• Shows voltage and current requirements
• Helps size amplifiers for 4Ω / 8Ω loads
• Designed for quick checks (not replacing full design math)

I built it to be useful for both beginners and experienced users, but I’d really like opinions on:

• Are the calculations presented in a way you’d trust?
• What features would make this genuinely more useful?

https://electronicszone.pro/calculators/power-amplifier

 

[Zinda]

WTF?
What good is that? 1st question should be what brand and model number are your speakers? What type of amp are you considering and then size of room, then budget. Everything else makes no difference, if you are buying the amp first then you're doing it wrong, always build backwards. Speakers, amp(s), crossover/DSP and then pre.

Without testing speakers with equipment you'll just be guessing, that's what forums like this are for. Based on others experience you'll have to find an opinion of another that has similar likes as yourself and you can trust their posts to be honest opinions that make sense to you, that's how you find out which amp to use on what speakers, theres no guarantee that they will be correct but it's the best shot you'll have, I found trusting the majority just doesn't work for me after I tested some others idea of what's good and realized most people don't have a clue what good sound really can be. Just because lots of people say a certain $200 speaker is great means nothing when it's the first speaker they ever bought or they have used complete junk prior to that. You'll have to spend much more time reading to gather and opinion of opinions!

 

[Greenman]

You would need to factor in: Speaker sensitivity/efficiency; Room size (distance sitting from speakers); volume requirements.

 

[Spkrdctr]

I see you have a default sensitivity of 90 for the speakers. I would drop that to about 86 and that would cover pretty much everything as it is a good medium range to get the calculator to work with pretty much any speaker. Keep up the good work!

 

[DVDdoug]

Here is a similar discussion with some links.

Usually the biggest unknown is how loud you want to go so you might want to get an SPL meter (which you can get for less than $100 USD). There are SPL meter apps for phones but since phone microphones aren't calibrated I don't really trust them to be accurate.

Note that we would like to know the peak SPL level because amplifiers clip (distort) on the peaks. But most SPL meters measure the short-term average. That's why there is so much discussion about headroom or crest factor.

Also, these calculations are never perfect because sound is reflected and "boosted" in a room so the inverse square law doesn't apply perfectly and we never know how much sound is reflected.

 

[Zinda]

Always buy an amp that has gobs of power and a high damping factor and you'll be happy as long as it stays working, that's how I got started. My first requirement I have for any amp is if it's rated into 2 ohms, over 200 damping, must not have a fan and both channels must be properly working. Anything else makes no difference after meeting those requirements.

 

[audioman91]

I see you have a default sensitivity of 90 for the speakers. I would drop that to about 86 and that would cover pretty much everything as it is a good medium range to get the calculator to work with pretty much any speaker. Keep up the good work!

thanks let me make the change immediately

 

[audioman91]

WTF?
What good is that? 1st question should be what brand and model number are your speakers? What type of amp are you considering and then size of room, then budget. Everything else makes no difference, if you are buying the amp first then you're doing it wrong, always build backwards. Speakers, amp(s), crossover/DSP and then pre.

Without testing speakers with equipment you'll just be guessing, that's what forums like this are for. Based on others experience you'll have to find an opinion of another that has similar likes as yourself and you can trust their posts to be honest opinions that make sense to you, that's how you find out which amp to use on what speakers, theres no guarantee that they will be correct but it's the best shot you'll have, I found trusting the majority just doesn't work for me after I tested some others idea of what's good and realized most people don't have a clue what good sound really can be. Just because lots of people say a certain $200 speaker is great means nothing when it's the first speaker they ever bought or they have used complete junk prior to that. You'll have to spend much more time reading to gather and opinion of opinions!

i get your point every person experience shapes their point of view and thats what am looking for no tool can be 100% accurate but my desire is of it offered an advantage to users in the space.