Amp Volume vs. Watts

Andyman

Andyman

Scroungus Stereophilus
Subscriber
I've been messing about with a couple amps here and have noticed what seems to me to be an unusual situation: my more powerful amps have less volume than my less powerful amps. Here's the deal.

I have a Magnavox SE EL84 amp, a Magnavox 6V6 PP amp, and a set of Heathkit W-5M monoblocks, plus my Almarro SEP EL84 amp. The 6V6 amp and the Heaths all require I turn the volume control much further on the preamp for the same volume as the EL84 amps, which are about the same output and power, which should be about 5 WPC vs the 15 WPC or so for the 6v6 amp and the 25 WPC or so for the Heaths.

I don't get it???
 
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Output power and sensitivity aren't the same. Imagine two amps with the same output capability, but one is driven to full volume by 0.5 volts and one 2.0 volts. Using the same preamp, you wouldn't need to turn up the volume as much with the first one to get same output level.
 
dspear99ca said:
On some of my amps I need to turn the preamp up to "11"....
Click to expand...
volume.jpg



When you need to go over the top!
 
RichPA said:
Output power and sensitivity aren't the same. Imagine two amps with the same output capability, but one is driven to full volume by 0.5 volts and one 2.0 volts. Using the same preamp, you wouldn't need to turn up the volume as much with the first one to get same output level.
Click to expand...

Interesting...
I totally understand what you're saying, but a bit surprised that the amps wouldn't all have some sort of baseline threshold that is equal.

It just seems so wrong that I have to turn a 25 wpc amp up to 12:00 to get the same volume as a 5 wpc amp at 9:00 :scratch2:

But I guess it is what it is. Does this mean perhaps that my preamp's output is on the low side????
 
RichPA said:
Output power and sensitivity aren't the same. Imagine two amps with the same output capability, but one is driven to full volume by 0.5 volts and one 2.0 volts. Using the same preamp, you wouldn't need to turn up the volume as much with the first one to get same output level.
Click to expand...

Absolutely Correct!

Additionally, a set of speakers that have a much higher sensitivity rating will also be louder when using the same amp(s) running at the same levels on the Volume knob.

. . Falcon
 
Andyman said:
Interesting...
I totally understand what you're saying, but a bit surprised that the amps wouldn't all have some sort of baseline threshold that is equal.

It just seems so wrong that I have to turn a 25 wpc amp up to 12:00 to get the same volume as a 5 wpc amp at 9:00 :scratch2:

But I guess it is what it is. Does this mean perhaps that my preamp's output is on the low side????
Click to expand...

Maybe, maybe not. What's the output voltage at a given volume level?

Impedance will also affect volume levels.

As a side note, professional equipment will generally give you the ability to set the pre output to either -10dB or +4dB. That dramatically affects the amount of signal hitting the power amp's inputs.

. . Falcon
 
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My cousins niece's sister's second husband Buba likes his amps turned up to 11 also. I feel that's just to much, 9.5 and I'm out of there!
(I couldn't resist when I saw the picture with 11 on the knobs!)
 
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