And now for a rant about another of my pet peeves. I often see postings in which people talk about how loud their amp gets. Generally, these take the form of “my old Sherwood 7010a may only have 12 watts per channel, but this thing can get LOUD!”.
There are only two variables in how loud your amp will get:
1. Output power
2. Speaker efficiency
To keep it simple, I’m leaving sound quality out of the discussion. But of course if you drive an amp past its capabilities, it starts clipping and sound degrades. If you drive speakers beyond their power handling capabilities, they bottom out and/or burn up.
OK, back to my peeve. If your Sherwood 7010a is getting LOUD, it’s either because the speakers you are using are very efficient, you are sitting six inches from them, or your hearing is hypersensitive. In any case, an amp can only get as loud as its output power capability will allow.
In other words, ALL amps of equal output power will produce the same volume (decibels) through the same pair of speakers. Yes, some amps will have better dynamics than others due to more robust power supplies, and some amps will sound better than others because of differences in design. But how LOUD they get will be the same.
Since I’m on a roll, how about the proud comments regarding position of the volume knob? As in “this amp gets really LOUD, and the knob is only turned to 10 o’clock. Aaaarrrgggghhhhh.
The taper from one volume pot to another varies quite significantly, even within pots specified as having an “audio taper”. The output at 10 o’clock might be as little as 5% with one pot, and as high as 30% with another.
The volume an amp is capable of producing has nothing to do with position of the volume control. The fact that one amp gets very loud at 10 o’clock and another amp rated at the same output wattage must be at 12 o’clock to achieve the same loudness says nothing about the power of the amps….it speaks only to the taper of the volume pot.
I rest my case. Go back to your homes, you can do no good here.
There are only two variables in how loud your amp will get:
1. Output power
2. Speaker efficiency
To keep it simple, I’m leaving sound quality out of the discussion. But of course if you drive an amp past its capabilities, it starts clipping and sound degrades. If you drive speakers beyond their power handling capabilities, they bottom out and/or burn up.
OK, back to my peeve. If your Sherwood 7010a is getting LOUD, it’s either because the speakers you are using are very efficient, you are sitting six inches from them, or your hearing is hypersensitive. In any case, an amp can only get as loud as its output power capability will allow.
In other words, ALL amps of equal output power will produce the same volume (decibels) through the same pair of speakers. Yes, some amps will have better dynamics than others due to more robust power supplies, and some amps will sound better than others because of differences in design. But how LOUD they get will be the same.
Since I’m on a roll, how about the proud comments regarding position of the volume knob? As in “this amp gets really LOUD, and the knob is only turned to 10 o’clock. Aaaarrrgggghhhhh.
The taper from one volume pot to another varies quite significantly, even within pots specified as having an “audio taper”. The output at 10 o’clock might be as little as 5% with one pot, and as high as 30% with another.
The volume an amp is capable of producing has nothing to do with position of the volume control. The fact that one amp gets very loud at 10 o’clock and another amp rated at the same output wattage must be at 12 o’clock to achieve the same loudness says nothing about the power of the amps….it speaks only to the taper of the volume pot.
I rest my case. Go back to your homes, you can do no good here.
