Professional Power Amplifier Purchasing Guide
Whether for commercial or home use, professional power amplifier is a kind of audio equipment with high cost performance.
LayviKay, as a reliable audio factory of such products, hopes that through some simple product introduction, buyers and music lovers can further understand these products.
What Is A Professional Power Amplifier?
Professional power amplifier is a device that increases the power of an input signal. It’s specially designed for commercial places like clubs, dance halls, theaters, and auditoriums. It has a high sensitivity, excellent strength, and power. It has many features similar to home power amplifiers, but the sound quality is more powerful and it looks very sturdy.
These power amplifiers are primarily geared for use by professionals, and the demand has increased recently. This is because many stage arts or wedding companies need these audio equipment. Of course, these professional devices are also essential electronics for music lovers.
How To Choose The Best Professional Power Amplifier?
Choosing the right audio amplifier can be a complex task, as there are many factors to consider. Here are some basic purchasing guide of professional power amplifier to consider when selecting them.
Power Output
Consider the power output of the audio amplifier, which is usually measured in watts. Choose an amplifier that provides enough power to drive your speakers without distortion or clipping. It’s recommended to have an amplifier that has 20-30% more power than your speakers’ maximum power rating.
Number of Channels
Choose a power amplifier that has the number of channels required to power all of your speakers. Most commercial amplifiers have two,three or four channels, but larger systems may require more channels.
Load Impedance
Load impedance indicates the load capacity of the amplifier. The lower the impedance of the load, the greater the current capacity that the amplifier can pass. Generally speaking, the minimum load of most amplifiers is 4 ohms, and the better quality ones are usually 2 ohms. If the amplifier can load 4 ohms when dual channeled, it can load 8 ohms when bridged.
Similarly, if the amplifier can load 2 ohms when dual channeled, it can load 4 ohms when bridged. while the amplifier can only load 8 ohms in the bridged state, it can’t load a lower impedance or it will be burned out due to excessive current.
Meanwhile,make sure the power amplifier’s impedance matches the speakers’ impedance. Choosing the wrong impedance could lead to distortion and damage to the speakers.
Damping Factor
The damping factor is the ratio of the resistance of the amplifier output to the resistance of the speaker input. It is one of the important parameters to measure the ability of the amplifier output circuit to control the speaker.
The damping factor is related to the design of the amplifier output circuit. The change of current output causes a change of output voltage, which goes on to control the vibration of the loudspeaker.
If the resistance of the output circuit is very small, the output voltage will vary greatly and the vibration of the speaker will be unstable, which will deteriorate the sound quality. That is, the sound quality will become softer and looser sounding.
The greater the damping factor, the more control the amplifier has over the speakers. The better the sound quality will be.
However, when the damping factor is too large, the vibration of the speaker will be in over-control and will damage the speaker. That is, the sound quality will be stiffer and the sound will be tight.
Therefore, different music genres and personal preferences need to be matched with different damping factors.
THD
Harmonic distortion is a type of distortion caused by nonlinear components in the amplifier.This distortion causes the audio signal to produce many new harmonic components that are superimposed on the original signal, creating a signal with a distorted waveform. Superimposing these distorted signals is the total harmonic distortion.The smaller the percentage, the lower the harmonic distortion, which means the better the circuit performance.
Currently, the harmonic distortion of Hi-Fi amplifiers is generally controlled below 0.05%, and the harmonic distortion of many high-quality amplifiers has been less than 0.01%, while the harmonic distortion of professional-grade audio amplifiers is generally controlled below 0.03%. In fact, when the total harmonic distortion is less than 0.1%, it is hard enough for the human ear to distinguish it.
In addition, you need to pay special attention to the total harmonic distortion test standard. For example, the total harmonic distortion specification for an audio amplifier is indicated as THD<0.009% (1W).
It seems that the total harmonic distortion is very small, but it is only the total harmonic distortion at an output power of 1W. This is different from the total harmonic distortion value obtained base on the international standards measurement.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission specifies that the total harmonic distortion value must be measured over the full audio range of 20-20,000 Hz. The maximum power of an amplifier must be measured with an 8-ohm speaker load and a THD of less than 1%. Therefore, when looking at the THD value, you should pay attention to the test standard.
SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio)
Noise is unwelcome but unavoidable in electrical devices and components. The signal-to-noise ratio of a power amplifier is the number of decibels of the ratio of the level of various noises (e.g., alternating current, white noise) at the output of the amplifier to the level of the output signal. The higher the decibel value of the signal-to-noise ratio, the lower the noise of the amplifier and the better the performance.
Crosstalk
Channel crosstalk means that there is crosstalk between the two amplifier channels inside the amplifier through circuit coupling. If this value is not good, it means that the signal of one channel will be strung to another channel, so as to produce an unclean sound in another channel.
The value of channel crosstalk is generally around -60 dB. When this value is labeled with a negative value, the lower the value, the higher the separation between the two amplified channels and the cleaner the sound.
Connectivity
Consider the connectivity options of the amplifier, such as the number of input and output ports, and whether it has digital or analog inputs,ground lift,bridge,stereo mono, parallel,etc. This will determine how you can connect your audio sources to the amplifier.
The Best Power Amplifiers from LayviKay
Today, we’ll talk about some of the best professional power amplifiers and public address power amplifiers from a reliable manufacturer, so keep reading.
If you’re wondering about the brand, it’s Layvikay, one of the top companies manufacturing different electronic goods. This power amplifier manufacturer has created several models of professional power amplifiers with exciting features. So, you can check those out and select the most suitable audio equipment according to your requirements and preferences. So take a look at the vital features of different power amplifier models.
