100 Watts

[Slammed 5,000+ posts]

Will I notice a difference between an amplifier that is rated at 400 watts RMS @ 14v and an amp that is rated at 500 watts RMS @ 14v?

Subwoofer is rated at 500 watts

Thanks

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[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

If it were between 2000w and 2100w, i would say no, but in this case, thats a 20% difference. Should be noticable.

 

[Slammed 5,000+ posts]

thank for your reply

but wouldnt it be less than a 1db difference?

also...main reason I wanted to get a new amp was due to the fact that my gains are currently at 75% (I want to avoid possible clipping).

 

[danp129 10+ year member]

It doesn't matter what your gains are set to as long as it's set correctly. If your HU put out 6v and your amp accepted a max of 5v then the amp would be clipping at 0% gain when the volume is cranked up. If the max sensitivity of the amp was 1v and your HU only put out .5v then you could turn your gain to 100% and not clip and the amp would never reach it's full power. Basically don't worry bout what position the gain is turned to, just set the gain using a DMM using the stickies.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

10*log(500/400) = .97db (theoretical maximum)

Figure by the time you account for power compression, etc, the difference in output will drop to around .5db or so.

The likelihood of the difference being audible is very low with less than a 1db theoretically maximum difference, and a realistic difference of around .5db-.75db at most.

 

[David12460 10+ year member]

I agree that a 20% increase will be noticable.