A general question about HA

[IDSkoT 5,000+ posts]

I noticed that a lot of Home Audio stuff is rated at lower watts. My initial thought was that the AC current provides a much strong base of power... but then I realized Watts are just v * a, so there's no real way to get around it. That's how much power the driver's seeing.

For instance, my 8" TB Sub rattles my whole house off ~50 watts RMS, while my car speakers are seeing about 600 watts RMS, and while they hit pretty hard, they don't rattle glasses that are in a completely different room 20ft away.

I understand there are enviromental factors, or is that all that there is? Just the static / stagnant environment of rooms that allows for speakers to receive less power? Well, more so subs. From my limited research, I've found that most processors produce about 100 watts RMS to mid-range / full range speakers. While the ever-popular Bash 500 watt plate amp is similair in popularity as the SD SAZ-1500, which produces 3 times more power.

Is it the environment that makes HT subs so much more efficient? 'cause I'm at a loss.

joetama, inform me plz. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif

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[tcguy85 10+ year member]

there at no spl comps for home audio. thats why. usually for home audio people try to focus on SQ and not just loud bass. a 500 watt sub is enough for music in most rooms.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

It's Hoffman's Iron Law at work: http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7115

In a vehicle, unless you have a cargo van, you're limited in the space your subwoofer enclosures can fit in. And even if you have unlimited room for subwoofers, you're limited in space for the midbasses/midranges - usually limited to the doors or kickpods. Space is at a premium, even in a large vehicle.

In addition, at home you don't have road noise to raise the noise floor.

The amps in my apartment are capable of 8 watts at most, and usually I listen at a fraction of that. However, to do that the 6.5" speakers I use require horns that are six feet high...I couldn't hope to do that with smaller mini-monitors with my current amps. Having very large cabinets was a tradeoff I was willing to make to get excellent midbass potential and still use that power level.

There are a lot of people that use amps down to power levels of 1.5 watts, but they require very large horns with sensitivities in the 105dB/W+ range.

Again, there are always exceptions to the rule. Some home speakers, such as Magnepans and electrostatic panel speakers like Quads, require a lot of power to get enough dynamic range. Some people run 400W+ per channel to them, using pro amps or large bridged multichannels.

Hope this helps.

 

[fuster 10+ year member]

A good amplifier with 60 wrms per channel will work fine for home audio. An amplified sub woofer can have a 200 watt amplifer and it will be more than enough. Not sure how to give you "facts and data" to answer your question, but you just don't need all those watts in a home unless you live next to an L-train line and your washer is unbalanced and is running when you listen to music and the cat is meowing, the dog is barking, etc. Also, DC powered amplifiers develop more watts power than an AC amplifier, per amp of electricity.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Also, DC powered amplifiers develop more watts power than an AC amplifier, per amp of electricity.

There are some high-efficiency chip amps that may dispute that claim //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

Again, there are always exceptions to the rule. Some home speakers, such as Magnepans and electrostatic panel speakers like Quads, require a lot of power to get enough dynamic range. Some people run 400W+ per channel to them, using pro amps or large bridged multichannels.

Hope this helps.

Best way to power Maggies IMHO. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif