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<blockquote data-quote="squeak9798" data-source="post: 3367211" data-attributes="member: 555320">I don&#039;t agree with that statement at all.An amplifier is only capable of a certain amount of unclipped power no matter what impedance load it&#039;s driving.This statement is a little closer to accurate, however I would say it&#039;s only indirectly related to the gain setting (at best) and the gain setting isn&#039;t a defining factor of &quot;headroom&quot;.As many people typically refer to the term, &quot;headroom&quot; is essentially how much &quot;extra&quot; power output capability the amplifier has as compared to how much power you need from the amplifier to fully power your speakers.Take this example:You&#039;re listening to music at an average power output level of 30w and the music has dynamic peaks of 6db (which means the peaks will increase the power output by a factor of 4 to 120w).&nbsp; You are comparing two 2-channel amplifiers; one has a maximum unclipped power output of 75w per channel the other a maximum unclipped power output of 250w per channel.&nbsp; As you can see, the 75w amplifier will probably clip during those dynamic peaks causing distortion during those peaks, whereas the 250w amplifier will still be well within it&#039;s linear operating limits keeping distortion to a minimum.This is the concept behind &quot;headroom&quot;.It just so happens that the gain on the 250w amplifier would probably be set to a &quot;lower&quot; level than that of the 75w amplifier since it would probably take less input voltage to obtain an average output level of 30w from the larger amplifier.&nbsp; But that doesn&#039;t really &quot;define&quot; what amplifier has more &quot;headroom&quot;.Clear as mud ??</blockquote>

[QUOTE="squeak9798, post: 3367211, member: 555320"] I don't agree with that statement at all. An amplifier is only capable of a certain amount of unclipped power no matter what impedance load it's driving. This statement is a little closer to accurate, however I would say it's only [I]indirectly[/I] related to the gain setting (at best) and the gain setting isn't a defining factor of "headroom". As many people typically refer to the term, "headroom" is essentially how much "extra" power output capability the amplifier has as compared to how much power you need from the amplifier to fully power your speakers. Take this example: You're listening to music at an average power output level of 30w and the music has dynamic peaks of 6db (which means the peaks will increase the power output by a factor of 4 to 120w). You are comparing two 2-channel amplifiers; one has a maximum unclipped power output of 75w per channel the other a maximum unclipped power output of 250w per channel. As you can see, the 75w amplifier will probably clip during those dynamic peaks causing distortion during those peaks, whereas the 250w amplifier will still be well within it's linear operating limits keeping distortion to a minimum. This is the concept behind "headroom". It [I]just so happens[/I] that the gain on the 250w amplifier would probably be set to a "lower" level than that of the 75w amplifier since it would probably take less input voltage to obtain an average output level of 30w from the larger amplifier. But that doesn't really "define" what amplifier has more "headroom". Clear as mud ?? [/QUOTE]

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