Do Crunch Amps equal bad distortion?

[Audio Geek]

You're mixing a class A/B amp with a sub? That's a no no. Class A/B chips have better clarity than class D amps but will have an overheating problem. Class D on the other hand does well with heat but is not made for clarity, but since bass does not have clarity anyway that's why they use it for subs. Hence the term: "Class D mono block".

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

You're mixing a class A/B amp with a sub? That's a no no. Class A/B chips have better clarity than class D amps but will have an overheating problem.

Who says? Some of the best amps (for subwoofer use) ever made are Class A/B. The nature of the design lends itself to "more heat" than a typical Class D, but that does NOT mean that all Class A/B amps will overheat if you drive a subwoofer. In fact, NO Class A/B amps will overheat as long as you don't overdrive, overload, or clip them. It comes down to install/tuning.

 

[porksoda 10+ year member]

So what numbers am I supposed to look for when looking at THD spec and the signal to noise ratio?

 

[350zspl 10+ year member]

So what numbers am I supposed to look for when looking at THD spec and the signal to noise ratio?

under 1% is not really audilble

so look for less than 1 %

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

By their nature speakers produce a lot of distortion. The best, most precision engineered speakers available would contribute to distortion many times that of the cheapest amplifiers.Which only reinforces the point that 1% for an amp is acceptable, and the standard where power measurements are taken.

I always thought this too, and found a thread that someone did at diyma testing speaker distortion...it was considerably less than 1%, but I don't remember at what power level or loudness it was taken at. I'd imagine when listening at a pretty good level it's more than 1% though.