Does gain setting affect amp efficiency?

[kngadrok 10+ year member]

I had a look at my settings and they are almost (if this is possible) set to 0(JL A6450).

I was wondering if you have your gains set too high if that would affect the efficiency of your amp, and if they are set very low if that would allow your amp to run more efficiently. Or does gain ONLY have an effect on the drivers, and none what so ever on the efficiency of an amp?

On my H/U, the loudest I can turn it up to is about 15-17, but I believe it will go to 35 (alpine 9856), it gets loud enough for me, and is crystal clear.

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[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Most of the amp specs I see, the higher the output at the lowest ohms is the most efficient. For example, a 2000w RMS at 14.4v amp that is stable at 0.5ohm will be most efficient running 2000w @ 0.5ohm, at 14.4v. Again, this is just from the amp specs i've seen, and could very well depend on the manufacturer.

 

[kngadrok 10+ year member]

Then optimum efficiency of an amp is impossible to attain without producing noise or clipping?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

If I read your response correctly.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

Basically, in a real world setup with gains all the way up your either going to clip the heck out of it or get noise. With gains all the way down your probably not extracting the full power of the amp.

 

[thch 10+ year member]

the gain itself has little impact on efficiency, beyond any parasitic noise gain and associated losses. the major losses are in the current-gain stage of the amp, not the voltage-gain stage.