Efficient / non efficient amps

[SteelWheel 10+ year member]

What companies are known for producing the more efficient amps?

And going the other way, what companies produce the more inefficient amps?

Is there any place on the internet where I can find the efficiency ratings for amps?

BTW, I am looking at 4 channel amps producing a total of 450 - 600 RMS. I am going to be driving about 125 RMS each to the front two speakers and 200 - 300 to the rear.

BTW, I know that class D amps are more efficient, but it seems to me that there may be some inherent power expense in running seperate amps so that you need to be running higher wattage than I am talking about before you start realizing the benefits of the class D.

One Amp that fits my needs for wattage ois the Kicker 650.4, any thoughts on this amp efficiency or otherwise?

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[Raffi 10+ year member]

Efficient is an OPINION....Opinions are not facs.....We can be here all day with this!

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Efficient is an OPINION....

Err...no.

Amplifier efficiency is dependent on the class of the active devices.

Class D amps are more efficient than Class A/B, and those are more efficient than Class A.

Read: http://www.tpub.com/content/neets/14180/css/14180_18.htm

 

[Raffi 10+ year member]

Errrrrrr.......The word "efficient" is an OPINION.....its not a factual word, like saying the amp is blue(which you can be proven by looiking at the color of the amp, blue)...What's efficient for someone may not be for someone else!

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

What's efficient for someone may not be for someone else!

Yes and no. There are general baselines that are followed. If your car used 10 gallons for every mile it went, would you say it's fuel efficient? Maybe compared to the Space Shuttle or Queen Mary, but certainly not to other cars...I could say a speaker that was rated for 80dB/W was "efficient", or an amp that only converted 20% of the input power into acoustical watts "efficient", but it really wouldn't mean anything.

 

[SteelWheel 10+ year member]

While I appreciate your response, please do not hijack my thread with this debate.

Just look up at the birthsheet sticky and you will see that efficiency has been expressed in terms of percentage for some amps.

My Dodge Quad cab is less fuel efficient than my neighbor's comparable GMC full size truck. Whether effeciency is objective or subjective is not really a matter for debate. (And yes, I know that individual results may vary to some extent depending on use). If you think I am wrong, please do not get upset. Just open a new thread and we can debate it there.

In case it is needed, please let me clarify to all others what knowledge / experience I am looking for on this thread.

I know that some amps use more power than others to produce the same or substantially the same amount of power out to the drivers.

Which amps use more power and which amps use less power to perform their task?

I realize that Class D amps are more efficient than A A/B.

 

[SteelWheel 10+ year member]

It just came up after Jack's response.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

Well, even that is subjective. While efficiency is defined as "the capability of acting or producing effectively with a minimum of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort." that in itself is relative.

Where am I getting at? At full output an amp is usually much more efficient than any other time. I've heard of A/B amps getting 95% efficieny at full output, but at normal listening levels, that could drop to 40% or less. That said, efficiency in an amplifier is never a really large concern.

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[regal 10+ year member]

If amp manufacturers posted their actual current draws and efficiencies you wouldn't need forums like this, probably 75% of the amp manufactuers would go out of business too.

Car audio is a black art. Good amp brands are spread by word of mouth and a good brand today can turn into a bad brand tommorrow. Car audio is truly a black art. That said, at the mid to low price range I have never gone wrong with Harman International amp in the past 17 years.

 

[Polecat 5,000+ posts]

Effecient as in terms of current draw, versus actual output?

 

[cjjackson85 5,000+ posts]

Pwn3d!

 

[Raffi 10+ year member]

Your mother is an IDIOT....Look it up, ask an English teacher, the word efficient is an opinion! NOT A FACT.......

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

The ratio of power in to power out is a numerical value...hardly an opinion. If you fail to realize this, it's silly to continue this...while you can talk about "efficiency" as a comparison without concrete numbers, it's more useful to talk about it in the way Jmac and Polecat said.

While I appreciate your response, please do not hijack my thread with this debate.

I gave you a helpful link in my first reply.

 

[SteelWheel 10+ year member]

Yes, efficient in terms of watt output versus the draw on my amp. I am trying to limit the draw an my 70 amp alternator while satisfying the power needs of the drivers I am looking at ----- 125 rms (each) to the front two components and 200 - 300 to the sub.

What i don't want to do is to go out of my way to buy an amp in this output range only to find out that it consumes the same power as a larger amp made by a different company.

What started this was that I had a couple former Kicker owners caution me against the 650.4 I have been looking at, because, in their experience, their Kickers caused consumption related issues disproportionate to the RMS output.

Thanks for your replys.

 

[iagrdshaka 5,000+ posts]

Your mother is an IDIOT....Look it up, ask an English teacher, the word efficient is an opinion! NOT A FACT.......