when an amp specs say it has for example 400w x4 channels what does that mean?

Question

im confused whether that would be 100w per channel or whether it is 400 watts for all 4 channels added up. also, what other things should i take into consideration when buying an amp?

Answer 1

Here's the quick and dirty...wattage and ratings can be very deceiving. Orion used to make an amp that was as big as the back of the trunk of the car for competitions called the "1 watt" amp. When reading specs. on an amp a couple of things you need to consider.

1. How much power can it push?

2. Sound clarity.

1. #1 is the complicated question. The textbook answer for your question would be the amp should be rated at 100x4 watts constant power, at whatever ohms the specs. are set at. RMS is the number for constant power Peak is also measured and should be on the sheet somewhere. Note.....A lot of amp companies will list their peak power instead of RMS as the amp's rating because it is almost always a lot higher. That's why when you go to the pawnshop and see a 5000 watt amp go for like 40$, you have to ask questions. The next part to that answer is bridging and ohms. Bridging is simply connecting 2 or more channels to bring them to 1. Bridging 2 channels to 1 can make the amps 2 channels more powerful. So you will look at the amp and see its ratings for bridged. Next ohms. You have to look at the number of ohms your speakers are rated at and how low the amp will go. 2-4 ohm speakers wired in paralell will create a 4 ohm load. 2-8 ohms will bring a 4 ohm load and so on. If an amp is not rated stable at the load you are trying to run it...it will die!

2. Clarity-THD is the number on the sheet or back of the amp you will want to look at. The amp should say ___amount of THD at a certain ohm load. That number has to be below .05% or noticable distortion will occur and the speakers will puke the voice coil through the cone. Running distorted speakers at high volume is risky business and sounds sh*tty. So please!! don't do it.

If you can read theese numbers and put them together and buy an amp in your price range you will be on the right track. It can be confusing as hell at first, but once you understand these basics there is not much too it. If you can't hook it up right get someone to help you...I guess would be my other advice

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Reaper is completely wrong but keep in mind what Candl says. THD stands for Total Harmonic Distortion
it means the amps has 400 watts total and is split up between 4 channels (100 watts per channel). Probably right front, left front, right rear, left rear. If an amp was 500w x1 then it would be 500 watts total sent to one channel. channel would basically mean how many speaker outputs it has and line level inputs it has. You could theoretically hook up an infinite amount of speakers to one amp depending on the OHM stability of the amp. Most amps are 4 ohm stable at least. the Ohm is determined by the speaker so keep that in mind whil looking for amp and speaker combinations

Answer 3

this spec is for MAX power, not RMS power. essentially it means that, if necessary, this amp can deliver up to 400 watts per channel. so this amp can potentially deliver 400 watts x 4 channels. were it 100 watts per channel then it would say, 100 x 4. this appears to be quite a heavy amp from the specs but again, this is only max power. What you need to look for is RMS power. this is constant output from the amp at normal play. rule of thumb is that whatever the listed or max power is, RMS is half of that. so this amp would deliver about 200 watts RMS x 4 channels. not bad but since this is quite a high power amp, I'm curious what brand this amp is. generally cheaper amps are more enticing due to larger power outputs specified btu aren't always true to specs. forget about Max power and look for RMS power, this is what really matter when looking for an amp.

Answer 4

Exactly how it's stated. 400 watt X 4 channels. Since this is most likely peak. RMS is what you should really look at as well as the impedance at the RMS watts.

It's most likely 200 watts RMS X 4 @ 2 ohms.

Answer 5

reaper king is right, it's 400w by 4 channels meaning it is capable of a max power output of 400w. but to run it at the setting would eventually overheat the amp and damage components inside.

Look for high RMS values vs high peak values. RMS values is what the amp is most comfortable running at.

Answer 6

Its 100 watts per channel so it would equal 400 watts. I do think thats right.

Answer 7

actually reaper is completely right. Usually companies will display the max wattage, but some like JL will show RMS. and RMS is usually half the peak wattage, unless its a peice of sh it like some pioneer stuff that says 800 watts and the rms is 150.

Answer 8

yah man, look for RMS (root mean squared) power ratings. max power......oy.......companies will spray FREON into the amps to cool it off and use a fake load, not a REAL speaker load, and then turn the amp off and then crank it and hit it hard and smoke the thing, and that's the max rating for the amp. a lot of times, when it comes down to it, you get what you pay for.

Answer 9

Did yer understand the international soccer cup. became into as quickly as stolen out of a keep window, and a dogs referred to as ''Pickles'' stumbled on it decrease than a bush, what do yer think of approximately that then .. seem it up'

Answer 10

100watts x4 =400w

100watts per channel