What is better, High Current Amp or bigger speakers.?

Question

I am always buying speakers from thrift stores and Goodwill stores whenever i see good matching pairs. I am dying to get a pair like my roommates old pair, but even when i get huge Nearly brand new speakers they just don't put out the impact of some older ones. Any Ideas? Comments.

Answer 1

As a basic rule of thumb, size does matter for the most part.
The only exception is when you get into the high-end class of
loudspeakers.

Look for a speaker system that has 10" woofers or larger.
Horn-loaded speakers normally give you the greatest impact
(i.e. loudness levels and dynamics). Cerwin Vega and Klipsch
are brands that have these designs. Perhaps one of the best
for what you're looking for is from the 15" Cerwin Vega designs.
DCM 10" or 12" and some older model Radio Shack 15" models.

Feel free to e-mail me with any speakers you're considering, and
I will be more than happy to give you an idea as to its performance.

What can give you increased impact:

- A speaker system that has a high sensitivity rating of 90dB or better.

- A speaker system that can play bass down flat to 30Hz or lower.

- A good hearty woofer system and/or horn loaded drivers.

- A good high-current amplifier does help matters indeed.

- An amp that is capable of driving a 4 Ohm speaker system.

H a p p y
L i s t e n i n g !

Answer 2

I agree partyl with the 3rd answer. The first 2 are majorly incorrect. However the 3rd one is slightly mistaken as well. I am an electrical engineer, and I have worked in high-end home theatre and these issues come up often.

First, the amount of current is completely separate from the impedance of the speakers. In electricity V=IR. Voltage = current x resistance. Its is related to impedance, but its easier to see it this way. So basically what it means is that it doesn't matter what the current is. In many amps now a days, high or low current, you have a switch on the back to change from 4-8 ohms. Mismatching results in blowing the Amp or the speakers.

The main reason for a high current amp is twofold. First its easy to bump up the wattage of an amp by increasing voltage, Amps are harder to increase so you get a cleaner sound. Second, the higher the amps the faster an amp can start and stop the signal from being outputted to a speaker. What this does is make the sounds more distinct, although most people cannot hear this.

Ultimately what you need to consider is that an amp that produces 700 Watts, does this over all the channels. So you are only going to get maybe 100 -110 w per channel. So your speakers may say 500w, but it doesn't matter. Plus there is something in engineering called root mean sqaured which is the actual power handled. The advertised watts in speakers, is always high.

Answer 3

Both of the first two answers are majorly incorrect.

In regards to having speakers that aren't capable of handling the total power output of the amp, this is a common occurance and is not bad at all. In casual listening you will rarely average more than 30 watts/channel. The rest of the power is for sudden transients that peak at a very high power or if you are driving large speakers at low frequencies. Since most speaker systems have a seperate sub nowadays and crossovers exist so that speakers don't have to handle the lower frequencies this really isn't an issue.

It is much worse to have too weak an amp powering speakers. This is an easy way to damage speakers as you will often drive the amp to its clipping point. When the speakers receive a signal that is clipping they have a tendancy to damage themselves.

Do not worry about having speakers that are rated under the max current/channel.

High current amps are normally advertised as such because they can handle lower impedence speakers. For instance, most amps out there are ideally meant to power 8 ohm speakers. When you attach a 4 ohm speaker to the amp, it outputs double the power(ideally) and is much more difficult to drive. Normally, "high current" amps will be able to handle these loads should you choose to use them.

Another important issue is the efficiency of speakers. Speakers rated with a higher efficiency will be easier to drive and therefor can go louder on less power.

For home theater speakers, you will want to look for speakers with a frequency response of somewhere between 20 Hz and 80 Hz on the low end(-3dB point) and 20,000 Hz on the high end.

If you get speakers with a 80 Hz lower frequency response point you will definitely want a seperate subwoofer to cover the low frequency range. If you get speakers with a -3dB point towards the 20 Hz range a seperate sub will be optional but most enthusiasts will still get one as it can handle the lower frequencies better.

Obviously the theory is a little different for car audio speakers as they most often aren't meant to alone cover the entire frequency spectrum but the idea is still generally the same.

EDIT: I don't know what the person below me says I was wrong on, but nothing he said conflicts with what I said and I am an EE also...

Answer 4

I think everyone is getting a little too passionate with ideas that are very subjective and have no real scientific fact behind them.

Can anybody give me a scientific formula for good sound????

I though not.

A good sound is the judgment of the listener and nothing else.

To obtain a good sound there are a few basic rules.

1/ Look at your listening area. Chose speakers that will fill the room nicely whilst been powered at around 70% of their suggested wattage. This will eliminate wastage of power.

2/ By an amp that is approx 25% larger RMS output than your speakers can take. This will help eliminate any amp clipping that will destroy your speakers in a split second (no joke. That is all it takes)

3/Whenever you are testing speakers, take your own amp to the store and your favourite CD. You are the only accurate jusge of what sounds good to you.

Answer 5

You can pretty much ignore the two first responses. At best they are only partly valid.

First, high current and speaker size are unrelated.

The real measure of an amplifier is RMS watts (not "dynamic" or "peak to peak" or "music" watts). High current capability is related to the power supply and generally, as you allude, higher is better. Two manufacturers associated with high current are NAD and Harmon Kardon, and you will probably note their products tend to have very conservative power ratings, but get good reviews. While getting good sound depends on a solid amplifier, it doesn't require high power for good sound (although everything else being equal louder does require more power).

Your real question really relates to speakers though.

First a few facts. Good sound is dependent on a number of things, including: wide, flat frequency response; low distortion; high dynamic range; fast transient response; lack of ringing; and, wide dispersion. See link 1 for definitions.

Speakers come in all sizes and are built according to a number of different enclosure design approaches (e.g. acoustic suspension, bass reflex) and may be designed to propugate sound directly or indirectly or a mix. Finally, they can be full spectrum or designed to work in combination with a sub-woofer to provide the low frequency end of the audio spectrum (reducing the demands on -- and often the size of -- the main or satellite speakers).

It is arguably more difficult to design a smaller speaker than a large one to give good sound. This, plus manufacturers' awareness that many consumers assume that bigger is better, may be why there are a lot of poor, large box speakers.

An important consideration is speaker efficiency -- in essence how loud is the output for a certain amount of input power. A speaker's efficiency is measured in decibels (dB), with the reading made at a distance 1 meter away from the front of the speaker while the speaker is being driven at 1 watt. Speaker efficiency can range from less than 86db to more than 95db, and when you consider that a 3 db increase in volume requires a doubling of amplifier power an efficient speaker can mean a reduction in the amplifier power requirements.

Careful reading of the last sentence will reveal a key fact about sound ... it takes twice as much power (with specified equipment) to give a 3 db increase in volume (3 db is NOT twice as loud). Therefore, 10-20 more watts is not going to make appreciable difference to volume. On the other hand really loud requires very high power. Plan accordingly.

But rather than get into an even longer winded answer I have include the second link below to a good "primer" on speakers. Read it and you will be better informed about what to look for in speakers.

Finally, a suggestion for how to get some good speakers without spending a fortune. In essence, look for some good used speakers at a local audio shop that accepts trades. You have already suggested you appreciate that older speakers can be excellent. So just consider that speakers age well -- some of my best speakers are over 20 years old -- and are available for a fraction of the cost of new.

How to know which used speakers to look for? Read reviews from past years (see link 3 as one example) and then listen to the speakers you are interested in with your type of music and an amplifier with similar power to what you will be using.

Hope this helps a bit.

Answer 6

first of all you need high end wattage speakers. if you have 500 wat speakers and you buy a 1000 watt amp, you could blow out your speakers, but more so its not all about whats but the current. what you need is an amp that has not only the watts, but that can also push those wats out at a high speed. I know people who boutght 2000 watt amps for like $200 and they are crap because they can put out fast enough. just make sure you have an amp with at least 500 watts that can blast them out fast as hell. then make sure you have speakers that can handle the watts. this will give you the "hit" (the thump you feel in your chest when the speakers get blasted with the watts) that your lookin for and it will be as loud as hell. Good Luck!

Answer 7

Strait out just look for a pair that have the highest spl rating..Db..ect...and Yes I agree larger woofers move more air for more impact and horns are the loudest and most efficient

Answer 8

Well you not only need High watts on your speaker you need a good freaquency response, and also good db. If you want alot of bass then get speakers that have lower freaquency response like 29-7000 hz if you want more high pitch then get somthing that has alot of range. Get speakers with high db like db 6 then it will be louder in the bass and softer the high pitch. Hope this helped!!!

Answer 9

High Current Amp.because that where the sound is processed