Bigun, I very much agree. I don't know much about how higher voltage capacitors sound better, or how a lower impedance transformer sounds better, but I can't say otherwise. However, there are one or two things to add. Certainly, operating transistors as much in their linear region as possible makes a big difference. I implement this concept in my designs. Higher voltages requires bigger resistances, and this forces one to be careful when picking resistors. But the truest thing is that when designing with higher voltages, I most definitely take much more care and pay much more attention to detail.
In my 12 years of building amplifiers, my vote is definitely for higher voltage for class AB.
In my 12 years of building amplifiers, my vote is definitely for higher voltage for class AB.
Yup. It's a KNOB POSITION
If you regularly listen under those conditions, its the Volume Control setting that achieves all the above. Then you play Pano's test signal to find out if you have enough power.
Jokes aside, YOU set the level depending on YOUR MUSIC and the loudness level YOU like.
If you like your music completely saturated. It was awful. it may not be worthwhile getting a bigger amp as recommended by the test as it won't have the completely saturated, awful sound.
Thanks to ALL for indulging me with my joking post.....
But to also set jokes aside...
I think Pano's test is a clever way for us to see how little power most of us probably use in everyday listening.
I'm thinking it doesn't apply too well in my particular case, because I'm pretty sure I listen very loud compared to most, and at times REALLY loud.
But it's very clean sound.....not at all saturated or clipped or even excessive THD for that matter. My goal has been to obtain as loud as clean as possible. No clean = no good = turn down.
It's around 103dB 1 watt as best as I can make putting such a spec on a 4-way active system. System stays acceptably clean through high 120's. (SPL slow flat)
The 4-way active system also begs which amp/voltage to measure for the test (invariably subs). For instance, I use peak and RMS limiters on each channel.
RMS settings are: SUB 60v, MF 60v, HF 30v, and VHF 25v.
Peak settings are 160v, 120v, 80v, and 50v.
So I guess to me, as illuminating as it is to see how little voltage we might use in everyday lowish level listening..it just doesn't mean anything when it's time to rock
Hi Drewan, those were of course 1m numbers i was throwing around..
System stays nice and clean to about 110dB at 8m. Add another 6 dB if I've had enough wine
Airspace is either indoors or out.
Everything always sounds cleaner outdoors.....
IME, the room is the weakest link in the chain, unless I do a lot of acoustic engineering.
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Thanks, perhaps it is. I have been surprised by the relatively low numbers, I didn't know what to expect.
My real hope was to get people to think in terms of volts, not watts. And to test fro themselves if they have enough headroom.
Drivers sensitivities will benefit from this way of thinking. Many are still expressed in dB SPL for 1 W at 1 m but the real measurements are not made with 1 W but with a voltage input.
I've found most speaker specification sheets quote the sensitivity at 1 meter for 2.83 V. So the movement is there, and I wholly appreciate it.
Got it measured to 2.14 Vrms with 120 Hz test signal. Speakers are 85 dB/2.83V/1m and the music track I used was "Love is a drug" by Grace Jones. In that frequency range the job gets done by the woofer which is deployed all the way through 650 Hz, first XO point to dome midrange. Now what?
Nice goals/learning assists
And then I guess, the next step would be to trade in the idea of nominal impedance, for impedance curves...
Testing bass amplifier required
I just finished my active xo opamp 24db filter for my OB 21", with cut off around 80Hz plus bass boost from windows 12db @50Hz.
my amplifier for bass is aragon2004, 100W 8ohm / 200W 4ohm.
i play (Wiz Khalifa - See you again) video downloaded from youtube which has good bass.
I set the volume to get my reference bass level in 3x5m room with left bass speaker only, then measure voltage on speaker. highest voltage that my dmm shows is around 15V during the song played.
2nd test is connecting right bass speaker to left speaker to make them paralel, now i have to reduce volume control to get same reference level with previous 1 speaker only. highest voltage on dmm is around 12V.
with this figure, does my aragon2004 still have headroom? I will also use this setup later for watching bluray movie which should have more dynamic than youtube video.
I had a plan to build apex h900tef or buy inuke nu3000dsp, but still considering aragon2004 usage.
I just finished my active xo opamp 24db filter for my OB 21", with cut off around 80Hz plus bass boost from windows 12db @50Hz.
my amplifier for bass is aragon2004, 100W 8ohm / 200W 4ohm.
i play (Wiz Khalifa - See you again) video downloaded from youtube which has good bass.
I set the volume to get my reference bass level in 3x5m room with left bass speaker only, then measure voltage on speaker. highest voltage that my dmm shows is around 15V during the song played.
2nd test is connecting right bass speaker to left speaker to make them paralel, now i have to reduce volume control to get same reference level with previous 1 speaker only. highest voltage on dmm is around 12V.
with this figure, does my aragon2004 still have headroom? I will also use this setup later for watching bluray movie which should have more dynamic than youtube video.
I had a plan to build apex h900tef or buy inuke nu3000dsp, but still considering aragon2004 usage.
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I've added low tones to the 2nd post. It is a single, zipped, MP3 mono file that has 10 seconds of sines at 25Hz, 30Hz, 40Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz. That should allow you to see the voltages going to your subwoofer. Use the highest voltage you see when added to the poll.
You might want to report what you find in the thread.
You might want to report what you find in the thread.
I am sure that I apply the test right, I also surprised how low that I measure the voltage, I set the DMM to AC 20V scale and measure the + and - poles of the speaker and the reading was 1.8V, while listening music readings was changing like 0.5V to 1.2V my amplifier is balanced, is that effects the measurement?