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Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
#442429 05/08/21 11:14 PM
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I was curious as to how much power i am actually using in my room with the M5HP speakers. Just for the fun of it, I hooked up a Kill-A-Watt meter to the outlet that I plugged the pair of AudioSource Amp One/A. As they are rated at 80watts continuous each channel, so with my setup it should peak at around 320 watts.

The room is about 120 sq-ft. so it doesn't take too much to fill the room with sound. On my Decibel meter it is reading around the 72-75db that is plenty loud enough for me.

The Amp One/A are a A/B class amp, so they consume about 25watts each in idle according to the Kill-A-Watt meter. What I found interesting was with most music they only peak to around 30-35watts. I did get them up to a whole 42watts playing some Green Day.

But right now I am listening to Led Zeppelin, A whole lot of Love, and it's averaging around 28watts peaking up to 31 every so often. So its quite interesting that I really don't need for my listening experience that much power. Now I know there might be some instant power requirements that might peek to a higher instant wattage requirement that is much higher but is so fast the Kill-A-Watt meter can't measure it. That can also be that the Amp One/A does have what looks like a big Toroidal power supply so i don't think it's starving for power and can provide the peaks without stressing the power input.

Just find it rather interesting


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Re: Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
MMM #442430 05/09/21 12:04 AM
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If the system is averaging 28W with Zeppelin, and the amp consumes 25W at idle, then only 3W are making it to the M5s. Sadly enough, of those 3W, only 30mW are used for producing sound pressure. The other 2.97W mostly heat the voice coil.

I am curious what voltage and current the meter is reading for those 28W.

Last edited by Mojo; 05/09/21 12:05 AM.

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Re: Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
MMM #442431 05/09/21 01:56 AM
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The first watt into the speaker (like Mojo pointed out amps use power even when they are not feeding any to the speakers) gets you to a normal listening level (assuming a somewhat efficient speaker). Not loud but not background in say a 1500 cu.ft. room. You'll still hit 32W peaks for highly dynamic music ... just not going to see it on a watt meter.

I should qualify that normal means a normal listening volume for me ... Mojo might need a bit more smile

Last edited by rrlev; 05/09/21 02:04 AM. Reason: added some qualifying statements
Re: Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
MMM #442432 05/09/21 02:13 AM
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FirstWatt - when one Watt nominal is all you need

https://www.firstwatt.com/prod.html

My rooms can really only handle 1 Watt. Any more and they and their contents are launched into complex harmonic motion.


House of the Rising Sone
Out in the mid or far field
Dedicated mid-woofers are over-rated
Re: Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
MMM #442433 05/09/21 02:17 AM
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Hawwwwww...I love his FAQ.

https://www.firstwatt.com/faq.html


House of the Rising Sone
Out in the mid or far field
Dedicated mid-woofers are over-rated
Re: Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
MMM #442434 05/09/21 02:22 AM
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I used to use a beefy Kenwood KA9100 amp driving a pair of 87db efficient Dahlquist speakers in my garage system. That's where I went to smoke a cigar. Anyway, the amp was on the desk, and I was very surprised to see that at normal listening levels (for me) the amp power meters rarely displayed even 1 watt output, usually less. I listen to jazz, female vocals, crooners, Ludovico Einaudi's atmospherics, etc. Sounded good.

If the first watt is no good, who cares how many more like it are lined up behind it.


Enjoy the Music. Trust your ears. Laugh at Folks Who Claim to Know it All.
Re: Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
MMM #442762 07/01/21 08:37 AM
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Great conversation here!
I'm just confused in the site structure.. only single thread shown in screen and others are listed down..

Last edited by kernuc89; 07/01/21 08:51 AM.
Re: Surprised how many amps I am actually using.
MMM #442766 07/02/21 12:20 PM
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Log in to your account and go to Preferences. There you can change the formatting for the boards.


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