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As more and more people look to upgrade their sound systems people often ask about adding a more powerful amp to their system. Quite often this obsession we like to call our "hobby" leads us on a quest to sonic nirvana. As a group we are frequently upgrading our speakers or source components looking for that last ounce of detail. As a result a great many people find themselves faced with a choice as to how they are going to handle the processing and amplification to properly drive those fancy speakers we just bought. There's more then one school of thought here with those proclaiming that today's high end receivers offer all the latest decoding formats and all the power one could ever need while others declare that receivers can't possible sound as good as a separate amplifier and separate pre amp processor. Which is right often depends on which side of the fence you sit
Lately however there have been a lot of people that have decided to opt for a more compromised solution and are simply adding an external amplifier to their receivers. In many ways this gives you the benefits of the stronger power amp and the affordability of the receivers processing. Of course the big question is does it work? From all the threads that have been posted over the years from people that have added amps and heard benefits and from my own experiences I have to say the answer to that question is a resounding YES. Now some of you might be saying why would adding an external amp that's only rated for 100 watts per channel improve the sound over the amps in my receiver that are also rated at 100 watts per channel? Well there's more then one answer to this complex issue but first lets look at what rated power means. First off there are a variety of ways to measure how many watts your receiver or amp can provide your speakers, essentially it should measure the amps power output across the entire audio frequency (20 hz to 20 khz) at 8 ohms when all channels are being driven at the same time. Unfortunately a number of companies only measure one channel driven or at 1 khz which is easier to drive then the full audio spectrum or they'll measure the output at 6 ohms which boosts the results. Ideally also they should publish the power output at 8 ohms as well as 4 ohms and in an ideal world the rating will double at 4 ohms over the 8 ohm rating. This indicates that the amps power supply is of a very high quality....however in the real world this seldom happens with amps that are priced in most peoples budgets. So now that we know that manufactures are sometimes somewhat deceitful on their receivers power output we might be able to suggest that just because your receiver is rated at 100 watts per channel doesn't mean it is capable of providing that much power. This site here provides us with the bench tests of dozens of receivers and as you can see there are very few that actually provide the wattages they claim to be able to provide. Power amps on the other hand are almost always measured with all channels driven across the full audio spectrum at 4 and 8 ohms (and often 2 ohms) Also true separate amps often surpass the rated power output as is the case with the HK PA5800 which is a budget 5 channel amp from Harmon Kardon. Its only rated at 80 watts per channel but bench tests indicate that it easily provides more power then that. See here for details on the HKPA5800
One must also remember that not all watts are created equal. Different amps of the same wattage will sound quite different from one another depending on a number of factors. By choosing an amp that compliments your room, speakers and processor you should be able to tailor the final sound to one you find pleasing. Unfortunately its difficult for us to tell you what you'll like since we're all individuals but that is not to say we can't make some educated suggestions on which amps to try first or which to avoid completely based on its design etc.
So if you've gotten this far without falling asleep give some thought to adding a power amp to your system and see what benefits you find. If you have a good relationship with your dealer or have a friend with a good amp maybe try and borrow one for a demo...just be forewarned you'll likely really like what you hear
Lately however there have been a lot of people that have decided to opt for a more compromised solution and are simply adding an external amplifier to their receivers. In many ways this gives you the benefits of the stronger power amp and the affordability of the receivers processing. Of course the big question is does it work? From all the threads that have been posted over the years from people that have added amps and heard benefits and from my own experiences I have to say the answer to that question is a resounding YES. Now some of you might be saying why would adding an external amp that's only rated for 100 watts per channel improve the sound over the amps in my receiver that are also rated at 100 watts per channel? Well there's more then one answer to this complex issue but first lets look at what rated power means. First off there are a variety of ways to measure how many watts your receiver or amp can provide your speakers, essentially it should measure the amps power output across the entire audio frequency (20 hz to 20 khz) at 8 ohms when all channels are being driven at the same time. Unfortunately a number of companies only measure one channel driven or at 1 khz which is easier to drive then the full audio spectrum or they'll measure the output at 6 ohms which boosts the results. Ideally also they should publish the power output at 8 ohms as well as 4 ohms and in an ideal world the rating will double at 4 ohms over the 8 ohm rating. This indicates that the amps power supply is of a very high quality....however in the real world this seldom happens with amps that are priced in most peoples budgets. So now that we know that manufactures are sometimes somewhat deceitful on their receivers power output we might be able to suggest that just because your receiver is rated at 100 watts per channel doesn't mean it is capable of providing that much power. This site here provides us with the bench tests of dozens of receivers and as you can see there are very few that actually provide the wattages they claim to be able to provide. Power amps on the other hand are almost always measured with all channels driven across the full audio spectrum at 4 and 8 ohms (and often 2 ohms) Also true separate amps often surpass the rated power output as is the case with the HK PA5800 which is a budget 5 channel amp from Harmon Kardon. Its only rated at 80 watts per channel but bench tests indicate that it easily provides more power then that. See here for details on the HKPA5800 One must also remember that not all watts are created equal. Different amps of the same wattage will sound quite different from one another depending on a number of factors. By choosing an amp that compliments your room, speakers and processor you should be able to tailor the final sound to one you find pleasing. Unfortunately its difficult for us to tell you what you'll like since we're all individuals but that is not to say we can't make some educated suggestions on which amps to try first or which to avoid completely based on its design etc.
So if you've gotten this far without falling asleep give some thought to adding a power amp to your system and see what benefits you find. If you have a good relationship with your dealer or have a friend with a good amp maybe try and borrow one for a demo...just be forewarned you'll likely really like what you hear
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