If you use much more power, you are likely to damage the speaker by forcing the speaker cone to its limits. To handle heavy metal/grunge, the amplifier's 4-ohm power should be 2.5 x 100 W or 250 W continuous per channel. If you are playing light dance music, the amplifier's 4-ohm power should be 1.6 x 100 W or 160 W continuous per channel. Suppose the impedance of your speaker is 4 ohms, and its Continuous Power Handling is 100 W. The amplifier power must be rated for the impedance of the loudspeaker (2, 4, 8 or 16 ohms). If you are doing heavy metal/grunge, try 2.5 times the Continuous Power rating per channel. If you are mainly doing light dance music or voice, we recommend that the amplifier power be 1.6 times the Continuous Power rating per channel. In this case there is no headroom for peaks, so youll have to drive the speaker at less than its full rated power if you want to avoid distortion. That way the speaker wont be damaged if the amp clips by overdriving its input.

If you cant keep the power amp from clipping (say, you have no limiter and the system is overdriven or goes into feedback) the amplifier power should equal the speakers continuous power rating. Speakers are built to handle those short-term peaks.

This allows 3 to 6 dB of headroom for peaks in the audio signal. If you can prevent the power amp from clipping (by using a limiter), use a power amp that supplies 2 to 4 times the speakers continuous power rating per channel. It might be called IEC rating or Power capacity. Next, look for the loudspeaker specification called Continuous Power Handling or Continuous Power Rating. You can determine this by looking at the speaker's data sheet.

Do you want to achieve a certain loudness in a certain venue? If so, skip to the section called Power vs. Do you want to power some loudspeakers so they play as loud as possible without burning out? If so, all you need to read is the section below. Which amplifier should I get?Īt Crown, we often are asked similar questions, and this article will provide some answers.įirst, define your goal. I want to play them as loud as they can get without blowing them up. Our rock group will be playing in a 2000-seat concert hall.

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