Small power amp

plonkywonki

plonkywonki

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Dear insightful audiosharks,

I am extremely happy with a Hegel H90 that has a beautiful integrated DAC as well as a very nice sounding A/B class amp inside that delivers 60W @ 8ohms with a damping factor of 2000.

However, since I look more and more for no nonsense designs, I am orienting towards a power amp with 1 analog input.

I found e.g. from the same brand a H20 which delivers 200W @ 8ohms so at my 4ohm speakers this is way too much power of 400W.

Is someone aware of small power amps with excellent analog sounding quality even above Hegel but with just one power on/off button and preferrably a dual mono design?

Any helpful comments are truly appreciated.

Have a good one, cheers!
 
It depends upon how much power you need, type of power preference, etc. However, one very good line of lower powered amps are the First Watts from Nelson Pass!
 
You should consider one of Frank Van Alstine's amps. They are no nonsense and he can make it with one input if you like I am sure. I occasionally review his gear for him on the AC forum. They perform way above their price points. Some of his amps sound better than my Pass X250. His newer designs are fabulous. Everything is made to order and there is a 30 day no questions asked return policy. Frank is very approachable and if you have questions, call him. If you are looking for fancy bling chassis then look elsewhere.

Audio by Van Alstine
 
Is it strange that I look for an even smaller amp than my current 60W at 8Ohm / 120W at 4Ohm?
I just guess my speakers, and they're kind of inefficient (4Ohm 86dB at 1m/2.83V), go above and beyond my comfort level in terms of loudness.

Quickly calculated the current set delivers 107dB max. I'd cut it in 4 at least if I would need to estimate this. This brings me back to 8W at 8Ohm = 16W at 4 Ohm, correct? But, does such a "small" amplifier still qualify as "power" amp?

For ref, if I send inputs to Hegel at their full level i.e. unity, I'd set the Hegel to 40 out of 100 max, and when Hegel is set at HomeTheater / unity gain, I need to set a digital player to 46% output max, or in case of a digital mixer I need to set it to -30dB level to get what I want out of Hegel.

Who can help determine the power needed?
 
I have never heard of someone wanting less power. I'm of the opinion you can't have too much power. Just don't turn it up as loud and the rest is reserve.

If your heart is set look at Schiit who has some low power amps. There are a variety of SET tube amps with very low power output. I'm not all that familiar but there were some inexpensive Class D amps that only put out about 10 watts, the were all the rage about 10 years ago but I forget the name.
 
plonkywonki said:
Is it strange that I look for an even smaller amp than my current 60W at 8Ohm / 120W at 4Ohm?
I just guess my speakers, and they're kind of inefficient (4Ohm 86dB at 1m/2.83V), go above and beyond my comfort level in terms of loudness.

Quickly calculated the current set delivers 107dB max. I'd cut it in 4 at least if I would need to estimate this. This brings me back to 8W at 8Ohm = 16W at 4 Ohm, correct? But, does such a "small" amplifier still qualify as "power" amp?

For ref, if I send inputs to Hegel at their full level i.e. unity, I'd set the Hegel to 40 out of 100 max, and when Hegel is set at HomeTheater / unity gain, I need to set a digital player to 46% output max, or in case of a digital mixer I need to set it to -30dB level to get what I want out of Hegel.

Who can help determine the power needed?
Click to expand...

Calculating the power needed is easy , trying to figure what it is you really want , now thats the challenge ..!



:)
 
Check out Crown's "Amplifier Power Required" calculator ... HERE.

Bear in mind that the calculator is for a single speaker in an anechoic environment. A stereo system with the calculated power per channel will reduce the requirement by 6 dB; an normal listening room with some echo will further reduce the requirement by 3 dB or more.

You'll notice that your average listening level is critical to the calculation. Headroom is also important: you should probably allow 20 dB in case of Classical music, less for other genres.

I suspect there is a tendancy for folks to overestimate their average listening level. Realistically my average level is never over 72 bB; I allow 20 dB for headroom given I listen to mostly Classical. I was surprised at how little power I actually need.
 
plonkywonki said:
Dear insightful audiosharks,

I am extremely happy with a Hegel H90 that has a beautiful integrated DAC as well as a very nice sounding A/B class amp inside that delivers 60W @ 8ohms with a damping factor of 2000.

However, since I look more and more for no nonsense designs, I am orienting towards a power amp with 1 analog input.

I found e.g. from the same brand a H20 which delivers 200W @ 8ohms so at my 4ohm speakers this is way too much power of 400W.

Is someone aware of small power amps with excellent analog sounding quality even above Hegel but with just one power on/off button and preferrably a dual mono design?

Any helpful comments are truly appreciated.

Have a good one, cheers!
Click to expand...

Get a First Watt.

Stereogeek is selling an excellent First Watt F6 at a great price.
 
Feanor said:
Check out Crown's "Amplifier Power Required" calculator ... HERE.

Bear in mind that the calculator is for a single speaker in an anechoic environment. A stereo system with the calculated power per channel will reduce the requirement by 6 dB; an normal listening room with some echo will further reduce the requirement by 3 dB or more.

You'll notice that your average listening level is critical to the calculation. Headroom is also important: you should probably allow 20 dB in case of Classical music, less for other genres.

I suspect there is a tendancy for folks to overestimate their average listening level. Realistically my average level is never over 72 bB; I allow 20 dB for headroom given I listen to mostly Classical. I was surprised at how little power I actually need.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips and background.

My math.
3 m listening distance
I'd aim at a 96dB max level including the amp headroom of 20dB. This leaves 76dB for normal listening less 6 for stereo setup less 3 for echoes & flutter and adding 3 dB as rounding -> 70dB desired.
sensitivity 86
headroom we know from above is 20

I'd end up with 23W, round it up with 20% and we're almost at 30W required. That is surprisingly low (?),
 
Ask your dealer to let you take home the h190, The hegel integrateds sound identical to each other, the h90, 190, and 390 will sound alike up to clipping, but if your speakers are getting uncomfortable to listen to more likely you're clipping the amp. Just for fun try the more powerful amp with your trusty db meter side by side and listen.
 
plonkywonki said:
Thanks for the tips and background.

My math.
3 m listening distance
I'd aim at a 96dB max level including the amp headroom of 20dB. This leaves 76dB for normal listening less 6 for stereo setup less 3 for echoes & flutter and adding 3 dB as rounding -> 70dB desired.
sensitivity 86
headroom we know from above is 20

I'd end up with 23W, round it up with 20% and we're almost at 30W required. That is surprisingly low (?),
Click to expand...

I guess for those advocating First Watt amps 30 wpc isn't "low". But I suspect it's common for folks to think they need 100 wpc or even much more. My listening circumstances are very similar to yours and I agree with a figure for me too of 30 wpc or a couple of dB lower.

In practical terms that would leave any First Watt model marginal, not to mention 300B SETs. However most Dynaco ST-70-type amps should do fine.
 
If you have 96db/W/M loudspeakers 30watts will be enuff to avoid clipping at reasonable listening levels (86db max din ) and peaks ..


Regards
 
plonkywonki said:
Thanks for the tips and background.

My math.
3 m listening distance
I'd aim at a 96dB max level including the amp headroom of 20dB. This leaves 76dB for normal listening less 6 for stereo setup less 3 for echoes & flutter and adding 3 dB as rounding -> 70dB desired.
sensitivity 86
headroom we know from above is 20

I'd end up with 23W, round it up with 20% and we're almost at 30W required. That is surprisingly low (?),
Click to expand...

Bad math and assumptions ... :)



Regards
 
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