Amplifier advice please

[#1]

@HPsauce I get what you are saying.... and might well be true... however... my laptop soundcard gives an excellent level of Bass on my wired headphones... so I think that the big speakers will also produce a similar level of excellence ... due to the size of the cone(s)...

Yes the speakers in the headphones are small(ish)  actually 40mm diameter.. they give a really good bass sound.

whereas the little speakers in the plastic boxes give a very weak sound due to their size, and the enclosure.

[#2]

As background noise was mentioned on another thread  it might be worth pointing out that, depending on protection features built in to an amp, running speakers on an under-powered amp will likely cause background noise to be reduced - due to speakers being blown!

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing ...

[#3]

@shutter I'll let you do your own research; I'm no expert but I do have a fair amount of 1970s HiFi and know a lot of other people similarly equipped.

Under-powered or more modern amplifiers do seem to be not well regarded when it comes to sound quality across the frequency range, bass in particular needs a lot of power and amplifiers that have a lot of "headroom" to deliver it undistorted.

Generating bass in a headphone sealed to your ear/skull is so much easier.

And for speakers 50 watts per channel (depending how measured/specified) is not that much....

My main amplifier, nominally around that range, has some very serious heat sinks on the power transistors and they get HOT! The units linked look good on paper but I see no sign of dealing with the inevitable heat they could/should/would generate driving serious speakers!

[#4]

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@shutter wrote:

... have the volume up 100% and I have a really good experience of all the sounds of all the instruments ( mostly backing bands for Latino/Mex  female artistes ) which has a big complement of BASS sounds... which give the music its appeal for me.....(like being in the middle of the band on stage ) ! ! !

Here is a good thumping bass song when "the volume up 100%" and the Latino girl turns her voice up to '11' ! - Sara Loera

OMG !

.

[#5]

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@RobPN wrote:

.... depending on protection features built in to an amp, running speakers on an under-powered amp will likely cause background noise to be reduced - due to speakers being blown!

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I can understand that loading on amplifer designed to feed high impedance speakers could damage the amplifier if connected to low impedance speakers. Also, a very powerful amplifier designed to feed low impedance speakers could destroy low impedance low power speakers through shear overload.

Hower, logic suggests to me that there is no way that a low power amplifier could destroy speakers. To do this the amplifier has to have the capability to provide a high current, indicating that it has been designed to feed a low impedance speaker.

@HPsauce 

Class D amplifiers are generally about 90% efficient and do not get excessively hot, as was the case with analogue class A (cooks!), B and C variants.

[#6]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

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@RobPN wrote:

.... depending on protection features built in to an amp, running speakers on an under-powered amp will likely cause background noise to be reduced - due to speakers being blown!

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Hower, logic suggests to me that there is no way that a low power amplifier could destroy speakers. To do this the amplifier has to have the capability to provide a high current, indicating that it has been designed to feed a low impedance speaker.

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@Baldrick1 

Suggested reading - take your pick here;

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=low+powered+amp+destroying+speakers

[#7]

@RobPN 

Some interesting reading there. I can see how clipping could fry a hi fi tweeter.

Whether this is the case with general purpose speakers? In my youth it was quite normal to ‘turn the wick up’ on the puny home made amplifiers that we built in those days, to the point where the racket (or as others called it, music) was horribly distorted, presumably due to clipping, without burning out the speaker.

[#8]

If you search "Bluetooth Amplifier" on Ali Express then you'll get a load of choices. Rebuilding two radio studios, needed an amp for their speakers... (no bluetooth needed)  ...and for about 10 quid got a very adequate amp: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007339735829.html. There's also an ak-370 that has both bluetooth and USB / SD card slots, but that's at bi more expensive, at around £15!!!!!

(Yes, they are not "super hi fi", but they are MORE than good enough for what most people need)