How much headroom is enough?

[@ThinkingBetter]

Play as loud as you ever want (for a party or a moment your spouse is out shopping etc.) from your setup and if it still sounds good without audible clipping, you will likely have headroom enough for your more normal average listening level. At really loud volume your ears will distort also btw.

[@phototristan]

Who remembers Max Headroom?

[@IKnewMickey]

Max headroom was a career defining role for that poor actor. Few ppl know his name but everyone knows he was Max.

[@j.t.cooper2963]

Me. I'm 55.

[@PanAmStyle]

I LIKE LOUD SPEAKERS Matt Frewer 🇨🇦

[@BlankBrain]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKWYZ4WDl9WklZIm28s

[@msmeyersmd8]

What, what, what, what,what...are you talking about.

[@scottyo64]

Much like you stated towards the end, the more power I have added the better the dynamics, especially bass. I went from 50 to 150 and then to 300. I want to go more but my wife and pocket book are fighting me

[@cedricshort8254]

I do understand and share your pain, if you find a solution please let me know.

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

If you need one, get ten. A rule I've profited by, said a high end audio company founder somewhere. Just poking fun Paul. I appreciate your work.

[@Justwantahover]

I think he's a bit over excited, I'm sure most of the time he wouldn't use any more than a few watts. The only time you need 4,000 watts is at a big doof party. But I do understand it cos my 200+200 w amp has BASS! But it's not thousands, only hundreds of watts.

[@wa2368]

Paul's getting more materialistic. a.k.a wants to sell more watts.

[@brucemibus9523]

Thanks Paul for your efforts in making the complex appear simple. I do agree with the 10 rule and have speakers that are loud enough with 20 watts and are driven by 400 watts with a 1900 VA supply. Can't wait to hear and see what your latest efforts are, should be very exciting!

[@sportsmachinerr1401]

I was getting by just fine with 50wpc. Then I purchased a 300wpc Crown XLS 1502 amp and it opened up a whole new world of dynamic sound that I've never heard before 😅

[@alee3875]

The problem with having massive amplifier is when you want play your system quite. The amplifier will also work in the none linear range and the larger wattage the amplifier is that non linear range in lower level is wider. Frankly if you play music lower then 60db like I do your amplifier will never go over 1w. Most 100w amplifier takes around 2~5w to get to linear region.

[@dorningarts]

If you listen at 1w as you say, the rule of 10 would mean you would need a 10 watt amp, not a 100w amp, that would be the rule of 100!

[@j.t.cooper2963]

I was thinking about this just this morning!!😎 The more the better I say. 👍🏻 Now I'm going to have to interrupt my Saturday jam session to watch.

[@philiptong4978]

I think the answer is: enough to reproduce the maximum level as the audio data would store recording (alignment) level differs by each country, in US it is +4dBu. dbFS, which is the max level to digitize is defined at +24dBu as a result, there is a 20dB difference between nominal and peak, and that should be the headroom required for playing commerically produced recording a norminal listening level should equate to a certain sound pressure at the listening environment based on speaker sensitivity and distance, on top of that is the headroom opinions?

[@rickc2222]

This I did not know at all - THANK YOU PAUL!! I always tried to ensure my amplifier was rated a bit higher than my speakers (maybe 1.5-2x), but often at high volumes the distortion was quite noticeable. But on the flipside - couldn't a 500w amplifier just blow up a speaker rated at 50w with an errant swipe at the volume knob? I'd prefer a bit of clipping/distortion at higher volumes rather than damaged equipment...

[@dorningarts]

I would take the 500w amp, and no clipping. Clipping will damage your speakers and sound horrible, I have never in 30 years of audio had an errant swipe with the volume. Lucky I guess:)

[@johnlebeau5471]

Power required depends a lot on speaker sensitivity. The average speaker is about 89dB/w/m. For every 3dB increase, you need to double the power. Ten dB more, 99dB, something I consider loud, requires 10 times the power, or 10 watts. Twenty dB, 109dB, 100 times or 100 watts. Want to blow out the windows? One hundred nineteen dB takes 1,000 watts. To reach the 130dB a symphony orchestra can supposedly put out, around 10,000 watts. My midrange horns are 115dB/w/m. At my normal listening levels, typically less than 95dB, I am using from 1 to 10 milliwatts. Good thing I have a 2,000 milliwatt amplifier.

[@guitarpick335]

I learned about headroom from my CE100 Crown amp in bridged-mode. 900 watts @ 8 ohms is fun.

[@HiFiInsider]

high power amp that is clean will deliver much better sound even at low listening levels and when the dynamics in the music demands the power, the amp can deliver over and over again. Low power amps may be able to delivery the dynamics once or twice because it cannot recover fast enough. Buy the most power you can afford but the amp should be a well design circuit in the first place. Otherwise, the sound will be hard and not musical.

[@stephensmith3111]

The D''Agostino Relentless monoblock power amplifier is rated at 1500 watts into 8 ohms and weighs about as much s a Harley-Davidson Sportster, each. That is a tick over 2.0 electrical horsepower,* by the way. I hope you have strong floors. My sweet little Arcam A65+ was rated at 2 x 40 watts into 8 ohms and weighs less than 12 pounds. But it was also affordable by mere mortals. * 1 hp(E) = 746 W by definition re: Wikipedia citation of H. Wayne Beatty (2001) Handbook of Electric Power Calculations, 3rd Edition, McGraw Hill

[@stevenp.sparks2953]

Very informative. Thanks, Paul!

[@1999zrx1100]

I’m running a 200 watt amp with efficient speakers, at 50% my walls are shaking, I need more 😱

[@j.t.cooper2963]

About the same here at 240 and I cant go past 40% or the neighbors are pissed. 😅

[@hushpuppykl]

With my 250w power amp, my preamp can’t go past say 15% volume for moderate level listening. 😂

[@dean6816]

When the plaster starts peeling off the wall, that's the amp for you!

[@j.t.cooper2963]

@@dean6816 Absolutely!! 👍🏻🔊🔊💯

[@7karlheinz]

I recall Julian Hirsch from Stereo Review magazine stressing the importance of "headroom", but didn't he also say that all amps sound the same...oh well.

[@Geerladenlad]

"Always follow the rule of 10" - Paul McGowan aka Max Headroom.😉

[@jimeadie4415]

A lot of popular music today is heavily compressed as mixed. At any rate for a digital CD there is a maximum of 16 bits output. If your amplifier and speakers can reach the maximum 16 bit output without clipping at your maximum normal volume; you have enough power.

[@j.t.cooper2963]

😂 Perfect.

[@mattcrowther9360]

Did Paul set his levels too high and over-modulate this recording on purpose? If so, it's great illustration of the need for more headroom but I'm not so sure..

[@matejgrim]

7:01 Output impedance?

[@Cookythecook]

looking forward to seeing the BHK Phono! Just got the stellar phono, very impressed

[@sickkids666]

@cookythecook I am pondering getting the steller phono. Would you say you are very happy with it? Did you have any issue with hum?

[@doowopper1951]

Priyo Ganguli The Stellar PP is the best improvement made for even $5000 spent, imho. At $2500, it’s a steal.

[@sickkids666]

@@doowopper1951 thank you!

[@sickkids666]

@@doowopper1951 what cart are you running the PS Audio phono stage with? I will be running Hana SL

[@doowopper1951]

Priyo Ganguli Ortofon Cadenza Bronze, one of the ones VPI recommends for the Prime Signature.

[@sudd3660]

top of the line D-sonic stereo power amp should do the trick and still sound better than any PA amp, cost not to bad either. 1500watts is nice.

[@foxpup]

In the days of digitally synthesized audio, the input waveform can instantly jump from any voltage to any other voltage which would actually require an amplifier of INFINITE power to follow the transition precisely. Similarly, percussion instruments can be likewise demanding, so it comes as no surprise that the wicked-powerful amps sound better because every once in a while that wicked amount of power is needed. Shock-waves are a part of music too. :-) Forget about turning it up to 11, go for infinity...hee hee... better to have so much power that you can leave it at 1 knowing you've got a nice high ceiling to enjoy. :-) (Pray you're not using a type-A amp unless you've got your own personal nuclear power plant.)

[@foxpup]

@Fat Rat "welding at home..." I have thought about it. I do have 220v outlet in the garage to charge my Nissan LEAF up with so I am only one visit to Harbor Freight away from doing so but so far I haven't. I personally prefer to cut material and bolt and screw them together so I can take them apart as needed. (I'm no Colin Furze :-) ) ....I blame that personal building style on the now 47 years of living among LEGO blocks. I'm actually quite a bit more centered than I probably let on. Call it a blessing or curse, (I could support either case) but I've got this brain that simply refuses to shut down and so EVERYTHING IS AWESOME and I find myself wanting to learn about everything and over time have learned quite a lot about everything but not everything about anything in specific. Where I really shine is finding solutions to problems because I can often take solutions from one context and apply them to others since I'm not one to stay "inside the box" anyway, and then sometimes the Author of the universe flings an idea my way too. So, yea, I might be a bit of a maniac, but not a dangerous one. :-) Still its a wonder my wife puts up with me. :-) The kids do seem to be willing to be seen in public with me so that's a good sign too. :-)

[@foxpup]

​@Fat Rat It's funny that I didn't initially connect the dots about welding. I just haven't done enough stupid things with high powered amps to associate them with melting metal but I can see what you mean. (besides the ones I use have all kinds of overload and shorting protections so stupid isn't nearly as dramatic as it could be. I love my 30-year-old Onkyo M-504 power amps. :-) ) As for embarrassing my kids, I've done my share of that, growing out my beard just to spite the AARP people who kept bugging me. I'm going for the Gandalf look but it takes a long time to grow all that hair and beard. I just recently started being able to tie my hair at the back of my head so I'm through the worst of the street-bum look which I'm sure the kids were so happy with. Besides long hair goes well with being a linux-head and I really like it. Also I have a propensity to build projects, sometimes out in the back yard or adjacent vacant lot in direct view of all the neighbors. The pinnacle of strangeness was when I set up a tent and covered it in tarps that I had laminated with shiny Mylar to reflect away the light, combined with special swamp cooler ventilation. I was trying to make the tents more comfortable for sleeping in during hot summer DAYS so I could stay up at night and look through telescopes out at the week long Nebraska Star Party. (In retrospect a trailer camper with an AC unit would have been a better thing to work on) So, needless to say, I've given my kids many reasons to be embarrassed, but somehow they all still love me and I love them. As for chemically tuning my brain, I'm hesitant to introduce too many alien materials. It's an old 52 year old model and like electronics of that age, trying to fix it often just makes it worse as you break other things. (Try fixing a 40 year old clock radio some day. For me it's fix two things while breaking one or more other things and then repeating until everything is fixed or the device is utterly destroyed. :-) ) I don't really want to play that game with my brain. ...small conservative steps can be OK though. Right now I am working with raised oxygen levels during naps and bed and that is having some constructive effects but it's not easy since congestion is often a problem and I have to become an oxygen-mask-engineer to get just what I need. Sometimes I think that always-running brain is consequently always draining on the support infrastructure and there just isn't enough support, like getting enough O2 to the brain and/or removing waste. I'm out to make myself better but not necessarily normal (which is a certain lost cause anyway) I'm on the brink of becoming an empty-nester and plan to put that liberty to work with one or more special projects and I need that never-off brain to get things done. I don't want to lose that. I want to fully utilize it. I can't imagine being anyone else. I stopped trying to be a good dog. I'm not a dog or someone else's worker-bee or minion. I'm something else and I really need to be exactly that for the rest of the time I have left. I'm sort of standing on the launch pad (or precipice). Either way I need to leap and see where things end up. I'm being deliberately vague to avoid opening the floodgates right here, but lets just say I'm committed to do something that may be very constructive and need to either publicly humiliate myself in failure or succeed. (hopefully the latter, but either way I know I'm alive, living the life I was created to live :-) ) Thanks for all the encouragement. :-) LLAP

[@foxpup]

@Fat Rat :-)

[@sudd3660]

headroom and maybe the amps capability of low ohm loads? is that not the current capability of an amp?

[@kirkcunningham6146]

Never enough...driving a pair of JBL 590's with two mono Yamaha pro-audio amps at 900 watts per channel@ 8 ohms. Medium sized room. Love the clean power. The louder i drive them, the better they sound. Have the same amps driving the center and surrounds in a 5.1 surround....

[@poserwanabe]

^^^ he gets it ^^^

[@QoraxAudio]

Yes, audiophiles don't want to admit it, but it's important. *RAW POWER!*

[@gotham61]

Did you just let slip that there's a BHK phono preamp coming? @1.40

[@foxpup]

I usally end up talking about headroom when explaining what clipping is all about, but this video expresses another much more subtle, but still very important, point. :-) Yes, like ammunition, you can never have too much headroom. :-)

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

Yes, the bigger the head is the easier it is to hit.

[@erichill5328]

Sorry for the newbie question. If you spec for x10 times the headroom how do you not blow out your speakers?

[@spacemissing]

Any decent speaker will withstand a very large but BRIEF voltage peak without consequence. I once drove my JBL L19s, for which a 10 to 60 watt per channel amplifier is recommended, with a 200 watt per channel SAE amp on which the 200-watt lights flashed now and then. No audible distortion, no damage, no problems.

[@brucemibus9523]

Most speakers will accept the x10 wattage for peak transients as long as it's undistorted. If it's dirty, goodbye tweeters and or miss.

[@rickc661]

is the question - how many db of 'speaker clearance' is good to avoid clipping ? is 10 db fine, 15 db? my idea is I usually listen at around 88 db somethin like that. > ( never measured, but ' pretty loud' seems a good estimate.) which happens to be one watt of amp power. so by the 3 db = twice the power, 16 watts gives me 10 db of speaker headroom. which is for music peaks. I think ' 10 db' increase is equal twice as loud ? is that enough for 'reasonable' clean sound ? Another 10 db of speaker headroom , total 20 db -would take it up to about 130 watt amp power. lets say having a second channel takes care of the size of the room, is not additional loudness. watts = $$$ so that is an absolute factor. So for me in my 220 sq ft rooms, sometimes I think 30 w per needs a bit more. 60 sounds good but truth is sometimes blows fuses which is a ??. last few amps I've had have been 100 w to 130 w ( Carver receiver) - have never heard a huge amp but to me the 100 w per sounds real good ( currently Cambridge )

[@psych0mik062]

I just got the Cambridge AXR100 - Can I ask what speakers you run with your amp?

[@rickc661]

KEF Q 350 - a bit lower than avg in efficiency but not bad. That's the same receiver I have, 5 months, excel so far, reliability is very important - I've somehow never gotten even 10 years out of a receiver, including NAD , Sony ES and Carver. >> also 1976 Koss 1020 which are a couple db more efficient, takes 3 'numbers on the vol. control' to equalize the speakers, whatever that actually is I have no idea. say from # 32 to # 29. minor pt - Cambridge isn't using the old school ratings, by which this receiver I consider a ' real' 80 w / ch. but that's OK, small difference.

[@psych0mik062]

@@rickc661 Thanks for the reply. I'm using the Sony CSss3 floor-standing and Css9 sub. Noticed a nice improvement in sound when I replaced the Sony amp with the Cambridge amp, I may start looking into better speakers for next Christmas.

[@IKnewMickey]

Do "Holy Crap" systems exist for under $4,000 (?) For the entire system? I listen at normal volume levels.

[@EliasTheHunter]

I LIKE LOUD SPEAKERS Yes! Magnepan 1.7i ($2,200 new, ~$1,700 used) and a Cambridge Audio CXA80 ($400 C-stock refurbished with a warranty from Cambridge) and you’ll be all set!

[@IKnewMickey]

EliasTheHunter I'm waiting to audition some Maggie's at a friends place as soon as our schedules allow. Thx for the tips!

[@EliasTheHunter]

I LIKE LOUD SPEAKERS you’re welcome! Let me know what you think. Feel free to email me if you prefer at [e-mail] Here’s the Cambridge amp. No, I’m not affiliated in any way, just blown away by the price. I had been saving up to get one for about $900 and then they released their C-stock for cheap. rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F254461869601

[@EliasTheHunter]

Joker all good suggestions, but I think you could save a lot on a much cheaper CD player. The newer Magnepans would make a much bigger difference than a top of the line transport.

[@blekenbleu]

10:1 power or voltage? 50 watts into 8 Ohms = 20 volts; 200 volts into 8 Ohms = 5000 Watts..

[@janinapalmer8368]

Headroom is measured in Db not watts

[@hxhdfjifzirstc894]

But how does that sell 1200W amps?

[@chadbarker2316]

So what size amp should I use for the Cerwin Vega AT15s I just bought,

[@j.t.cooper2963]

How loud do you want it?

[@zeusapollo8688]

The new crowns look impressive

[@MrDingaling007]

Does this as apply to class D?

[@weijiantan6534]

Doesn't underpowering or overpowering the speakers causes potential damage?

[@doowopper1951]

Clipping, caused by not having enough power, is the number one culprit that causes the damage.

[@QoraxAudio]

Damage from overpowering speakers isn't that potential, it's very real haha For most regular speakers recone kits can be bought to repair them, but electrostatics like Magnepan need to be send to a repair professional.

[@doowopper1951]

Da Qoraxxx Reconing will change the sound of the speaker, as the new cones are not identical to the originals. And, as overpowering is most likely to destroy the coil, recone kits rarely help in that instance.

[@QoraxAudio]

@@doowopper1951 The coil is often part of the recone kit, but the speakers will sound different indeed. If you buy the same parts as the originals and give it some break in time, it'll come very close.

[@marcus1970]

I enjoy 400 watts x 2 @ 8 Ω RMS, both channels, Class A/AB operation, the first 12 watts per channel of pure Class A,90 amperes peak current per channel and Sensitivity 90.5 (db/w/m)..... I agree headroom is so important.

[@QoraxAudio]

Got a Crown XTi 2002 here, 475Wrms x 2 @ 8 Ohms About 800 buck, so that's a fraction of what a PS Audio amp would cost, because it lacks the 20k markup.

[@brucemibus9523]

Sounds like Krell of old or Parasound?

[@marcus1970]

@@brucemibus9523 great job👍🏻 .... Parasound JC5 into Audiovector R3 Arreté

[@brucemibus9523]

Have Parasound JC1's as well as the Krell FPB700CX. And a mix of HK Signature, Bel Canto Ref1000 & Rotel 1091. Have 5 tri-amped speakers plus Martin Logan Summit X to run.

[@Justwantahover]

I bought a cheap 200+200 w (@ 0.1% THD) for only $300 bucks (brand new). And the BASS!

[@rueben1001]

what amp did you get? I am also looking for a good powerful amp.

[@Justwantahover]

@@rueben1001 It's discontinued (I think) but they might still have the ($200) 100+100 w one. Still a bargain. You can get it from JAYCAR electronics (based in Australia). Look them up on line. The amp is JAYCAR's own brand called Digitech. Try to find out about the BIG 200+200 one and see if they are still available. Another cheap way to get power is to buy a sub. More power in the right place, added to your existing power. But with the 200 w amp you have enough power without a sub (if you got killer bass speakers). I honestly don't need a sub and it's only cos of the power in my BIG amp, though. And it's a stereo 2 channel (real deal) amp.

[@poserwanabe]

Husband " how big of an amp should I buy"? Wife " what size implants should I get"? Bigger is always better 😆

[@poserwanabe]

@Fat Rat hey Rat c'mon man, you ruined my visual !! 🤣😂😆🤣

[@poserwanabe]

@Fat Rat ooooh, now I know 😜

[@alexevans7731]

I have an RCF LF21X451 21” subwoofer with an AES rating of 2kw in a vented enclosure and my amp puts out 3kw @ 8ohm bridged, and that tends to be plenty of headroom for me

[@ThinkingBetter]

Alex Evans Yeah, sounds adequate to me 🤓

[@stevenhammerle]

I feel like that's perfectly fine for pro audio because it's very efficient

[@alexevans7731]

I probably should keep it within the rating of the amp anyway - it’s a T-Amp proline 3000 and apparently they have very primitive clip circuitry and protection and are known for killing drivers. I won’t be driving it too hard though, I’m only using it for my bedroom

[@ThinkingBetter]

Alex Evans I have a subwoofer in the bedroom also but it’s only a 150 Watts Yamaha HS8S. It’s still more than adequate. My home office runs a servo Velodyne HGS10 with 1250 Watts RMS and 3000 Watts peak. My home theatre runs with a 15” Klipsch SPL-150SW but the Velodyne sounds much better due to the servo feedback. The speed of the woofer in stopping motion avoiding a boomy bass is essential to me.

[@alexevans7731]

I have a pair of the HS8 monitors and did consider the HS8S but I run my bass about 10dB hotter than the tops so wanted something with a bit more grunt that would keep tons of headroom for dynamics. The RCF driver is pretty good at keeping things tight, it has a decent size motor structure with a 30.5 T/M BL, and coupled with the >700 damping factor rating of the amp its a pretty sweet sound. I built the box and specced it to QB3 alignment so I could keep the tune down to 30hz, keeping the box size reasonable (~270L). Looking to build a second one soon, but drivers and amplifier power doesn’t come cheap 🤓

[@foxpup]

1:22 Bunnytrail Alert!! :-) And I thought I was the only soul who did that. :-)

[@wilcalint]

I’m going to offer a completely different circuit design philosophy. One that I worked under for a number of years. Yes, the customer is the US Government Military. Lets use a similar but not the same application, a servo amplifier. Basically an audio amplifier. A 50W Amplifier. Frequency range defined as 20 to 20Khz. Not 19Hz. Not 20,001Hz. If you need it to work outside that defined range it must be in the specs. Power out 50W. NOT!!! 51W. That’s outside the specification. The amplifier will operate identically at 1W or 50W. No audible difference. If my supervisor caught me designing “Headroom” into the design I was wasting weight and cost. Again the amplifier MUST sound/perform exactly the same regardless if the amp is asked to deliver 1W or 50W. Don’t depend on over design ( Headroom ). Agreed the application is not a consumer product. The Voyager spacecrafts are prime examples of designs that are built exactly to the application and with Zero “Headroom”.

[@jamesrobinson9176]

Seems like the voyager craft had around 25-35 years of headroom built in since v2 has outlived its requirements by that much.

[@wilcalint]

@vinyl79 I assure you there were RF amplifiers and transmitters in that thing. The point I'm trying to share is that in some design cases your not allowed to build in "Headroom".

[@wilcalint]

@vinyl79 Digging back in the cobwebs of my brain the project I worked on was a joint MIT/GE Gun Stabilization project. That for a shipboard 5in gun. Stabilize the gun itself and the rotational and up down positions. That was a fun project. The amps design was very similar to a Class A/B amp of today. Again as I have mentioned here before undergrads are cheap, mostly free, labor.

[@Justwantahover]

Why are car stereos sometimes so overpowered? Is it cos of the background road noise? I suppose to get a reasonable signal-to-noise-ratio, you need a four figure power level.

[@kennethsrensen7706]

Its because they are BASS idiots...... Big boomy bass and ´who have loudest system ` that run that world. Thats why those systems sounds awfull .... Yikes .... ABSOLUTELY no High End there..... or HiFi at all... Just BOOMY sub bass shaking the whole car...... To get to that insane level of decibels and drive those multiply subs they need lots of power ... Yeah My 18 inch Subwoofer need lots of power too so its powered by a ´little´ 1400 Watt RMS 4000 Watt peak amp. I of course doesnt just run at full power in my little studio.... My main speakers have 2 * 15 Inch and A great Horn each side and the subwoofer is just for the , yes Sub level sounds. Its good to have headroom so a suddenly dynamic sound/music ect gets enough power so to sound totally Undistorted... Yes it can play insanely loud but I use it with respect to the music/sound and ..... Its have a really tight deep dynamics sound. It´s in High End category of quality. This 1 to 10 rule is true and good to remenber. Also there is a bigger chance that a 10 watt amplifier can kill a 100 watt speaker than a 250 watt amplifier.... most 100 watt speakers can survive a high quality 250 watt amp. Simply because of the headroom and the fact of clipping and distortion....

[@Justwantahover]

@@kennethsrensen7706 "Also there is a bigger chance that a 10 watt amplifier can kill a 100 watt speaker". Speakers don't like "square waves".

[@kennethsrensen7706]

@@Justwantahover Yes and the smaller amps easier reach clipping and thats the danger. Hm....... My speakers never died from my synthesizers squere waves... Ha ha.. thats another square.... yes the clipping turn it into a square form when the top of the wave is cut off and the distortion thats added at this point where the amp no longer can provide eough Ampere kills the speaker , Yes so true. Headroom is simply a must and of course the Amps power supply must be more than big enough to support the work. Sadly many Amps power supply is too small. Lots of ampere is needed and those have big big transformers and capasitors ect...... ( I really dont like switch mode power supply , yes smaller but... much more noisy )

[@janinapalmer8368]

Good ad for the M1200 lol 😂

[@QoraxAudio]

Jup and he's contradicting his earlier statements about power. Now that he's selling a high power amp his opinion has suddenly changed, what a coincidence...

[@birgerolofsson2347]

How much headroom you need depends on how high sensitivity your loudspeakers have and how low they go in impedance as worst so if your loudspeakers have a sensitivity of 105 db/w and never goes below 8 ohm you never ever even have to think about the word "headroom". Headroom depends on how your stereo behaves otherwise w.o.w.

[@PanAmStyle]

Birger Olofsson I was going to make a comment about this as well. What I don’t fully understand is WHY so many speakers made these days are so inefficient. Transducers that require so much power, e.g., 1200 watts, seems ridiculous and extremely wasteful to me, perhaps even environmentally irresponsible. While I respect Paul and PS Audio greatly, I think this path is ill-advised and treats those without large budgets poorly.

[@matthewbarrow3727]

@@PanAmStyle Most active subwoofers have 500 to 1000 watt internal power amps, and these subwoofers can be relatively cheap. You can get high power D-class ICE modules for relatively low cost, compared wasteful A-class power amps.

[@PanAmStyle]

Fat Rat I’m using 2 SET watts in a smallish room with so-so but not bad speakers that are about 90.5dB. I will upgrade the speakers, but even now things are quite listenable if not perfect. I have no real world experience with Class D, so I can’t comment. But I’m not giving up my tubes in the main system.

[@doowopper1951]

It also depends on the dynamic range of what you are listening to, the room itself, how close you sit to the speakers, room noise, and numerous other factors. But, the more headroom you have, the less influence this factors have.

[@PanAmStyle]

Fat Rat Fat Rat Well, I said PERHAPS environmentally irresponsible, so that wasn’t my main point. I watched the video again and as far as I could tell, there was no mention of the new amp being Class D. I’m sure it will be a good amp. “G. Guest” stated that he tried highly efficient speakers but they weren’t ultimately satisfying to him/her, so that response was more to the point, IMO. Paul himself said that designing a high power amp with gobs of headroom is more difficult than a lower powered amp, so I guess that gets more to the core of what I was trying (although obviously not clearly!) to say. And obviously I was/am concerned with cost. I am not a cheap person, but I am also not wealthy. Being retired on a modest fixed income with a CFO who is happy with her Bluetooth headset and the built in speakers on the TV ... you get the picture. Peace out, as Sean says.

[@isaacsykes3]

Thanks, Paul!! Now, I want a bigger, and better amp. I hate you!! 😜

[@VuffyPulva]

Headphone amps are in a really stupid place right now. They're taking the idea of power headroom and running so far away from practical usage it's not even funny. There are some really absurd 6W+ amplifiers out there that people seem to think they need, and it has only become a specs arms race. The reality is, headphone don't drawn NEARLY as much power as people think they do. A low impedance headphone is drawing like 1-3mW (That's milliwatts!) at 32ohms in the 100dB volume range. Following the rule of 10, a 30mW amp would be enough. Even for EXTREMELY high volume listening a 300mW amp would be plenty, barring some crazy hard to drive planar magnetic. (I'm looking at you, Hifiman!)

[@antonio1681]

20hz? Too much? Anyways I enjoy your videos Paul!

[@HouseofRecordsTacoma]

wanna play loud? YES need lotsa R.M.S.

[@Justwantahover]

We know how the three figure powerful amps would sound just going by the difference of a 1 w amp and a 20 w one.

[@nabildanial00]

Dan D'Agostino's Relentless Monoblocks can provide 6000W into 2 Ohms. A pair of them will provide you a total of 12000 W :)

[@dean6816]

500 watt amp and I'll be moving to cardboard city!

[@justinparkman3585]

I'd take quality over quantity any day

[@johnsweda2999]

What's the damping factor of the m 1200. It's a monoblock construction some ridiculous price probably nobody can afford. As I indicated you're still maybe 1500 units if that, if you priced it sold it for $2,000 you can sell 20000 units + that's how Amazon dominates the market but their unethical they only do it to shut down competition then up their prices

[@johnsweda2999]

@Larry Niles there's no negative comments they are all positive introduces people to high-end audio can't afford it, and a better business model, the only negative comment is yours.

[@googoo-gjoob]

@Larry Niles hes a negative little b!tch, isnt he?

[@googoo-gjoob]

@Larry Niles , hes a negative little b!tch, isnt he?

[@irzyxelwj]

So I need a 2500 per amplifier. lol

[@cunningtim]

I have 100 NAD watts per channel, which seems to be enough.

[@LuxAudio389]

My amp goes to 11😀

[@fookingsog]

MAX HEADROOM!!!💪🏻🤪 kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYrHoYKgocqnpMU

[@randykelly5692]

I'm first.

[@birgerolofsson2347]

I'm somwhere after the second one.

[@randykelly5692]

@Fat Rat Do you have one to share?