How much volume do I get for 3w RMS?

[gasboss775]

My speaker is rated at 88db @ 1 watt, what volume would I get at 3 watts?

 

[woody]

Rule of thumb double your power you get 3 db louder so 2 w would be 91db so
3 w would be ~ 92 db. Depending on your choice of music etc. this can still be
enjoyable.

 

[rayma]

Rule of thumb double your power you get 3 db louder so 2 w would be 91db so 3 w would be ~ 92 db.
Depending on your choice of music etc. this can still be enjoyable.

This would be on peaks. Average power would be 6-20 dB lower, depending on how much the music is compressed.
Uncompressed acoustical music would especially need the most headroom.

 

[IG81]

10*log(3W) =: 4.77121dB louder than reference sensitivity.

 

[gasboss775]

Thanks all for your responses.

Average volume definitely higher with modern pop song ( lots of compression I'd guess )

It turns out I wasn't even putting out 3w from my experimental class a amplifier more like 2 w though should be able to squeeze out another 1/2 watt by optimizing the bias.

 

[Charles Darwin]

If you play music with an average dynamic range (say 12dB) you are merely adjusting distortion if you listen above 80dBspl average.
With modern pop (6dB DR) that point is reached at 86dBspl (92dB - 6dB range).

With a really good classical recording (20dB DR) the average listening level should not exceed 72dBspl.

Of course this is all at 1m distance. If you are further away from the speakers reduce average levels accordingly.

 

[midrange]

I am not sure I understand the dynamic range argument. If the DR is 20dB, is that from the loudest to the quietest. If so isn't the average, half way; 10 dB down, in this case 82 dB? Which is fine for a lot of listening.

 

[norman bates]

eh, I like speaker + amp at 100db, unless I want to crank it a little.

So 3w + 88db would not be enough for me.

If I had your speakers, I'd need +12db.

50w = +17db
25w = +14db

So, I'd say you need a good 20 watts.
Probably 10 watts of a tube amp assuming load is fairly flat.

 

[AndrewT]

My speaker is rated at 88db @ 1 watt, what volume would I get at 3 watts?

log 3 then multiply by 10.
i.e. 3W = 4.77dBW
now add that to the speaker sensitivity.
88dB/W @ 1m becomes ~92.8dB @ 1m
If you listen @ 2m then subtract ~ 6dB giving ~82dB @ 2m as your maximum volume.

 

[speaker dave]

I am not sure I understand the dynamic range argument. If the DR is 20dB, is that from the loudest to the quietest. If so isn't the average, half way; 10 dB down, in this case 82 dB? Which is fine for a lot of listening.

This is more a measure of crest factor. That is, the difference between the long term average and the short term peaks. What others are saying is that if you set your volume such that the peaks are just below clipping, then the average volume will be lower by an amount equal to the crest factor.

High crest factor (or high dynamic range) requires higher peak power if we want a given average loudness level. It is still a good thing.

David