Hi everyone,
I have been recently interested into DIY audio systems and have finished my first speaker with Carlsonator 12" design.
I have mounted Celestion K12H-200TC 12" 200 Watt Full-Range woofer (https://www.parts-express.com/Celestion-K12H-200TC-12-200-Watt-Full-Range-Professional-Wo-294-2082) along with HiVi RT2C-A Planar Isodynamic Tweeter (https://www.parts-express.com/HiVi-RT2C-A-Planar-Isodynamic-Tweeter-297-406)
The sound is amazing, however the problem I have is with the Amp.
Firstly I have connected my speaker to Yamaha RS 202 (https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/r-s202/specs.html#product-tabs), which delivered very good, crisp and quite loud sound. I was very much satisfied with it, even though the amp delivered only 140W per channel and the woofer was up to 200W.
Then I decided to buy the amp board, specifically from Sure Electronics (https://store.sure-electronics.com/product/255).
It is supposed to have 300W power per channel. So I hooked it up however to my surprise this amp delivered significantly lower volume than the Yamaha. Now I was not expecting significantly louder volume, but I certainly was not expecting lower...
Sory if my confusion sounds very stupid for you, but could anyone give me any insight why this may have happened?
I may be new to reading specs of amps I am comparing...
I have been recently interested into DIY audio systems and have finished my first speaker with Carlsonator 12" design.
I have mounted Celestion K12H-200TC 12" 200 Watt Full-Range woofer (https://www.parts-express.com/Celestion-K12H-200TC-12-200-Watt-Full-Range-Professional-Wo-294-2082) along with HiVi RT2C-A Planar Isodynamic Tweeter (https://www.parts-express.com/HiVi-RT2C-A-Planar-Isodynamic-Tweeter-297-406)
The sound is amazing, however the problem I have is with the Amp.
Firstly I have connected my speaker to Yamaha RS 202 (https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/r-s202/specs.html#product-tabs), which delivered very good, crisp and quite loud sound. I was very much satisfied with it, even though the amp delivered only 140W per channel and the woofer was up to 200W.
Then I decided to buy the amp board, specifically from Sure Electronics (https://store.sure-electronics.com/product/255).
It is supposed to have 300W power per channel. So I hooked it up however to my surprise this amp delivered significantly lower volume than the Yamaha. Now I was not expecting significantly louder volume, but I certainly was not expecting lower...
Sory if my confusion sounds very stupid for you, but could anyone give me any insight why this may have happened?
I may be new to reading specs of amps I am comparing...
You are 😉
I'm sure other people can provide links to articles that explain this better (I don't have time to find anything right now, sorry), but using the relationship between loudness volume and output power like you do is basically like trying to estimate the top speed of cars purely by looking at the volume of the engine. There is a relation, but there are many other parameters that influence so the direct correlation is quite weak.
Thanks for the time and reply! Much appreciated.
I have actually done some readings and do understand (on an entry level 🙂 ) that the relationship is not linear (e.g. doubling the power will only give +3db volume).
What I want to understand here is which parameter determines the volume level for amps. In speakers, sensitivity is the key indicator of speaker loudness right? 100 db speaker will sound louder than 90 db speaker. So here I dont fully understand where to look to compare these two amps and explain why one sounds lower than than the other 🙁
Gain. Looks like the Yamaha has 35dB of gain and the Sure board has 30dB. When using the same audio source at the same level with each amp, the Yamaha will sound louder, but the Sure is capable of more power with a proper power supply and adequate input signal.
You haven't mentioned what source you're driving the Sure board with.
Thank you very much! now I see where my mistake was 🙂
The source was the same, for testing purposes I used my iphone, spotify to be specific. I dont think using a proper audio CD will provide any different results, will it
The Yamaha does 100W into an 8-Ohm load with an 0.5Vrms input signal. The Sure amp does a little over 30W with that same input signal. To match the Yamaha, the Sure needs around 0.9Vrms, which is higher than the typical output level of a phone. A CD player could potentially provide the needed signal level, but that really depends on the unit.
What will your typical audio source be when using the Sure? What about volume control?
What will your typical audio source be when using the Sure? What about volume control?
Thank you for reply!
well I believe phone will be still the main source of audio... I personally hate using phone/spotify for quiality listening, but, I know these speakers will be mistreated and main source of signal will be iphone 🙂
anyway, I was recommended to use pre-amp, maybe that can help to boost signal from phone?
Yes, a pre-amp is an OK solution. You don't need a whole lot of extra gain though. Too much gain in the pre-amp will just add a bunch of noise.