Paring your pair of speakers to an amplifier can be stressful when you are new to basic acoustic jargon, like watts per channel, speaker sensitivity, and ohm rating.
How to choose an amplifier for speakers is no mystery, but users are in so much of a hurry that they overlook basic matching and just pick whatever amp looks good or fits their budget.
An amplifier is not just a fancy-looking box that audiophiles like to put on display. It significantly improves the audio signal sent to your speakers while reducing any residual distortion and noise produced.
If you want a robust sound output, and want to make the most of what an amplifier offers, you will need to do some basic matching.
This guide focuses on the main factors you should look out for when you have to choose power amplifiers to pair with your speakers, wherever they may be.
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How To Choose Amplifier for Home Speakers
The factors that affect how to choose amplifiers for speakers are the same you should look out for whenever you have to match speakers and subwoofers to any rated channel amp: power, impedance, and speaker sensitivity.
If you match these carefully, you’ll know exactly where to use your speakers, maximize the sound produced and never have to worry about damaging your amplifier.
To keep things simple, we will stay away from difficult technical jargon. Instead, we will keep you focused on ratings to watch for and how to match a new amplifier to your speakers.
Impedance
Speaker impedance is a measure of the resistance of your speaker to the electrical signal of your amplifier. It’s an electrical quantity and is measured in Ohms, denoted by the omega symbol.
You can easily find the nominal impedance of your speaker and amplifier on their respective spec sheet, online, or on the equipment itself.
All you need to do is to check if the impedance of the speaker is compatible with the impedance of the amplifier.
A good rule of thumb is to ensure that your speaker and your amplifier impedance fall within the range. We recommend checking the spec sheet before purchase