Car Audio System & Power Ratings

Obviously, the most popular specification that consumers look at when purchasing a car audio amplifier system is its output power rating.

OK, this quick post is to help you get an overview of what the amplifier power rating means!

Basically, an audio amplifier system takes a small signal input and raises it in voltage and current to drive a low-impedance loudspeaker. Note that the more power you have, the more loudly you can play your car audio system before the signal going to the loud speakers distorts. 

And, the limit of how much power is required is determined by the power handling specifications of the in-car loud speakers ,their cone excursion limits and their distortion characteristics. 

An audio amplifier set up in a lab to measure power is typically connected to a power supply and a set of load resistors. Special test equipments are also used to measure the distortion characteristics of the output signal to determine the point at which you would hear the distortion.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has established a standard for the power and signal-to-noise ratio measurements of car audio amplifiers called CTA-2006-B.

The specification states that power measurements are to be taken with the car amplifier powered with a DC voltage of 14.4V, and the measurement is taken into a specified load (Typically 4Ω) with no more than 1% total harmonic distortion and noise (THD+N) across the entire bandwidth of the amplifier.

Simply put, the audio amplifier must perform as well producing bass as it does high-frequency information, and the specified power rating cannot include large amounts of distortion.

What is the difference between continuous RMS vs. peak power?

And why does it matter? Read this PDF ↗

Finally, this post is just a snip from a BestCarAudio.com Magazine article published in 2019.

This is the LINK to the original article Understanding the Specs – Amplifier Power Ratings ⇱

See you next week ⪫