
fiers
will
deliver only about 50%
more power into 4 ohms than
8
ohms, due to power -supply
cur-
rent
limitations
or the intervention
of their
protective
circuits. Each
time the load resistance is halved
(causing
the
power output to be
doubled), the amplifier's power
supply is called upon to deliver
twice as much current to the out-
put devices at a given
input
signal.
Obviously, that can create prob-
lems. Under conditions of exces-
sive current drain, the power
supply's
voltage level
sags. As the
power
-supply voltage falls,
so
does
the maximum
output -power
capability of the amplifier.
Any
at-
tempt to drive the amplifier
beyond
its
lowered power- output
capability will result in clipping
distortion.
To recapitulate,
the sequence
goes this way: A very low value
speaker
impedance
causes exces-
sive current to be drawn
-via
the
output transistors -from the
am-
plifier's
power -supply. The exces-
sive
drain,
in turn,
causes the
power -supply voltage to fall. The
drop
in power
-supply
voltage
re-
duces the signal
level
that can
be
handled
by
the
amplifier.
When
that limit is
exceeded,
waveform
clipping results. The
audibility of
clipping
depends both on
its
se-
verity
and its
duration. If only the
tips of the highest
peak
waveforms
are truncated,
then the clipping
may pass
unnoticed.
However, in-
sofar as the music waveforms
be-
gin to resemble
square waves, the
problem
becomes very audible.
Overloads such as I've
de-
scribed
are
likely
to have addi-
tional consequences. The
ampli-
fier may run hot
enough
to trigger
its thermal -protection
circuit, it
may
blow
fuses,
or -worst case -
it may
burn
out
its
output tran-
sistors
or the tweeters in the con-
nected speaker
systems. Some of
the early circuits that were
de-
signed
to protect the output de-
vices from
excessive
current
tended
to be complex and unrelia-
ble and, worst
of all,
would some-
times
audibly
misbehave. How-
ever,
with
today's improved output
devices, simpler
and
more reliable
protection
circuits (sometimes
consisting
only of speaker
-line
or
power -supply
fuses) provide
the
required
protection.
Current thinking
Given all
the
above,
it's
easy
to
see
why many
amplifier
manufac-
turers have recently begun to fea-
ture "current
reserve"
as an
important
specification.
Even con-
ventional
8- ohm
-rated speaker
systems can
fall
as low as
2
to 3
ohms at some test
frequencies,
or
on
musical material
containing
those
frequencies. If the
current
reserves of an amplifier are
not
sufficient to sustain
its wattage
output
into low impedances, the
amplifier
momentarily runs out of
power -and frequently right at the
time
when it is musically needed
the
most!
I'm not
too embarrassed
that it
took
me
so
many years to appreci-
ate
the importance of high- current
capability
in amplifiers;
most
of
the Japanese manufacturers had
no more insight into
the
matter
than I did. The reason, I suspect,
had to do
with
the
impedance
characteristics of
Japanese speak-
ers. In the 1970's, you still
found
Japanese amplifiers that overhe-
ated or shut off if you tried to drive
American
-made 4 -ohm
speakers
with
them. And
it was
only five or
six
years
ago,
if memory serves,
that an engineer from a major Japa-
nese manufacturer asked me
for
reference material that explained
dynamic headroom and current
capability.
One final note: If you check the
current EIA amplifier -test standard
you will find no mention
of
out-
put-
current capability
in
either the
primary
or secondary ratings.
At
the
time we were working
on the
standard, none of us thought
about output current as
an impor-
tant
factor.
Today, there still does
not appear to be a universally
agreed -upon method of rating am-
plifier-
current capability.
I
there-
fore assume that output- current
ratings
such as 20, 30 or 50 am-
peres usually refer to an amplifier's
short -term
capability,
not
to
its
continuous rating. But in
any
case,
I'm
encouraged by the fact that
output- current ratings
continue
to
be played up
in press releases
and
spec sheets. I
believe
that a large
output- current capability can
make a significant
contribution
to
sound quality, given today's speak-
ers and the way they are
designed
and used. R -E
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