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Hi-Fi Amplifiers

Hi-fi amplifiers exist to take the small signal provided by your music sources (CD player, DAC, hi-fi turntable, radio DAB tuner, network audio music server, iPod, cassette deck) and make that small signal larger with sufficient power to drive a loudspeaker, without distorting the original signal. Of course, you also need to be able to control how much power the amplifier 'boosts' the small input signal - this control is known as volume. Other control functions of the stereo amplifier include input selection, allowing you to connect several music sources to your amplifier and select which one you want to listen to, often by infra red control. A turntable input is often referred to a phono or disc input, and are normally only compatible with moving magnet phono cartridges - the higher priced models are also compatible with moving coil cartridges.

Integrated amplifiers often include bass, treble and balance controls, allowing you to tailor the final sound quality to suit your ear and room acoustics. The most common form of audio amplifier is the integrated amplifier - this combines the pre-amplifier and power amplifier in one box. Higher performance amplifiers often split the pre and power amplifier sections into separate boxes for improved performance.

Many customers ask us how much power output (Watts) they need and whether they will damage their speakers if they use a more powerful audio amplifier than recommended for that loudspeaker model. Our advice is, for normal music listening at home, an amplifier of between 20W and 50W will be more than ample for most users - more important to the 'in room' volume is the efficiency of your speakers - anything over 85dB/W is considered efficient. More damage is caused to loudspeakers by low power amplifiers distorting at high volume and overheating the speaker voice coil, which will eventually fail if the distortion persists. Our advice is to use a higher powered amplifier and run it well within it's limits, so that it does not distort - under these conditions, you are much less likely to damage your loudspeakers.

As always, good quality audio cables and speaker cables will always get the best sound quality from your amplifier.

For an in-depth discussion of how to choose the best hi-fi ampliifier see our blog post.