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Benchmark ahb2 power amplifier11/23/2023 ![]() A Traditional Class-AB Amplifier Operating at 1 Watt For this reason, it is important to separately examine the first-watt performance. Unfortunately these high-power specifications have no direct relationship to the performance within the first watt. Ironically, amplifier bench measurements tend to focus on the THD+N (total harmonic distortion + noise) at maximum power. For this reason, our enjoyment of the music is largely dependent upon the quality of the delivery within the first watt. In contrast, our ears have plenty of time to detect the distortion that occurs in the low-power spaces between loud transients. The short durations of these transients make it harder to hear the distortion that occurs on these musical peaks. The thump of a kick drum, a note on the bass, or a loud transient from the percussion may approach the output limits of a power amplifier, but very little time is spent reproducing these transients. Distortion can detach us from the performance and give us the distinct impression that we are just listening to sound coming out of a box. Together these effects can detract from emotion and authenticity of the musical performance. In the low power region, it is our opinion that distortion can change the harmonic character of musical voices, clutter the unused frequencies between musical tones, and add a fatiguing harshness. ![]() The Effects of Distortion in the First Watt In any musical recording, the durations of transient peaks are very short relative to the time between the peaks. The first watt is the most important because the amplifier spends most of its time delivering less than 1 watt, even when the music is cranking. Musical Details are Conveyed by the First Wattīetween the transient peaks, most of the important musical details are reproduced at power levels of much less than 1 watt. The peaks are important, but most of the musical details are conveyed in the low power regions between the peaks. With typical recordings, peaks reach 25 to 65 watts while the average music power is just 1 watt. When music is playing at a reasonably loud level on a typical studio monitoring system, or on a home hi-fi system, the average power into the speakers is usually only about 1 watt. Using a double-blind ABX test, we verified that there was a clearly audible difference when the amplifiers drove speakers at an output level of 0.01 watt. One amplifier was a traditional class-AB amplifier, the other was Benchmark's AHB2 power amplifier with feed-forward error correction. In Benchmark's listening room we recently demonstrated the importance of the first watt using two 100 watt stereo power amplifiers.
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