Amp wattage

[Joe Williams]

All else equal,as they say, what will be the practical difference in the performance of mini-amps with different output wattages: 1, 2.5 and 10, for instance?

[Cause the Blue rat]

The more watts the cleaner the sound will be at mid to higher volumes. Clipping starts when you start to overwork the amp. Most one to two watt amps start to clip or distort at low volume levels. 

[Joe Williams]

Well, that leads to what will seem like a really simple question then, but I've never been interested in amp stuff until recently and know very very little. I've seen DIY amp circuitry as high as 15 watts, still powered by a 9V battery. If higher wattage makes for cleaner sound, how did these 1 - 3 or so watt amp circuits get to be the norm for little amps?

[Paul Craig]

Low price to answer your question.

Size of the speaker can also have a lot to do with the clean sound, distortion and clipping.

I have a 1watt Ruby amp that I built that does great cleans and decent distortion because it has a 6" 10watt speaker wired to it. But most of your 1 to 5 watt amps can have more distorted signal than you want no matter what speaker you have.

It's not always that easy of a question to answer, but the bigger the speaker you use, the most likely you'll be happy with the sound because they move more air and have stronger coils. Some 6", 8" or 10" speakers at 10 watts for the 1 watt to 10 watt amps will do you right.

[Joe Williams]

This is the first one. It's an old Kicker 3" 2 way car speaker rated for 100 watts, using the Artek 2.5 watt amp.