An amplifier is the heart of any good AUDIO/VIDEO system. It's basic job is to boost the signal coming out from the processor and send it to the speaker. Simple yet very important function. If it's not powerful enough to pump the juice to the loud speakers than what they require (an under powered amplifier), It can really damage your speakers.

 

YES! an under powered amplifier can actually damage your speakers and NOT an over powered amplifier. This is not snake oil but the truth. Its easy to understand with an example. Eg. If you have a 500 watts speaker and you connect it to you AV RECEIVER, that usually do not have enough powerful amplifiers built into them, what is going to happen is that when you will boost the volume up the signal will start clipping. Meaning, the amplifier when trying too hard to boost the volume up will start sending a continuous current signal which will then damage the drivers of your speakers. You definitely can connect your 500 watts more/less speakers to a lower wattage amplifier to get sound out of them but you will not only damage them with the time but will also not be able to get the most out of them in terms of audio quality. So if you do not have enough watts in your amplifier, its always recommended to connect the speakers that too have less watts at which they are rated. 

​

Another most important thing to remember is that a good amplifier connected to the speakers does effects the sound stage. A good amplifier will not only outputs a low distorted and noise free signal but will also give you a better wide stage performance.

​

The second most important thing when buying an amplifier is that how many OHMS of a speaker/ IMPEDANCE is supported by the amplifier. Again allow an example to make a better understanding. Eg. You have a pair of speakers that are rated at 4 OHMS and you connect them to an amplifier that supports speakers of 8 OHMS only, what is going to happen is that it will start heating up the amplifier and it will either burn the amplifier or will shut the amplifier down into the protection mode. To understand the IMPEDANCE of a speaker, is quite easy. Imagine a battery and you connect its one terminal to the other i.e.+ve to the -ve or vice versa, that then will be rated as 0 OHMS and when the more resistance starts to occur meaning the harder you make the current to flow from one terminal to the other by adding some materials, the higher the impedance number will be. So the lower the impedance/ohms the harder it is to drive the speaker and the more beefy amplifier you will need. Most modern amplifiers have a rating of driving speakers rated at 4 OHMS to 16 OHMS. So make sure the amplifier has this written on it before you make your purchase.

​

Power amplifier comes with a different number of outputs varying from the most common being the 1 CHANNEL (MONO AMP) or 2 CHANNELS (STEREO AMP) up to 3/5/7/11 CHANNELS (or more) rated at different watts and impedance. Make this purchase carefully after knowing the wattage/ohms of the speakers that will be connected to the amplifier. Always remember more watts can never damage your speakers but lower watts can damage your speakers easily when pushed hard.