Monday, November 9, 2009

What is a Karaoke Amplifier

By Jonathon Hardcastle

A karaoke amplifier is a powered amplifier designed specifically for the needs of the avid karaoke equipment owner. Many are designed for the karaoke DJ while a few are more designed for home use. They typically are designed to make hooking up and taking down a karaoke rig easy and provide numerous extra features over a typical public address system power amplifier.

These are all features that any karaoke DJ would love. In fact, some karaoke amplifiers are known as hybrids because they have some of the features normally found on pre-amps.

One of these features is multiple inputs so you can send audio signals from multiple sources. This eliminates the need for a mixer if you have two audio sources, such as the karaoke source and an iPod for filler music. Many of these units also include a radio tuner.

A typical karaoke amplifier has enough power to run four or more speakers efficiently. For a good karaoke setup, you will need 2 main speakers, at least one subwoofer and at least one monitor speaker. The main speaker and subwoofer work together to get all of the sound out to the audience.

The monitor speaker is there so the singer can hear themselves. The quality amplifiers for karaoke and other DJ applications have a crossover built in meaning the low frequencies for the subwoofer only go to the subwoofer, keeping them from the rest of the mix. The best way to run the speakers is to run the the mains and monitors on the same channel, as high frequencies do not need as much power.

You must match your amplifier to your speakers. Ensure the main speakers are able to handle more power than the amplifier, but it doesn't need to be too much more. For example, if you have an amplifier that can put out 300 watts, a speaker that can handle 450 watts is perfect.

On the other hand, a speaker would need to handle around 1,000 watts if the amplifier could put out 800 watts. But, when running that many watts, it is likely that you are using multiple speakers. If so, you can total the wattage from each speaker and add them together to determine exactly how much they can handle as a pair. For instance, with an 800 watt amplifier, you could run two 400 watt speakers, two 450 watt speakers, or even four 200 watt speakers.

Keep these figures in mind when buying a subwoofer because you don't want to run a 1,500 watt subwoofer on a 300 watt amplifier. If you do, you won't get the best sound quality and may even burn out the amplifier because more power is needed than what is being provided.

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