Why Should You Invest in a Karaoke Amplifier?

November 9th, 2009

Why Should You Invest in a Karaoke Amplifier?

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 a professional karaoke DJ would like to have. Karaoke amplifiers are also commonly referred to as hybrids because they have the features that are also found on many pre-amps.

One feature in particular is multiple inputs, which enables you to get audio signals from more than one source. If you have an iPod and a karaoke machine, you no longer need a mixer because you can use your amplifier. Most also have a radio tuner.

A standard karaoke amplifier should be able to run at least four speakers effectively. As the general rule of thumb, a good setup includes two main speakers, a monitor speaker, and a subwoofer. Sound will get out to your audience when the subwoofer and main speakers work together.

The karaoke singer can hear themselves through the monitor speaker. The best karaoke amplifiers have a built-in crossover, which means that the low frequencies from the subwoofer will only go through that subwoofer; this helps to keep them separate from the mix. For the best results, run the main speakers and the monitor on the same channel because the higher frequencies do not need too 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, if you have an amplifier that can put out 800 watts, the speakers should be able to handle 1,000 watts. On that same note, you need multiple speakers when running that many watts. In this event, you can add the wattage of each speaker and combine them together to determine how much they can handle as a pair. For example, an 800 watt amplifier can have two 450 watt speakers or another similar combination like 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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