What is a karaoke amplifier? Why do you need it?

Karaoke amplifiers are powered amplifiers specially designed for the needs of enthusiastic karaoke equipment owners. Many are designed for karaoke DJs, but some are designed for home use. They are typically designed to make it easy to connect and disconnect karaoke rigs and provide a number of additional features compared to common public address system power amplifiers.

These features usually include features that DJs will love. For example, many karaoke amps are considered hybrid amps because they usually have features associated with preamps.

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 a 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 operate four or more speakers efficiently. A proper karaoke setup requires two main speakers, at least one subwoofer, and at least one monitor speaker. The main speaker and subwoofer work together to deliver all the sound to the audience.

There are monitor speakers that allow the singer to hear her voice. High quality amplifiers for karaoke and other DJ applications have built-in crossovers. That is, the low frequencies of the subwoofer are sent only to the subwoofer and away from other mixes. The best way to run speakers is to run the main and monitor on the same channel. This is because high frequencies do not require much power.

Be sure to match the amplifier to the speakers and vice versa. You need to make sure that the speaker can handle more power than the amplifier can output, but not too much. For example, if your amplifier can output 300 watts, a speaker rated to handle 450 watts is best.

If the amplifier can output 800 watts, each speaker must be able to handle 1000. However, if you run that number of watts, you may run multiple speakers. In this case, sum the wattages of each to determine the amount that can be processed. For 800 watts, you can run two 500 watt (or 450 watt) speakers, or four 200-300 watt speakers.

Behind the scenes is to buy a subwoofer rated at 1,500 watts and run it only on a 300 watt amplifier. The amplifier may burn out and you may not get good sound from the speakers. This is because it requires more power than can be obtained just to produce sound properly.