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<blockquote data-quote="Ryan Lantzy" data-source="post: 34734" data-attributes="member: 7">Re: Noise floor eats up headroom, am I right?Honestly, who knows.&nbsp; Maybe the PLX sounded louder. However, S/N ratio has nothing to do with the capability of an amplifier to make a speaker get louder - which is really what we are talking about here.&nbsp; Maybe there is some crazy psychological/perceptual effect where increased noise causes our perception of loudness to change, but I highly doubt it.I&#039;m actually surprised that, all else being equal, the PLX sounded louder.&nbsp; With gain knobs at maximum, the RMX has 34dB of gain while the PLX (all first gen models) are 32dB.&nbsp; If your are describing your perception of &quot;loudness&quot; at the point where the clip indicators are flashing I&#039;d believe you if you said the PLX sounded louder.&nbsp; That observation could be due to many factors.&nbsp; Increased distortion, a compression of the signal due to clipping, or yeah, just an extra 300 Watts (though I really doubt the latter, it&#039;s only a 0.97 dB difference).&nbsp; I wouldn&#039;t have been surprised if you said the RMX was louder.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Because I see no method to your measurement and observations and the difference between these amplifiers (audibly speaking) is very very small.Indeed, you are wrong.&nbsp; Irregardless of the SNR specification, the power produced will be the same, but at some threshold it may &quot;sound different.&quot;&nbsp; One thing you should note: typically amplifiers are the best performing piece of equipment in the signal chain of a typical sound system.&nbsp; I rarely see SNR specs above 100dB in most electronics, and 100 or greater is fairly common in amplifiers.&nbsp; Unplugging the input from an amplifier connected to a speaker with the gain knobs WOT confirms this to my ears... most functioning amps are dead silent.&nbsp; Your mixer will be the biggest noise source, and in practice if you can achieve 80dB SNR from a mixer whilst in operation you are doing OK IMO.&nbsp; This varies greatly with the number of microphones connected and the gain required on each.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ryan Lantzy, post: 34734, member: 7"] Re: Noise floor eats up headroom, am I right? Honestly, who knows. Maybe the PLX sounded louder. However, S/N ratio has nothing to do with the capability of an amplifier to make a speaker get louder - which is really what we are talking about here. Maybe there is some crazy psychological/perceptual effect where increased noise causes our perception of loudness to change, but I highly doubt it. I'm actually surprised that, all else being equal, the PLX sounded louder. With gain knobs at maximum, the RMX has 34dB of gain while the PLX (all first gen models) are 32dB. If your are describing your perception of "loudness" at the point where the clip indicators are flashing I'd believe you if you said the PLX sounded louder. That observation could be due to many factors. Increased distortion, a compression of the signal due to clipping, or yeah, just an extra 300 Watts (though I really doubt the latter, it's only a 0.97 dB difference). I wouldn't have been surprised if you said the RMX was louder. Why? Because I see no method to your measurement and observations and the difference between these amplifiers (audibly speaking) is very very small. Indeed, you are wrong. Irregardless of the SNR specification, the power produced will be the same, but at some threshold it may "sound different." One thing you should note: typically amplifiers are the best performing piece of equipment in the signal chain of a typical sound system. I rarely see SNR specs above 100dB in most electronics, and 100 or greater is fairly common in amplifiers. Unplugging the input from an amplifier connected to a speaker with the gain knobs WOT confirms this to my ears... most functioning amps are dead silent. Your mixer will be the biggest noise source, and in practice if you can achieve 80dB SNR from a mixer whilst in operation you are doing OK IMO. This varies greatly with the number of microphones connected and the gain required on each. [/QUOTE]

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