Current Questions

falconquest,

 After skimming through these many posts about a simple question, your answer has the best potential to answer the basic question asked by someone admits right up front that this isn't exactly his line of expertise. Thanks for that. The fact that some of the posts accurately describe current with the inclusion of OHMS law, or other related truth, does not help the person who is asking in the first place. 

If only thing should be understood here, it is that the speaker’s impedance is what determines whether a particular amp is gong to work or not work.

The equation (V=IR) itself, defines a relationship between resistance and current.

So we need to understand either the I, the current, (which relates to the amplifier) or we need to understand the R (which relates to the speaker).

Which means that:

we either start with amp, and determine what speakers are not going to work, and look at the rest that will.

or

we start with the speaker, and determine which amplifiers will work and which will not, and then go from there.

We can talk about current in isolation, but it seems easier if we started with an example of what speakers you wanted to consider running.

Before I continue, let me say that holmz gets it, i.e. in reference to my post. No BS, no put down or what is too commonly seen on this site, so thanks for that. Better that we can explain our writings to each such as is being done here. 

 Now I do agree with the idea that this involves more than a single component. The basic question however, now addressed, was about current and it's definition for the common man. We tend to automatically answer in a way we know, but not everyone knows the meaning behind V=IR, or E=mc2 for that matter. So from the beginning there little chance by this definition that the OP will 'get' the meaning.

 Man, I do remember all the talk back in the day about current/amperage output of power amps, X WPC, TIM and anything 'new' to sell.  In some cases it was relevant for the consumer, but then not so much in other cases.

 Once the idea of current is basically understood, then it is time to move to the next logical step of current need. Sorry, couldn't resist.

To my knowledge, current capacity is rarely discussed. Twenty years ago someone used to talk about the number of joules (energy) stored in the capacitors of their amps, but I haven't seen that for a while.

Speaking of twenty, that's Bryston's guarantee. They build their stuff to last, and last it does. Not a shill, just a satisfied customer - I've owned one or more of their amps for years and years, now running the subs in my HT.

Before I continue, let me say that holmz gets it, i.e. in reference to my post. No BS, no put down or what is too commonly seen on this site, so thanks for that.

I’ll work on being more “common” and lace in put downs and humiliations 😁

(On a serious note, thanks man.)

It is easy to assume that others have the equivilent of a H.S. Electronics shop class or HS physics, but it is apparent that this is not a universal truth.

On the sales side, there is push for saving parts costs and manufacturing costs. And hiding factual performance in specs that make it hard to get to what exactly a piece of gear provides.
That makes it very hard to not be sold garbage or gear that is marginally appropriate.

On the subjective side:

Speaking of twenty, that's Bryston's guarantee. They build their stuff to last, and last it does. Not a shill, just a satisfied customer

^This^ person, and others I have know, speak very highly about the Bryson gear. I do not know much about their gear, except that a lot of people that I respect (and who are use similar speakers) use Bryson.

So if one is disinclined towards understanding the inner workings, then finding what others are using successfully with similar speakers (in terms of amplifiers) is a good strategy… assuming that success often repeats itself. 

Think of it in terms of plumbing.
Water pressure is equivalent to voltage. Resistance/impedance is analogous to a valve which controls the flow. The water flow is the current. The more the water flow, the better your shower. The more current into your speaker, the better your sound.