Understanding Mcintosh Meters?

“You said that as long as I am supplying less wattage than my speakers can handle I am fine. So does that mean if my amp is say 50-100 wpc (depending on speaker impedance) and my speakers are rated at 350w power handling, I dont have to worry about frying them with my amp? But then why does everyone say an underpowered amp is more dangerous”

The theory as to why an underpowered amplifier is potentially more damaging to your speakers than an adequatly powered amp is that the amp will tend to clip when "overdriven", and this will occur at lower volumes than for an adequatly powered amp. Clipped waveforms are waveforms that sit at the rail voltage of the amp (not an intended aspect of the signal). For example, consider a sine wave with a peak of 10 volts as opposed to a clipped sine wave with a peak of 10 volts. The greater clipping, the longer per cycle the waveform sits at 10 volts. In the extreme, the waveform becomes a square wave. Impressed across the same load, more power is dissipated by the clipped waveform than the unclipped waveform. More power means more heat dissipated , and at some point, damage may occur. However, that does not mean that an adequately powered amplifier cannot cause damage just because it does not clip. If the speaker draws more current than it can handle, damage can result.

They are put there to sell product. When I was a dealer I was often told that products with meters invariably outsold those without. My own experience bore this out, my best selling amp was a Hitachi mosfet power amp with large meters. I was quite a good amp, probably better than the Haffler I was also selling in many ways. But people bought it for the meters, not the sound. If you really want to track output LEDs are much better , but not as much fun.

>> Onemug: Yes, my amp does have powerguard. This means that my speakers should be protected against any spike in the music that may cause the amp to clip?

Yes, but I would not push it. Amps and speakers can be repaired, your ears can't.

Ok, so i thought I understood the meters. But apparently they arent as useful as I thought. They arent really measuring anything. They pretty much are just there for looks. Let me explain.

Someone said, the meters could help tell whether your system was hooked up properly, but as long as there is a source being fed into them, they will react to the music regardless of whether or not speakers are even connected.

My left meter has been reading sligtly less than my right meter. I thought maybe when i moved the amp around recently the left speaker wire came a bit loose from the connection. Upon inspection I realized they have nothing to do with speakers being connected or not.

I am confused now.

If you want to see what the meters are measuring and at what point, the schematics for all of the currently sold amplifiers are available from Mcintosh for a very nominal feel. Suggest buying the schematics and studying them - which will dispel the idea that the meters measure nothing.