Poll of the Day > Can someone explain the difference between sound output in Watts?

(+) Yeah! (+)

So a Samsung tv has a sound output of 40-60W, and a sound bar has an output of 360W.

Is the power output useful in any way to judge the difference between how good a speaker is compared to a sound bar?

Basically trying to settle an argument between a friend of mine who says sound bars are unnecessary in modern tvs as you cant tell the difference. I can tell the difference between my sound bar and tv, but idk if thats just me. Surely a 60W speaker cannot match the quality of a 360W speaker? Also surely in modern tvs you definitely can tell the difference because tvs are getting thinner and thinner so speakers are less and less powerful?

Your friend is smoking crack if they think you can't tell the difference between TV speakers and even a cheap soundbar. Just by virtue of physical dimensions, TV speakers will always have limited range for bass frequencies.

But 'wattage' and 'quality' are not synonomous. Higher wattage just means louder, not better sound. That only comes with, sadly, more expensive rigs.

FatalAccident posted...

Is the power output useful in any way to judge the difference between how good a speaker is compared to a sound bar?

not necessarily.
ohms (resistance), size of the speaker, and size/weight of the magnet can all drastically affect the sound. even ceramic vs alnico can make a difference.
at least with guitar amps, wattage doesn't really mean much outside of "this is how much wiggle room you can expect to have before things start breaking up" but even then it's more of a generalized rule rather than "more watts = more louder"

BucketCat posted...

not necessarily.
ohms (resistance), size of the speaker, and size/weight of the magnet can all drastically affect the sound. even ceramic vs alnico can make a difference.
at least with guitar amps, wattage doesn't really mean much outside of "this is how much wiggle room you can expect to have before things start breaking up" but even then it's more of a generalized rule rather than "more watts = more louder"

Also, wattage is logarithmic. 100w is not "twice as loud as 50w".

FatalAccident posted...

Basically trying to settle an argument between a friend of mine who says sound bars are unnecessary in modern tvs as you cant tell the difference. I can tell the difference between my sound bar and tv, but idk if thats just me. Surely a 60W speaker cannot match the quality of a 360W speaker? Also surely in modern tvs you definitely can tell the difference because tvs are getting thinner and thinner so speakers are less and less powerful?

Just send them a link to the frequency response for a random TV, and then a random sound bar.
The physical shape of a speaker effects its response, so you have little speakers that are better at higher ranges and bigger speakers that are better at lower ranges. Despite all of our advancements in super cool speakers, we're limited by the fact that humans need moving air to hear, and it matters how much physical air we move.

When I have trouble hearing sound output I say "watt?"

Watt make noise go loud. More watt. More loud.