One Watt Can Get Pretty Loud!

To fully understand watts, in audio terms, you need to understand two things.

1. Audio loudness is logarithmic. This means that you have to double the audio power of a speaker system to get a 3dB increase. Do you want more on top of that? You'll need to double your power again. Want another 3dB? Double it again! Of course, you can also double the quantity of working speakers as well, but that's another article all together.

2. One watt is pretty loud already. Take a look at the “sensitivity” spec on a speaker. This determines how efficient the speaker is. In other word, it tells how loudly the speaker will play when given just 1 watt. Yes, a speaker will play just fine with one watt. In these tests, a test microphone is usually placed 1 meter from the speaker. On average, a speaker will hit around 90dB (give or take 5dB which just happens to be a TON!!!!) with just one watt of power. So how loud is 90dB? According to my research, your average push lawn mower is 90dB. Oddly enough, I've wore ear plugs while mowing for years. So what does that tell you?