Full range Class D car amplifiers

[jtvang125]

From what I heard class d amps tend to be more efficient than the more common class ab. This is probably why class d mono bass amps can make huge amounts of power in a small chassis. But at the expense of efficiency they're not very accurate meaning the distortion is higher than that of class ab amp. Am I correct? Can anyone elaborate on this more or give their personal experience? If I'm looking for SQ, I should look at a class ab design right?

 

[scorp00]

You are correct. AB amps waste ~50% of power while D amps only waste around 10%. D amps have 10-100 times more distortion than AB amps. It's a simple tradeoff of efficiency vs distortion of the signal quality. D amps are fine for subs as you will never notice 1% distortion on bass. You do want an AB for the rest of your speakers though.

 

[Gillbot]

I had a full range Class D running a set of full range speakers. The sound wasn't bad but you could tell the difference. That being said, if you want loud on midrange notes go class D but if you want quality don't.