Computer audio monitors - power consumption

CHasle · Nov 14, 2016

I'd like to get a good set of speakers for my computer desktop, which will have very low power consumption on idle or low volume. I think something like Mackie CR3 would suit my needs for sound but they only rate power consumption for full volume, about 75 watts. I'd like to see under 3 watts idle.

Are there any surveys that show power use for decent small powered monitor speakers, or does anyone have a Kill-A-Watt they can plug in to their nice sounding monitors to see what they draw?

jsmithepa · Nov 14, 2016

You maybe overthinking it.

First off, no vendor publish that kind of information, so you are left to, go buy 10 you like, test them all on your own and keep the one you like, which is not convenient to say the least.

To alleviate your power consumption fear... most amp makes are A/B class biased (if you want to learn more wiki amplifier classes) A/B class amps are designed to draw very little power at idle and only start drawing energy when signal present. There are class A amps (very few) which is constantly drawing power no matter what, some very finicky people want this because class A amps don't have crossover distortion (again, wiki if you must). I can almost 99.9% assure you no PC speakers use class A amps.

Natsukage · Nov 14, 2016

Going by most specs for AB amplifiers, I doubt the Mackie CR3 have much less than 5-10 watts at idle though.

CHasle · Nov 14, 2016

jsmithepa :

Thanks for the reply, I can see that most specs include nothing or just peak power, but hope to encourage following the lead of other categories such as monitors & cpus for power specs. I know about A/B, wanted to buy a Yamaha CA-1000 but instead built a Dynaco ST-80, for which I can now find an idle/max power draw: http

/home.indy.net/~gregdunn/dynaco/components/ST80/index.html. Natsukage, thanks for your comments about 5-10 watts likely idle, anybody got a Kill-a-watt before I just order a CR3?

hang-the-9 · Nov 16, 2016

The difference between your 3 watts and say 10 watts on a power bill would be about a $1 per month, if it's on a lot. Your cable box when shut off will draw the same power as speakers when they are just sitting there. As will any other device that is still on a bit when it's off.

Or you can just plug them into a surge protector and turn that off to save power. Or hit the power switch on the speakers.

jsmithepa · Nov 16, 2016

This is where the Missus goes, Tom "for God's sake, roll up the window and turn on the AC, my mascara is melting." Tom, "hey gas is not free you know!"

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Computer audio monitors - power consumption

CHasle

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Natsukage

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CHasle

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hang-the-9

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jsmithepa

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