The correct answer is, at least two times the highest you can plainly hear.
Why two times? Actually, the highest you can plainly hear is dependent on two things, the power levels involved (and we don't want to go there) and...the bandwidth of the test system.
As the bandwidth of the test system improves, so does your apparent bandwidth.
What's important is not that your bandwidth is "met," but that any further improvement in your apparent bandwidth is not achieved by turther improvements in the audio system. Thats...as good is it needs to be.
This happens around twice the desired bandwidth, because when you have two separate sytems...the audio system and your hearing system...to achieve any particular total bandwidth over both those entities, requires each half to have twice that bandwidth.
Although my hearing goes to about 16kHz, an appropriate audio system total bandwidth is 40kHz to allow for the nominal human limit of 20kHz.
And since audio amplifiers are only one part of the system which must achieve 40khz bandwidth, it's appropriate for audio amplifiers to have at least 100khz bandwidth or maybe higher depending on rest of system.
Why two times? Actually, the highest you can plainly hear is dependent on two things, the power levels involved (and we don't want to go there) and...the bandwidth of the test system.
As the bandwidth of the test system improves, so does your apparent bandwidth.
What's important is not that your bandwidth is "met," but that any further improvement in your apparent bandwidth is not achieved by turther improvements in the audio system. Thats...as good is it needs to be.
This happens around twice the desired bandwidth, because when you have two separate sytems...the audio system and your hearing system...to achieve any particular total bandwidth over both those entities, requires each half to have twice that bandwidth.
Although my hearing goes to about 16kHz, an appropriate audio system total bandwidth is 40kHz to allow for the nominal human limit of 20kHz.
And since audio amplifiers are only one part of the system which must achieve 40khz bandwidth, it's appropriate for audio amplifiers to have at least 100khz bandwidth or maybe higher depending on rest of system.
