Hi guys,
Newbie question. I have a small home theater setup consisting of the Klipsch HD500 (5.1 satellite/sub) speakers, powered by the Yamaha YMC-500 receiver.
I haven't been satisfied with the HD500 for music, so I'm upgrading the speakers. Tomorrow, I'm picking up a pair of Klipsch Fortes, with Klipsch KG 1.5 for surrounds, and the Klipsch KV-3 center. No subwoofer in the new setup; I'm confident that the Fortes will do far better than the 8" sub in the HD500 kit. I'm looking forward to it!
Now, I am concerned if the Yamaha YMC-500 will be adequate for the new speaker setup. It's a small receiver and low power. Frustratingly, it's own published specs are very unclear. All the manual says is:
• Power Consumption: 50 W
• Maximum Power Consumption
5 ch, 10% THD: 170 W
Sound and Vision did a review of the YMC-500/700 a few years ago, and they published their lab results here: http://www.soundandvision.com/content/yamaha-neohd-ymc-700-media-controller-ht-labs-measures. Their key findings:
Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 15.7 watts 1% distortion at 21.6 watts
Speaker output with two channels driving 8 ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 28.6 watts 1% distortion at 45.1 watts
Speaker output with two channels driving 4 ohms: 0.1% distortion at 23.3 watts 1% distortion at 50.4 watts
I'm not sure if this little amp will handle the larger speakers well. I know Klipsch speakers are efficient and don't need much power, but still.
Adding to my concern: I don't know what the effect may be on the speakers if I drive them with an inadequate amp. My first intuition is to simply try it out when I pick up the new speakers tomorrow. But is it possible to damage speakers if the amp is terribly inadequate?
TL;DR: I have two questions:
Is the low-power Yamaha YMC-500 adequate to drive Klipsch Forte speakers (fronts), Klipsch KG 1.5 (rears), and Klipsch KV-3 (center)? If I'm not sure, is it okay to try driving these speakers with the YMC-500? Or do I have to worry about damaging the speakers if the amp is that inadequate?
Thank you for your time.