Forte II Amplifier Power Question.

[jerome]

Thanks for your help.

I have a pair of Forte II I bought new. Power Handling 100W Continuous. I have always used an average amp rated at 100W.

I now have a chance to buy for very reasonable cost a

Crown XLS602 rated @ 370W 8 Ohm per channel or a

Behringer EP2500 rated @ 450W 8 Ohm per channel.

If I go this route and do not drive the speakers into distortion will this:

Under utilization of the amp, lots of headroom?

Is it a real danger of damaging the speaker?

Recommendations, thoughts?

Thanks you,

Jerome

[moray james]

most of the time speakers are damaged by small amps clipping which generates tremendous amounts of distortion and that's where the heat comes from that melts the voice coil.Big amps which are not driven into clipping are safer to run. Note; if you hear your speaker start to distort due to being over driven turn it down and all will be right with the world. Given the high efficiency of Klipsch speakers your ears should give up before your speakers do. Most bar bands in my local run at an averaage of 90 db which is plenty loud and your Klipsch will do that easily all day with not a worry.Wether you like the sound of either of the two amps you have mentioned is up to you but in general amps that don't clip sound great. Best regards Moray James.

[jerome]

Thanks for the response...the amp will actually be used for an Infinite Baffle home theater sub, quality is not as important for that. I just thought of using with my mains for the next couple of months, just didn't want to hurt them. Who knows...sound is so subjective...if it sounds good to me I could always leave it and pick up another for the IB.