Maximum Amp power for RF-82ii without damaging the speaker

[Dillyboy1975]

Hi All,

This is my 1st post and would like to find out from the experienced people on this community about Amp power for my RF 82 ii.

I have the new Rotel RMB 1575 which is a 5 channel amp pumping out 250 watts per channel @ 8 ohms. Please tell me if the RF 82 ii can handle that kind of power considering the speakers sensitivity. I will be buying the RF 82 ii next month and do want to make sure that i will be buying the right speaker for my Rotel Amplifier.

Help Please!

Dillyboy

[willland]

Dillyboy,

Welcome to the forum.

What did Tiger shoot today?[]

Your Rotel will be just fine with your RF-82ii's. Your speakers will never see, feel, or hear 250 watts through them. At crazy volumes that will not run you out of the room, the 82ii's might see 100 watts with 150 watts peaks. "Too much" power is better for low distortion and better bass drive, just don't get stupid with the volume knob.

Bill

[Dillyboy1975]

Thanks Bill.... I was just worried as this is my first full set up. I luv the Klipsch sound and dont want to blow them after a few days of hearing ;-).

I will post a few pics after set up next month. :-)

[Taz]

Thanks Bill.... I was just worried as this is my first full set up. I luv the Klipsch sound and dont want to blow them after a few days of hearing ;-).

I will post a few pics after set up next month. :-)

Might blow your ear drums if your not careful. [<)]

[Colin]

in the old days, the rule was never play the amp more than half way - that is when the power begins to distort

[Dillyboy1975]

Half way through would be full power for the RF 82 ii considering my amp is 250 watts per channel.... isnt it?

[gnatnoop]

just don't turn it up to 11 and you'll be ok

[WMcD]

Half way through would be full power for the RF 82 ii considering my amp is 250 watts per channel.... isnt it?

It doesn't work like that. Or can work like that in very well measured conditions' which we don't have playing music.

I think you'll like your amp and your Klipsch speakers. The best way of preventing damage is common sense and your ears. If it sounds too loud and distorted, better to back down the volume control.

It is probably true that 10 watts of a constant tone for 3 minutes will fry you treble unit -- picking some rough numbers. OTOH, you can probably hit it with 250 watts for a tenth of a second followed by time to cool down and it will survive. But there is some chance of mechanical damage at this level.

And you can turn the volume control up to max during a silent part of a recording and there is no power being sent to the speaker.

The above just shows how difficult it is to put a single number on the level of music, or -- actually -- the amount of power the amp is sending to the voice coil in the driver over time. You've seen "VU" meters bouncing in time to the music. Or you can look at the level of frequency components in a recording if you use Windows Media Player set to "bars" display.

The volume control scales these effects. But in terms of power to the voice coil, consider:

A recording may have high levels or long term at any level and the volume control is set to 9 o'clock.

A recording may have lower levels or shorter term and the volume control is set to 12 o'clock.

These two could be equal in challenging the thermal limits of the voice coil. (Meaning it melts).

So volume control settting or even max output of the amp does not tell the story.

Manufacturers of speakers use well defined levels of noise to put a specification on power handling of their units. This is to prevent a situation where a manufacturer determines that its speaker will absorb 1000 watts for 0.001 seconds without failure -- so it can be called a 1000 watt speaker.

WMcD

.

[garyrc]

Half way through would be full power for the RF 82 ii considering my amp is 250 watts per channel.... isnt it?

...

The volume control scales these effects. But in terms of power to the voice coil, consider:

A recording may have high levels or long term at any level and the volume control is set to 9 o'clock.

A recording may have lower levels or shorter term and the volume control is set to 12 o'clock.

These two could be equal in challenging the thermal limits of the voice coil. (Meaning it melts).

So volume control settting or even max output of the amp does not tell the story ...

I agree. In fact, the degree of rotation of the volume control has
never meant anything to me other than "rotated more in a clockwise
direction is louder."

The efficiency of the speakers, the size
of the room, the sensitivity of the power amp inputs (particularly if
there are pots), and the recording all act to make a given rotation not
represent a specific sound pressure level. Back when I had an analog
volume control on my set up it was almost never above 10:00, even with SPLs strong enough to shake floors and walls on the other side of the
house, and to cause strangers to assemble at the foot of my driveway. I
believe the volume control got labeled "volume" back in the early days
because one needed to turn it up in rooms of larger volume, literally.

[T.H.E. Droid]

Most people get into trouble with too little power, not too much. With too little power, amps start to clip, which overpowers your tweeters and causes them to burn out. If you like to listen to source material that is extremely high in bass content and you really like to crank it up, listen for popping oir cracking sounds from your low frequency speakers during heavy bass impulses. That would indicate overdriving. If you run into that kind of problem, add a subwoofer to produce the heavy bass and you should be just fine. I think in the upper bass through HF area your 82's can drive you out of the room without working too hard.