Do I need more power for Heritage HT?

[hcnelly]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if my avr is capable of handling my heritage
5.1 home theater setup, or if I would be better off adding more power to my
fronts. I have a Marantz sr8002 that is rated at 125 watts per channel at
8ohms- cornwall iiis for my fronts, heresy iiis for center and surrounds, and
HSU Vtf-15h sub. I listen to my movies at relatively safe and lower volume
levels compared to what they are most likely capable of, but I would like to
crank it up a bit. I just need to make sure this isn't going to hurt anything.

Would it be in my
best interest to purchase separate amps to power my fronts? 200 watts or so? I
just want to make sure that I'm not going to damage my speakers or equipment
during intense moments and spikes in a movie where the demand for power increases
greatly.

I always read up on how efficient these klipsch speakers are
and how little power they need to play at loud levels. But with home theater,
is this still the case, or is having more headroom in order? I just want to
make sure that I play it safe. Thanks guys.

[dtel]

I would say YES, even if it's really only putting out 75 WPC it would work fine, you will be very surprised. You can look up the models your using, Cornwall are very efficient they are rated by Klipsch as.......SENSITIVITY: 102 db @ 1watt/1meter .

That's 102 Db with one watt, a few watts go a long way at that rating. Me I would hook it up and not worry, let us know if you think you need more volume after trying. []

I have some cornwall lll's connected to an old receiver with about 30-40 wpc, can't remember exactly and do not need more power for sure. Thought about doing the same with the Heresy's at one time, should sound great.

This is just one opinion. []

[hcnelly]

Hey thanks for the response dtel. That sounds great, I'm glad my Marantz can handle it. I don't play at extreme levels or anything, so I'm sure what I have will work great- I would rather not purchase another amp if I don't have to as I just purchased these Cornwall iiis!!

I guess I am worried because the midrange driver is already going out in one my speakers. I received them new on Monday and have been babying them all week,trying to burn them in. I watched a little bit of a Game of Thrones Thursday, and noticed today that I'm getting a distorted, fuzzy sound from the left speaker's midrange. I'm getting a replacement part for it right away with the warranty, but it is still rather depressing that this happened. I don't know, maybe I didn't burn them in long enough before I watched the bluray, or maybe I just had bad luck with a faulty part. Hopefully that's all it was, but now I'm a bit paranoid. Any ideas of what might of happened?

[Guest " "]

I have 50wpc, 60wpc, 250wpc, 380wpc, 100wpc, 20wpc tube amps and 100wpc, 130wpc, 160wpc SS amps......but the amp I use the most is 4wpc.

[SuBXeRo]

the heritage line is extremely efficient, the onyl reason id say you need that many watts is for overhead.

[hcnelly]

These klipsch speakers really are impressive- I would love to hear them powered with an amp at 4wpc. Hey speakerfritz, I'm really enjoying that Shanling tube amp with my fortes man.[] I forgot to get back to you on that. You packaged them great and gave some useful instructions, thanks again.

[dtel]

I'm getting a replacement part for it right away with the warranty, but it is still rather depressing that this happened. I don't know, maybe I didn't burn them in long enough before I watched the bluray, or maybe I just had bad luck with a faulty part. Hopefully that's all it was, but now I'm a bit paranoid. Any ideas of what might of happened?

Just a guess because I have no idea is if Klipsch got some bad parts ? I never had any problems at all, and don't really believe in burn in for the most part, maby a little. I burned mine in with normal playing, not screaming but not careful either.

If you want to try something cheap to see what 10 watts or under sound like buy a little T-amp and connect to the cornwalls, you will be surprised.

[willland]

Hey guys, I'm wondering if my avr is capable of handling my heritage 5.1 home theater setup, or if I would be better off adding more power to my fronts. I have a Marantz sr8002 that is rated at 125 watts per channel at 8ohms- cornwall iiis for my fronts, heresy iiis for center and surrounds, and HSU Vtf-15h sub. I listen to my movies at relatively safe and lower volume levels compared to what they are most likely capable of, but I would like to crank it up a bit. I just need to make sure this isn't going to hurt anything.

Marantz SR8002 A/V Receiver HT Labs Measures

HT Labs Measures: Marantz SR8002 A/V Receiver

Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1 percent distortion at 119.0 watts
1 percent distortion at 133.8 watts

All channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1 percent distortion at 109.1 watts
1 percent distortion at 117.7 watts

This graph shows that the SR8002’s left channel, from CD input to speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1 percent distortion at 174.1 watts and 1 percent distortion at 187.4 watts. Into 4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1 percent distortion at 231.9 watts and 1 percent distortion at 271.5 watts.

I think with those test bench measures it is safe to say you would be fine.

Bill

[hcnelly]

Thanks for the information willland, I really appreciate it.

Maybe my question was pretty stupid, seeing that these cornwalls are super-efficient.

I'm just trying to figure out what happened to the midrange diaphragm on my

left speaker.

Dtel I'm curious, I may end up buying one of these T-amps-

any suggestions on a particular brand?

Is it possible that my cornwalls iiis were overpowered? I

sit about 14ft away from my front speakers, and before this happened to my left

speaker, I downloaded a spl meter app on my phone. I'm sure that it wasn't very

accurate, but it measured around 80 decibels on average when I listened to my

music, and reached 85 max. Maybe I should purchase a dedicated spl meter online

to get better results, but I never noticed any sort of distortion. Anyway, that

didn't seem incredibly loud to me, but could I have been putting any sort of

strain on the speakers?

Could the sort of music I was playing cause problems,

especially if it's a poor recording? I listened to some Social Distortion and

Jerry Cantrell which sounded alright even though they weren't the best

recordings. I've listened to a lot worse than that before though.

Also, I listen to my music digitally streaming from my

computer to a Logitech Squeezebox Touch, which is connected to my Marantz by a

digital optical cable. I'm using the Dac in my Marantz. All of my music is in

Flac format- I don't listen to mp3s. Maybe I should only listen to cds with my

player directly connected to my receiver- no streaming. It seems like this

could be the weak link in my living room setup, but could it also be a reason

for my diaphragm failing?

[dtel]

Dtel I'm curious, I may end up buying one of these T-amps-
any suggestions on a particular brand?

Not really, the one i had was I think one of the first models, it was a little plastic box, it would take batteries and it came with a plug/transformer for ac. It was about $30 at the most and I got it from parts express, I looked just now they don't sell it anymore. But there are many different models out there that look better built for the same price, i wouldn't spend alot on one just to try. You could start a thread about t amps because I know many here have tried different models.

I don't think anything you did caused the problems you had with your speakers in any way. The only thing that could cause a problem would be alot of distortion at high volumes and it would probably affect the tweeter first.

[garyrc]

I don't know, maybe I didn't burn them in long enough before I watched the bluray, or maybe I just had bad luck with a faulty part. Hopefully that's all it was, but now I'm a bit paranoid. Any ideas of what might of happened?

• It wasn't the lack of burn-in.

• I think Klipsch's generel attitude is burn-in if you want, but it is unlikely to cause a major improvement.

• CDs with tracks used for burn-in can damage your speakers if they are played too loudly

• perhaps someone here has some real, properly gathered, data on burn-in?

I use two separate NAD C272s (nominal 150 wpc) to power my Klipschorns and a center Belle Klipsch (and one channel for one of the surrounds). The Khorns are rated about 3 dB more sensitive than your Cornwall IIIs (partly due to the mandatory corner placement?) and the power available seems about right. Very occasionaly on a very dynamic movie, or Fanfare for the Common Man, or The Great Gate of Kiev, or the end of a Beethoven symphony, it sounds like I'm pushing it a little --- a slight sound of overload. By then the floor is shaking, and the double hung windows at the other end of the house are rattling.

[Marvel]

Is it possible that my cornwalls iiis were overpowered? I
sit about 14ft away from my front speakers, and before this happened to my left
speaker, I downloaded a spl meter app on my phone. I'm sure that it wasn't very
accurate, but it measured around 80 decibels on average when I listened to my
music, and reached 85 max. Maybe I should purchase a dedicated spl meter online
to get better results, but I never noticed any sort of distortion. Anyway, that
didn't seem incredibly loud to me, but could I have been putting any sort of
strain on the speakers?

I normally listen to my LaScalas at around 80-90 db at my listening position. Powered by 3.5 watt SET amps. It always sounds great unless the source was poorly recorded.

You certainly shouldn't have damaged any of your speakers at those levels with that amp.

Bruce

[garyrc]

Is it possible that my cornwalls iiis were overpowered? I
sit about 14ft away from my front speakers, and before this happened to my left
speaker, I downloaded a spl meter app on my phone. I'm sure that it wasn't very
accurate, but it measured around 80 decibels on average when I listened to my
music, and reached 85 max. Maybe I should purchase a dedicated spl meter online
to get better results, but I never noticed any sort of distortion. Anyway, that
didn't seem incredibly loud to me, but could I have been putting any sort of
strain on the speakers?

An average level of 80 dB (for a loud passage) is fine, but you should be reading peaks way above 85 dB if the average is 80, unless your music is very dynamically compressed.. I would guess more like 95 dB for very brief peaks. The best way to see the peaks is to set your meter for "fast" and either "C" weighting, or no weighting (if the meter has that option; most don't). If your meter is good, and set as described above, reading brief peaks of 95 dB should be O.K., unless your room volume is very large ... how many cu. ft is your room?

I'm not familiar with the HSU Vtf-15h sub, but if it is a powered sub, and sounds good, using an 80 Hz crossover to the sub (depriving the Cornwall IIIs -- and especially the Heresy center -- of bass below 80 Hz), as both THX and Audyssey recommend, will give your Cornwalls and Heresy center some protection against amplifier clipping, especially with movies with a lot of bass.

[CECAA850]

I've got a 25wpc amp on my Lasclas and a 125 watt amp on my horn loaded sub. It gets plenty loud.