How much power is too much?

[cip4465]

This is a crazy question...but I gotta ask! I know the wattage requirements for my speakers as they are posted on the back of them...oh, and they are:

RF-3 Series I (fronts) - 225 watts

RC-3 Series I (center) - 150 watts

RS-3 Series I (surrounds) - 110 watts

(all 8 ohm)

I'm just curious how many watts I could safely send them. You know how come manufacturers underate their speakers, so they can actually handle more. This is what I currently have feeding these guys:

Denon AVR-5700.....feeding 140 Watts (8 ohms) to all 5 channels. all speakers set to SMALL with a very good sub to support them (the THX recommended setting for this receiver).

I love my setup, and feel completely safe with this kind of power (even the surrounds). However, In an eventual move to seperates....I will be purchasing a power amplifier and using the 5700 as a pre/pro (for a little while). Many of the amps I'm looking at are 200 watts (8 ohms) x 5 (such as the Rotel 1095 and a Krell).

Anyhow, I'm just curious if this bump will immediately fry my speakers (my surrounds are probably most in danger). However, even looking at the RS-7s...they are only rated at 150 watts. You can't find to many surround speakers that are rated to handle 200 watts....so how do people use these monster amps?

Anyhow, let me know your thoughts!

[avman]

too LITTLE power+excessive leaning on the volume is MUCH worse than too much power. too much power applied will typically over-drive the speakers, but you should have time to turn them down. too little and the amp clips...poof!! call klipsch for some new tweeters.

avman.

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1-pair klf 30's

c-7 center

ksps-6 surrounds

RSW-15

sony strda-777ES receiver upgraded to v.2.02 including virtual matrix 6.1

sony playstation 2

sony dvpnc 650-v 5-disc dvd/cd/SACD changer

dishnetwork model 6000 HD sat rcvr w/digital off-air tuner

sony kv36xbr450 high-definition 4:3 tv

sharp xv-z1u lcd projector w/84" 4:3 sharp screen

Bello'international Italian-made a/v furniture

panamax max dbs+5 surge protector/power conditioner

monster cable and nxg interconnects/12 gua.speaker wire

Natuzzi red leather furniture set

KLIPSCH-So Good It Hz!

[lne937s]

Some observations

While they might be rated as 8ohm speakers, when I was reworking the crossovers with Solen Litz wire, I discovered that for most practical purposes, RF3's are 6ohm speakers. I used a Hitachi G-class amp (needs at least 8ohms) to run mine and the protection circuit would go off at about half volume.

Secondly, the power handling of most speakers is rated @ 1000 Hz. I'm not exactly sure what the Klipsch rating practices are, but this is pretty much standard. Using the G-class with bass heavy music, I would bottom them out at just about the time the protection switch went off (half volume)- the VU meters read around 150 W. These are 1970's electronics numbers- modern numbers are usually very inflated. Which leads to the next observation-

Rating depends on the amp. I think Denon is better than most, but most amp figures are inflated. A 125W per channel $750 amp is going to put out much less actual, clean power than multiple $5000 monoblocks rated @ 75W each. However, larger capacity amps generally can provide more clean power at low wattages than smaller ones.

However, unless you have a huge room, the limitation should be placed on how much hearing loss you want to have. After listening to my RF3's at high volumes in a pretty large room, my ears rang for 3 days. While this might seem cool @ first- you eventually end up turning it down. Hearing loss is a real concern. I think a high quality- low power amp is better off in the long run.

Larry

[Mighty Favog]

Those power ratings, I think, are relatively accurate. BUT!!s>

This would be assuming that there is the absolutely cleanest signal going to them. Now your talkin' big bucks. Five figures or more I would say...

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Tom's Money Pit

[rowooo]

cip4465.....don't worry about it. More is better, and you want you amplifier to have authority over your speakers. Once you start hearing distortion, you know your at the speakers or amplifiers limit and you need to turn the volume down.

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2 Channel System:

Klipsch Epic CF-2s

McIntosh C-15 Preamplifier

Adcom GFA 5500 Amplifier

Music Hall MMF-5 Table

Adcom GCD 700 CD

Adcom ACE-515 AC Enhancer

Transparent Audio Cabless>

[cip4465]

Thanks for the information guys! Keep your thoughts comming...this is a great forum!

So, I was thinking that by having my speakers set to small, it would help out a bit (if I had a situation of having more amp power than a speaker is rated for). Not really sure why I thought that, but I figured bass was the harshest most violent thing to a speaker, and if I wasn't letting any get to the 5 channels, the extra amp power wouldn't be *AS* brutal.

But...sounds like you all think it might be ok. I would definitely take it easy - I'm not one to just crank the heck out of my system as it is. The 140 x 5 amp in my Denon is strong enough to be scoled by significant others!

Is there any damage that this could do to the amp (having a 200 x 5 amp power a speaker that is marked as being rated at 110 watts)? I'm sure the amp could do major damage to the speaker if turned up to unbelievable levels...just not sure if damage could be done to the other side. I suppose it could really!

I recal some of my more deviant, younger days...when I hooked up the tweeter portion of my old 1980 Honda car speaker to a 100 watt amp - and watched smoke come from that tweeter. I had just replaced the speakers in the car, and thought it might be fun to "dispose" of the old speakers. I just wouldn't want to recreate that scene in a much larger...more expensive manner!

thanks for the thoughts guys!