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too much power from amp?


AudioNewbie

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So..since I'm new..i have a question...i just bought the RP-8060FA, rated at 150 watts RMS.....im looking at a amp but its states is 225 watts per channel driven.  Would this be too much power and would it damage the speaker or am i stating the obvious? Or should i just get a power amp thats rated at 100-150 watts per channel driven?

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32 minutes ago, AudioNewbie said:

So..since I'm new..i have a question...i just bought the RP-8060FA, rated at 150 watts RMS.....im looking at a amp but its states is 225 watts per channel driven.  Would this be too much power and would it damage the speaker or am i stating the obvious? Or should i just get a power amp thats rated at 100-150 watts per channel driven?

You do have a volume knob; just saying. More wattage AVAILABLE reduces transit times and everything else good about more power. Concentrate on clean power and beware misleading power claims: all channels driven? at what impedance? at what frequency range.....

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A friend of mine and I each bough Classe CAM 350 monoblocks.  A true 700 wpc at 4 ohms.  He had them hooked up to a pair of Theils and played them at a moderate level, the bass was great, but all four woofers were ruined.  The drivers all warped and creased. 

 

This is extreme, and the OP should be OK, but you do need to be careful with too much power.  Easy to hurt speakers. 

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3 hours ago, AudioNewbie said:

So..since I'm new..i have a question...i just bought the RP-8060FA, rated at 150 watts RMS.....im looking at a amp but its states is 225 watts per channel driven.  Would this be too much power and would it damage the speaker or am i stating the obvious? Or should i just get a power amp thats rated at 100-150 watts per channel driven?

You will be fine. Most damage happens when the volume knob goes up and starts upping the distortion. Those are fine speakers you bought. Are you starting a new home theater sound system? 

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7 hours ago, AudioNewbie said:

.im looking at a amp but its states is 225 watts per channel driven.  Would this be too much power and would it damage the speaker or am i stating the obvious? Or should i just get a power amp thats rated at 100-150 watts per channel driven?

What brand and model are you speaking of?

 

Bill

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17 hours ago, Ceptorman said:

You will be fine. Most damage happens when the volume knob goes up and starts upping the distortion. Those are fine speakers you bought. Are you starting a new home theater sound system? 

yes exactly..new home theatre. i just received the rest of the speakers..so all in all..i have the towers RP-8060FA, center is the RP-504c, rear surrounds R-600M, and surrounds RP-502s and two of the 15" SPL-150s.  Im looking at the Anthem MCA 325 Gen 2 for driving the towers and the center speaker. But it says 225 watts per channel all channels driven. So since I'm new, obviously the amp states 225 watts per channel...which is more than the 150 watts per channel for the speakers but some say it would be fine? others say its too much??

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13 hours ago, willland said:

What brand and model are you speaking of? 

 

Anthem MCA 325 Gen 2 which has the THD at 0.015%........or the Arcam PA720 7 channel at 100 watts all channels driven but the THD goes up to 0.2% but the 7 channels i could also power the surrounds and rear surrounds?

 

Bill

 

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1 minute ago, AudioNewbie said:

 Im looking at the Anthem MCA 325 Gen 2 for driving the towers and the center speaker.

Excellent high quality amp that is powerful and quiet as a mouse.

 

2 minutes ago, AudioNewbie said:

But it says 225 watts per channel all channels driven. So since I'm new, obviously the amp states 225 watts per channel...which is more than the 150 watts per channel for the speakers but some say it would be fine? others say its too much??

The Anthem will feed your speakers very nicely with clean quiet power.  No worries unless you get stupid crazy with the volume knob, which would apply also if you had an amp that only had 75w/ch.

 

Bill

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Your'e probably fine with the excellent Anthem.  Its extra power will provide clean, exciting, peaks and prevent clipping, which could take out your tweeters.   

 

Keep unattenuated low bass out of the main speakers, and the center and send it to the subwoofers, by setting your main channels to "small," the correct setting!  The preamp-processor (or AVP: Audio Visual Processor) that you feed the Anthem with should provide this option.  With your towers, an 80 Hz crossover to the subs should be about right. I'm not sure about your center.

 

How large will your Home Theater be, in cu.ft.?

 

In my 4,257 cu.ft. room (of average liveness), your towers would provide THX's full scale (peak power) of 105 dB above 80 Hz   at 64 watts.  The subs, to reach THX's 115 dB below 80 Hz, would probably be fine, given their max power of 122 dB, and the fact that there are two of them, even if that 122 dB spec is exaggerated a bit.  No one, including THX, advocates those high levels in a moderate sized room, because early reflections confuse the issue, causing the levels to be perceived at higher levels than the actual, physical, intensity, or SPL (Sound Pressure Level) in dB.  I tend to run movies at 5 to 7 dB below, most people more like 10 dB below. 

 

Keep risky users away from your volume control (party guests, audience members, overenthusiastic audiophiles, children).

 

If your processor has Audyssey or Dirac, and you have the patience, use it.  It may take you a day to get it just right.  If you don't have the patience right now, you can always do it later -- I put it off for about 2 months, and tweaked it for near ideal reference transformed into smooth preference for a few more months (modified Harman curve (Google), bass as they show, but treble flat).

 

Congrats on starting a great system!

 

 

 

 

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Don’t worry about it.  Most speaker manufacturers today recommend using a power amplifier with double the rating of the speakers.  That way, you’ll get all the volume you want, without driving the amp into clipping, which causes a distorted signal that can damage the speakers.

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