Salty Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I decided on purchasing the Yamaha 2400 and while looking at the wattage of my surround speakers (SS-1) I noticed that the speakers were rated at 100 watts continous and the receiver has 120 watts per channel. The other speakers are all reference series so I assume that they are fine. Should I pick the Yamaha 1400 which is rated at 90 watts? Any thoughts on this? I hope that this post is not redundant as I searched and did not find anything on this....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 If you are not going to totally crank it up all the way, then don't worry about it. If you think that you MIGHT overdrive the speakers such as with HT stuff, then get the less powerful amp just to be safe. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 The receiver's power rating is based on the output at full power. Klipsch speakers because they are efficient in the extreme play very loudly and draw very little power from an amp under most conditions. To put it another way the amp only puts out enough power to satisfy the demand from the speaker. In nomal usethe Klipsch speakers will demand little more than 5 or 10 watts from the amp and will be shaking the glass from your windows in the bargain. The extra power capability is useful for reproducing very short term transients which last for hundredths or a few thousandths of a second which is too short a period to damage the drivers except under extraordinary circumstances. A 100 watt/channel amp poses no great threat to the speakers. It is actually the case that a relatively powerful amp poses considerably less danger to your speakers than a lower powered amp as the larger amp has less chance of being driven into clipping which is a very real threat to your tweeters. For an explanation of clipping see: http://www.audiovideo101.com/dictionary/clipping.asp LOL D-Man Not being argumentative here. You posted while I was hunting and pecking ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Ideally, you want an amp that is capable of pushing a lot more than the speakers can handle. Why? Headroom. A 200WPC amplifier is not likely to blow your speakers - at least not before it shatters your eardrums, particularly with Klipsch. An under-powered unit, say 80WPC, at maximum volume will do a LOT more damage to your speakers from clipping distortion. You'll never get the 200WPC amp loud enough to clip or overpower your speakers, because you just won't be able to stand the volume (unless you're already mostly deaf) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Stick with the 2400, Griffinator is correct the underpowered amp can damage your speaker more by clipping and such. Also you will be using power from the more powerful amp more efficiently in its cleaner range. If you push 120 W into your Klipsch you'll be learning sign language shortly thereafter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STL Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Many people don't realize that most speakers are blown because someone tried to play their system louder than their rec'r can handle (because it doesn't have enough wattage). What happens then is the sine waves are clipped which creates distortion and that is what really kills speaker in most cases! Also realize most rec'rs (and some amps) over rate their wattage when it comes to true real-world power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Don't forget that these are surround speakers and not often there is full output to the rear surround channels. I'm sure that they will live a long happy life, as they do not play information continuously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 as a rule of thumb, you always want more amp than your speakers can handle. the reason is you can't really hear an overdriven amp until it happens, and when it does happen your speakers go too. you can very easily hear an overdriven speaker much before it becomes a damaging situation. that however requires that you listen for distortion when you're cranking the volume. also, the speaker wattage rating is usually a measurement over a period of time. speakers can often handle peaks much larger than what they're rated at (i'd bet your surrounds could take at least 300 watts over a very short period of time)...when this is the case, it's again better to have more watts available on the amp end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty Posted March 18, 2004 Author Share Posted March 18, 2004 Thanks to everybody, your responses are greatly appreciated. I will purchase the Yamaha this weekend and hopefully it will blow away my cheap Sony as I expect.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Oh yeah, it will! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Imagine a speaker's power rating as it's working pressure rating. The amp's power out is the pressure applied. The volume control is the pressure regulator. Most pressure vessels can take more pressure than their working rating (but how much?). And just because you have the capability of over pressurizing the tank doesn't mean you have to; you have a regulator! That said, too much power is still a speaker killer. The only drivers I've ever damaged were overpowered. I fried 4 sub drivers in 10 seconds with no audible distortion or clipping before hand. The voice coils melted the glue and spooled off of the formers. I was putting almost 450 watts/ch into 2 dual driver subs rated for 350 watts. I was even watching my SPL meter to be sure I didn't over drive something. Speaker and amp ratings are a guide. No matter what amp you use, never allow *any* audible distress from the system. Don't push any component too hard. A few percent extra power will not harm the speaker; don't worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Was that the VMPS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STL Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 ---------------- On 3/19/2004 12:02:27 AM John Albright wrote: That said, too much power is still a speaker killer. The only drivers I've ever damaged were overpowered. ---------------- Yes it can be, but I am willing to bet you an exception to the rule. Most people keep cranking the volume knob long after the amp already started clipping, and we all know speakers don't like clipped sine waves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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