How many watts does it take?

[Corvette6769]

If 1 watt/1 meter is 101 dB, how many solid state power amplifier RMS watts/channel are needed to achieve 115 dB peak of live music in an average listening room?

Also, with the Chorus II rated 100 watts maximum continuous (1000 watts peak) how many solid state power amplifier RMS watts/channel does it take to reach the rated 121 dB SPL Max Acoustic Output ?

[Corvette6769]

Followup:

Klipsch states that Klipschorn, La Scala, and Belle Klipsch take 8 watts to achieve 115 dB peak of live music in an average listening room, so why do Cornwall require 32 watts achieve 115 dB peak of live music with the same drivers?

Also, if a Cornwall is already 115 dB at 32 watts, why do Cornwall sound so much louder to the ear at 120 watts channel?

If 1x power is the baseline, is the following true:

2 x power = 3 db increase
10 x power = 10 db increase
100 x power = 20 db increase

[DrWho]

Check your speaker thread about the maxSPL of the different speakers...I posted a chart that makes this easy to figure out.

With the Chorus II it takes 64 watts to achieve 119dB (going off memory

here). The 1000watt peak results in 130dB or so. And this is for one

speaker....add another speaker and you're looking at an additional 3dB

to 6dB (depending on the acoustics of the room).

[Deang]

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

[jacksonbart]

along the same lines how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

[seti]

along the same lines how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

3

[Deang]

LOL -- good one.

[Jeff Matthews]

It takes 1200 watts! []

[Jeff Matthews]

.

[steamer]

Followup:

Klipsch states that Klipschorn, La Scala, and Belle Klipsch take 8 watts to achieve 115 dB peak of live music in an average listening room, so why do Cornwall require 32 watts achieve 115 dB peak of live music with the same drivers?

Also, if a Cornwall is already 115 dB at 32 watts, why do Cornwall sound so much louder to the ear at 120 watts channel?

If 1x power is the baseline, is the following true:

2 x power = 3 db increase

10 x power = 10 db increase

100 x power = 20 db increase

It might be due to the better bass of the Cornwalls(more prevelant),I find bass adds a perception of power(louder)to the sound you hear.

Greg

[DrWho]

Hey Corvette....where in Illinois are you located? Everytime I see your

icon I think of the huge Corvette store down near Route 30 and Route 59

(just southeast of downtown plainfield). We should meet up sometime and

I could totally walk you through all the boring technical stuff.

[3dzapper]

Followup:

Klipsch states that Klipschorn, La Scala, and Belle Klipsch take 8 watts to achieve 115 dB peak of live music in an average listening room, so why do Cornwall require 32 watts achieve 115 dB peak of live music with the same drivers?

Also, if a Cornwall is already 115 dB at 32 watts, why do Cornwall sound so much louder to the ear at 120 watts channel?

If 1x power is the baseline, is the following true:

2 x power = 3 db increase

10 x power = 10 db increase

100 x power = 20 db increase

It might be due to the better bass of the Cornwalls(more prevelant),I find bass adds a perception of power(louder)to the sound you hear.

Greg

Distortion in the direct radiator mounted driver. With it's lower efficiency and padded down upper frequencies, the Corn needs more power to achieve the same SPLs.

Rick

[sunburnwilly]

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

Hmm 134.6 at listening position , that can't be good for you ...

[Corvette6769]

Hey Corvette....where in Illinois are you located? Everytime I see your icon I think of the huge Corvette store down near Route 30 and Route 59 (just southeast of downtown plainfield). We should meet up sometime and I could totally walk you through all the boring technical stuff.

Small world, I bought one of my pairs of Chorus II last week form a fellow who lives in Oswego and 1961-1965 I lived 8 miles north of Corvette Collection's location when my Dad was the minister at Wheatland Presbyterian Church (on the corner of 119th Street and South Heggs Road, Plainfield Illinois) and 1965-1969 I lived 15 miles north of Corvette Collection on route 59 when Dad was a pastor at Knox Presbyterian Church in Naperville. Unfortunately, in 1969 we moved 150 miles south to my current location, Monticello, Illinois which is halfway between Decatur and Champaign/Urbana Illinois, 150 miles straight west of the Klipsch Corporate Headquarters and Engineering Center in Indianapolis.

[Corvette6769]

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html returns 140.8dB for a Chorus II at 1000 watts, which I assume is imposable since Klipsch specifications show the Chorus II maximum Acoustical output to be 121dB SPL.

Then again, the calculator also shows a Chorus II at 10 watts to be 120.8dB and I assure you that 120 watts is a lot louder and 240 watts is even louder still. What am I missing here?

[Deang]

What you're missing is that it takes 10x the power to get a doubling of sound pressure level, which is roughly 10dB.

[pauln]

Just what is your intention, to destroy the speakers or destroy your hearing? There is no "music" above 115dB.

[Corvette6769]

What you're missing is that it takes 10x the power to get a doubling of sound pressure level, which is roughly 10dB.

As I posted above, I understand that 10 x power = 10 db increase, however if the maximum acoustical output of a speaker is 121 dB SPL the level at which the calculator shows a Chorus II to be with 10 watts (120.8 dB) even at 100 watts, how is it possible to exceed the maximum acoustical output of a speaker?

Let alone by 20 dB (100 x 10 watts = 20 db increase and the Chorus II's 1000 watts peak)

[Corvette6769]

Just what is your intention, to destroy the speakers or destroy your hearing? There is no "music" above 115dB.

My whole intention is to be able to drive the speakers to their full potential (during the good parts of songs) but at the same time never exceed the safe limits that would damage them (like having 200-mph Z-rated tires on a 187-mph car - want a little head room).

As to my hearing (what Kiss, Foghat, Ted Nugent and Aerosmith have left me with after being on the stage at their live concerts have left me with), remember that the SPL levels are rated at one meter, and often I will be 50 feet away from them and even out in the yard......not to mention the idiot neighbor a block away who needs to be taught a lesson that what he complained to the police about last time when I was simply testing a newly arrived 125-watt amplifier on a single pair of Chorus II that were sitting in the center of a room side by side (passive radiators may as well have been covered with a pillow) was just a fraction of what it could have been.

I would never want to do anything to harm my hearing that would prevent me from enjoying the heavenly sound of Klipsch speakers, I even wear hearing protection when shooting anything larger than a .22 rifle and out in my shop when running open headers or air tools anymore.

[DrWho]

It takes 64 watts to get the chorus II up to 119dB at a distance of 1m

from the speaker. 128watts would be 122dB. So 100 watts comes to

121dB. 10 watts into a chorus II is actually 111dB.

Seems to me like the calculator you were using is wrong or you entered wrong data.

The 1000 watt peak on the Chorus II is for transients and not sustained

volumes. Ignoring power compression, that 1000 watts results in 131dB

of output. Though I would anticipate it being more around 128dB when we

take it into account.