Jdb Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I was reading "a sound investment" http://www.klipsch.com/how-to-buy-audio/details/a-sound-investment.aspx and it stated as follow regarding wattage For example, if a speaker is rated at75 watts maximum power, then you should buy an amplifier that candeliver at least 75 watts per channel. However, you don't need to limityourself. You can buy a 100-watt per channel amplifier for a 75-wattspeaker because more speaker failure occurs from being under poweredrather than over powered. I curently have a RC-62 that has a peak of 600W. now my reciver is not putting out nearly 600W per channel! am i in danger of damaging my tweeter? do i need to run an amp to center channel (and each of the speakers i am planing on soon buying) or did i not understand that correctly? thanks for any help jdb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 Welcome to the Forum! The RC is rated for 150 watts RMS. Ideally you would be looking for a receiver that has at least 100 watts RMS for the center. Generally the problem starts when trying to drive speakers at high volumes with an amp that does not have enough "headroom" or peak power. Peak power is a hard one to gauge because many manufacturers do not measure that figure the same way. A good rule of thumb is that if the amp produces at least 2/3 of the rated RMS power required by the speaker, and you don't crank them to volume 11..... it will generally do just fine. In the case of the RC-62, it has a high sensitivity (98dB) and thus quite efficient. In that case, again unless you just start slamming the volume control to the wall, a receiver rated at around 100 watts per channel RMS will likely be more than sufficient. Hope that is of some assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockOn4Klipsch Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 The reason speaker failure is caused by under powering speakers is as groomlake said people want to get louder so they push the amp further than it can go causing distortion and eventually clipping. As efficient as Klipsch speakers are, to listen to most of Klipsch speakers at reference levels you only need about 32 watts. So if your pushing you amp to hard it's gonna "break" and in turn will break your speakers. With 75 watts on a RC 62 you will be fine as long as you don't crank the volume up to the +dBs on the reciver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdb Posted November 24, 2008 Author Share Posted November 24, 2008 thanks, so its sounding like the watts only needs to be as high as the RMS not the peek. this is great news. Thanks for the advice. i have a Yamaha 861 puts out 105w/channel so i think i sould be ok but now i know when i upgread to get a bit more power. also i dont really over go over -15Dbs, get too loud. thanks again, jdb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 100 watts is plenty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.