High Power Speakers

ibewbrother
ibewbrother Posts: 186
edited December 2010 in Speakers
A friend of mine recently acquired a pair of Carver TFM-55x, and neither of us have any speakers that can handle the power. Can any of you Polkies recommend some that can handle the 375wpc@8 ohm that these things bring (other than Amazings..of course)? It's getting kind of sad seeing those beautiful amps just sit there on the table....

Much Love

Brother
"Making life enjoyable through expensive electronics." BillD

Pioneer Elite SC-57
M70 series 2 mains
CS2 center
M40 surround
M30 front height
SVS PB 12 NSD

Carver TFM-45 (mains)
Carver A753x (center, surround)

320GB PS3, 42" Panasonic G10,

M60's as a Zone 2 off of the Pioneer in the living room

R.I.P. Onkyo TX-NR807
Post edited by ibewbrother on
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Comments

  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited December 2010
    As long as you don't crank it on your system you can use them.

    Regardless of how much power the amp has, it only gives the speakers the amount the receiver tells it to.

    So keep the volume decently low and enjoy!

    Finding speakers that have that kind of need for wattage will mean normally mean a 4 ohm under 88 efficient speaker.

    If your amps put out that much @ 8 ohm they will normally put out even more @ 4 ohm.
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • ibewbrother
    ibewbrother Posts: 186
    edited December 2010
    Only one problem Enders....my friend has a case of terminal Wrist/Knob disease....terminal to both speakers AND amps. Case in point.. He has a pair of Cerwin Vega AT-15's, rated somewhere around 250 4ohm, and I watched him seize up the voice coil on one of those with a TFM-35.

    Only ones I can think of off hand that MIGHT survive are Amazings or Polk SDA-SRS
    "Making life enjoyable through expensive electronics." BillD

    Pioneer Elite SC-57
    M70 series 2 mains
    CS2 center
    M40 surround
    M30 front height
    SVS PB 12 NSD

    Carver TFM-45 (mains)
    Carver A753x (center, surround)

    320GB PS3, 42" Panasonic G10,

    M60's as a Zone 2 off of the Pioneer in the living room

    R.I.P. Onkyo TX-NR807
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,783
    edited December 2010
    Your speakers will thank you for feeding them more power. One is much more likely to damage a speaker with an underpowered amp. Go ahead, hook it up.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,783
    edited December 2010
    Look, your friend blew his CV's because he drove the amp into clipping, not that the amp was too powerful for the speakers.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • PrazVT
    PrazVT Posts: 1,606
    edited December 2010
    Aren't the RTi A7s capable of handling up to 300wpc and the A9s, 500wpc?
    ALL BOXED UP for a while until I save up for a new place :(

    Home Theater:
    KEF Q900s / MIT Shotgun S3 / MIT CVT2 ICs | KEF Q600C | Polk FXi5 | BJC Wire | Signal / AQ ICs | Shunyata / Pangea PCs | Pioneer Elite SC 57 | Parasound NC2100 Pre | NAD M25 | Marantz SA8001 | Schiit Gungnir DAC | SB Touch

    2 Channel:
    Polk LSi9 (xo mods), Polk DSW MicroPro 2000 sub | NAD c375BEE | W4S DAC1 | SB Touch | Marantz SA-8001 | MIT AVt 2 | Kimber Hero / AQ / Signal ICs | Shunyata / Signal PCs
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited December 2010
    See if there is a gain switch on the back you can keep low so he can turn the volume really really loud on the receiver and not realize that he's really not using all the amps power.....lol

    Or...This
    PrazVT wrote: »
    Aren't the RTi A7s capable of handling up to 300wpc and the A9s, 500wpc?
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • ohskigod
    ohskigod Posts: 6,502
    edited December 2010
    F1nut wrote: »
    Look, your friend blew his CV's because he drove the amp into clipping, not that the amp was too powerful for the speakers.



    imagine this statement came from a burning bush, or from Charlton Heston dressed as Moses....cause that is how right he is.

    underpowering will blow speaks faster and easier that overpowering, but a dumb hand on the wristnob can do damage i any instance.

    best speaker i ever had that resisted the dumb wrist knob disease: Polk Audio LS90's

    I had a friend crank my volume knob at a party I had in anger, 2 things that stopped me from cracking that person in the jaw :

    1) that person was a She
    2) Polk LS90's are as close to an indestructible speaker I ever saw. And thats what I was running at the time.



    though no speaker is indestructible.
    Living Room 2 Channel -
    Schiit SYS Passive Pre. Jolida CD player. Songbird streamer. California Audio Labs Sigma II DAC, DIY 300as1/a1 Ice modules Class D amp. LSi15 with MM842 woofer upgrade, Nordost Blue Heaven and Unity interconnects.

    Upstairs 2 Channel Rig -
    Prometheus Ref. TVC passive pre, SAE A-205 Amp, Wiim pro streamer and Topping E50 DAC, California Audio Labs DX1 CD player, Von Schweikert VR3.5 speakers.

    Studio Rig - Scarlett 18i20(Gen3) DAW, Mac Mini, Aiyma A07 Max (BridgedX2), Totem Mites
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,596
    edited December 2010
    Speaking of LS90's there just happens to be a full system of them for sale here in the Flea Market at a very decent price....

    http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108412
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 33,019
    edited December 2010
    There is a solution for wrist/knob disease...break his wrist.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • halo71
    halo71 Posts: 4,606
    edited December 2010
    Sounds to me like your friend is high on having a lot of power and not on quality of sound.
    --Gary--
    Onkyo Integra M504, Bottlehead Foreplay III, Denon SACD, Thiel CS2.3, NHT VT-2, VT-3 and Evolution T6, Infinity RSIIIa, SDA1C and a few dozen other speakers around the house I change in and out.
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  • JimMueller
    JimMueller Posts: 100
    edited December 2010
    I've been using a TFM-42 (rated at 375W into 8 ohms) with my SDA-1C's since I bought the amp new in the early 90's. I've had the amp LED's bouncing near the top yellow indicators in the past a number of times while in college and other than complaints from neighbors I've had no problems at all. Before the Carver, I used a tiny Paradyne amp (it might have been rated at 45W) to power them, and it would always trip the tweeter protection circuit if I attempted to listen to it loud.
    Yamaha RX-2600 receiver, Nakamichi Dragon, Mitsubishi HS-U80 VCR, Pioneer DVL-90 LD Player, Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray player, Sony CDP-X555ES CD player, Carver TFM-42, Carver AV-634, Panasonic TC-P54V10 plasma, BenQ W1070 PJ, Fisher MT-90 turntable, AKG-K340 headphones, Polk SDA-1C mains, CS-400i center, FX A4 surrounds, Rti A1 surround backs
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  • DON73
    DON73 Posts: 516
    edited December 2010
    YEAH. A pair of B&W 801 Matrix like mine. Rated for 600 watts. But they can suck the power from a 250 watt power amp quickly. They would be more likely to be damaged by a 100 watt Sony Receiver than an 800 watt power amp.
    TO ERR IS HUMAN. TO FORGIVE IS CANINE.
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  • mrbigbluelight
    mrbigbluelight Posts: 9,874
    edited December 2010
    Speaker coils don't like square waves; too much square wave acts like a DC bus, and .... your speaker coils turn into toaster elements.
    Good for toast, bad for sound.

    ... although I do like the "Pop" sound the toaster makes when the toast is done.
    That same "Pop" sound from a set of speakers, though ..... bad thing !
    Sal Palooza
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