How many watts do Speaker 40s need?

Track

I'm in the process of purchasing Polk Audio Monitor 40 speakers for my Home Theater setup.

I'm wondering, if I could use my old Creative G500 Receiver/Subwoofer, so that I don't need to buy the Onkyo TX-SR508, which costs twice as much as the speakers.

The G500 receiver claims to provide each of its 5 channels with 36 watts. Obviously this is a lot less than the SR508, but would it be "enough"?

I don't have too much experience in this field, but I know that my G500 speakers can be very, very loud.

Thank you!

nguyendot

You need a dedicated receiver or amp to drive those speakers. You don't have a receiver right now, you have a speaker set. It's not made to drive those speakers and won't sound right. It's only 36 watts rms @ 8ohms at 10%THD, 180hz-20khz two channels driven.

This means you'll probably clip those speakers, and 10% THD is insanely high. You need a real receiver designed to drive normal speakers, don't hook these up, it won't sound right and you'll damage something.

F1nut

I took the time to look up your Creative G500 Receiver/Subwoofer. It's hard to tell, but I think you may be able to connect other speakers to it. However, the question is why would you bother since you are buying better speakers, it stands to reason that you would need something better to drive them with.

intangible

I drove a pair of Monitor 40s with the plate amp on a Logitech Z-2300 sub for a couple of months with no issues. They're not particularly power hungry, although they're obviously not going to sound great in that environment.

Track

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The reason I'm going with the Monitor 40's is firstly because I heard them at J&R and well, it's the first time I heard bookshelf speakers and they simply.. DESTROYED even the most expensive set of small speakers. And secondly, the price is excellent. They cost 1/3 of my HD 600s headphones.

But I guess that's where this gets a bit into paradox territory.

On the one hand, I want to save money by not buying the 230$ receiver, which is about equal to FIVE Monitor 40s..

On the other hand, I want to have Monitor 40 sound, not G500 sound.

So, I mean.. isn't there something with more wattage that costs less?

I simply don't require all the ports and four HDMI, etc.

B Run

Check craigslist, that's how I got started. I got an Onkyo 674 for like $115 and it drove my Rt800's fine. The monitor 40's are very easy to drive but you want a good sounding receiver to pair with them. I picked up my Pioneer vsx1015 for $100 because it has no HDMI imputs, but I didn't need them and it's still a great sounding receiver.

F1nut

Track wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

The reason I'm going with the Monitor 40's is firstly because I heard them at J&R and well, it's the first time I heard bookshelf speakers and they simply.. DESTROYED even the most expensive set of small speakers. And secondly, the price is excellent. They cost 1/3 of my HD 600s headphones.

But I guess that's where this gets a bit into paradox territory.

On the one hand, I want to save money by not buying the 230$ receiver, which is about equal to FIVE Monitor 40s..

On the other hand, I want to have Monitor 40 sound, not G500 sound.

So, I mean.. isn't there something with more wattage that costs less?

I simply don't require all the ports and four HDMI, etc.

Good luck to you.

EDUBAG

if you are going to use only for two channel (meaning you will not be adding more speakers) you could look into a stereo receiver from sherwood, they run from 100 bucks upwards.

also check some vintage receivers on craiglist, even ebay. the older receivers state low watts (from 18 on) but they have a lot of power behind the watts and can push pretty much any bookshelf speaker and sound very very good.

good luck

Track

I don't really know what people mean by "good sounding receiver".

I have an ASUS Xonar STX sound card in my self-built HTPC.

I don't need the receiver to sound good. I just need it to power my speakers.

EndersShadow

Track wrote: »

I don't really know what people mean by "good sounding receiver".

I have an ASUS Xonar STX sound card in my self-built HTPC.

I don't need the receiver to sound good. I just need it to power my speakers.

Most folks w/ HT setups (myself included) let the receiver's digital to analog converters handle what your Xonar STX soundcard is doing. That's why they keep saying good sounding receiver.

That and you want to make sure the spec's aren't junk too. Especially regarding power. You can kill a speaker very quickly if you clip it v. giving it too much power.

Basically I have seen very very big speakers driven by as little as 11 watts per channel on a tube amp. Did the sound blow my clothes off and make me see God...No, but it did sound rather good. Oh and each speaker had a 10" woofer, a passive 10" woofer and a 1" tweeter :eek:

nguyendot

Track wrote: »

I don't really know what people mean by "good sounding receiver".

I have an ASUS Xonar STX sound card in my self-built HTPC.

I don't need the receiver to sound good. I just need it to power my speakers.

Chain is only as good as its weakest link buddy.

If your amplification is crap, you can feed it the best signal in the world and it won't matter.

tonyb

nguyendot wrote: »

Chain is only as good as its weakest link buddy.

If your amplification is crap, you can feed it the best signal in the world and it won't matter.

True dat !

How about the Nad intergrated in the for sale section here. It will power those speaks very well, and sound good too.

George Grand

Hook the things up to the subwoofer and if it sounds okay to you, that's the end of that.

Track

nguyendot wrote: »

Chain is only as good as its weakest link buddy.

If your amplification is crap, you can feed it the best signal in the world and it won't matter.

Yeah, I'm sorry, I just don't know enough to understand what you mean.

My "amplification" is crap? How is that possible?

It delivers power to my speakers.. that's it. If my speakers had a power cable attached to them, I wouldn't even be here.

Track

George Grand wrote: »

Hook the things up to the subwoofer and if it sounds okay to you, that's the end of that.

I.. just don't want to feel like I am missing something by not getting the receiver. And I won't know unless I buy it.

Lietuvis91

My brother uses a 2 ch amp to power his bose speakers. He has the amp connected to his laptop and he says it sounds fine. So one option would be to skip the receiver all together and just buy a cheap 2 ch amp. You did say u want it cheap...

Track

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

My brother uses a 2 ch amp to power his bose speakers. He has the amp connected to his laptop and he says it sounds fine. So one option would be to skip the receiver all together and just buy a cheap 2 ch amp. You did say u want it cheap...

Well, I already HAVE a cheap amp. The point is - should I get an expensive one, like yours, when it only comes in the form of all-together sound-card, HDMI-multiplier, amp-thingy.

tonyb

Track wrote: »

I.. just don't want to feel like I am missing something by not getting the receiver. And I won't know unless I buy it.

Well then, you just answered your own question.
Here's the deal, you claim you want the same sound from the monitor 40's as you heard in the store, correct ? Did they have the monitor 40's hooked up to a G500 system in the store ? NO ? Then they won't sound the same. What you hear comming out of a speaker,any speaker, is a combination of the speaker itself, the amp/pre amp, the source the music is played on, right down to the cables. Other things can contribute to the sound quality you get but lets keep the list short for now. Basically, as stated earlier, as your speakers get better, so should your electronics. As George said, just hook them up,if you like what you hear,cool, if not,send them back for a refund.
Maybe the best thing for you to do is go back to where you heard the speaks and see what was used in the chain. I'm guessing you don't want to spend alot of coin for better sound on a computer rig. Thats not really my bag, so hopefully others can chime in on the best,cheapest way to get better sound from your computer.

EndersShadow

Just buy a set of powered studio monitors and call it a day. AudioEngine A5's come to mind instantly, as do M-Audio AV40's, KRK Rokit 5's. Guitar Center has a bunch of them you can listen to in store.

So if you just want good speakers for your computer (and not in 5.1 surround) go with a pair of powered studio monitors. Your soundcard can connect to them directly with no receiver needed since they each have their own amp. You could do a 5.1 setup with them, but it would get rather tricky running RCA's the distances you might need to.....

George Grand

I've messed around with plenty of powered subs from "music systems". Some of these are designed to do exactly what the OP is looking for. Hell, I've even got a Bose Acoustimass 3 powered woofer module. I've hooked up scads of small speakers (Min 7, 77, JBL's, BIC's, small Dynaco, Lafayette "Pip Speaks", Pinnacles, to that, and also to powered Yamaha sub modules like SW-100 and SW-010.
They sound fine. The last thing it sounds like is the 10% distortion that I'm seeing written here.

The powered-monitor idea above is also a player for you. I've had powered monitors that sound excellent with just the addition of portable cd, cassette, ipod, mp3, you name it. I still have some Recotons that do that job nicely.

Track

tonyb wrote: »

Did they have the monitor 40's hooked up to a G500 system in the store ? NO ? Then they won't sound the same.

That's false logic.
Just because they didn't have the same receiver, doesn't mean mine will sound worse.
And besides, they had some kind of state-of-the-art system which I will never buy.

George Grand wrote: »

I've messed around with plenty of powered subs from "music systems". Some of these are designed to do exactly what the OP is looking for.

Ah, great. I appreciate the input. So, in your mind, 36 watts will run them without any noticeable difference in sound quality?
Bear in mind that I am not the audiophile I used to be.

EndersShadow wrote: »

Just buy a set of powered studio monitors and call it a day.

Not to be hard-headed, but I am quite set on the Monitor 40's.
They're affordable and they have excellent reviews.
I also want to hook up another 5 speakers for surround sound..

In fact, I had a set of Logitech X-530 speakers (5.1) running with the G500s, sharing their 36 watts, and yes, the X530s sounded like crap comparatively.. but as backups, in a 10.1 array, it was just awesome. I'm thinking of going with something like that for my HT, if wires don't look ugly.