Power to Speakers

RedBull

This may be a dumb question, but I'm rather new to this whole audio business. Why is it more damaging to send less power to your speakers than more power? I ask because I am/will be in the market for an upgrade and don't know if I should get speakers or an amp.

obieone

You want to match the load(speaker) with the generator(amplifier), at a minimum. 200 watt speakers= 200watt amp.

An analogy: You don't want to try towing a house boat with a Kia Rio:rolleyes:

jimmydep

RB, what type of speakers are you using.

+1 on what Lasareath said.





Jimmy

everpress

OK, but when your speakers are rated say, 20-200 watts, should your amp be at 200?
Also, on an HT rig, if your fronts are 20-200 and your mids and center are 20-125, what should you do?
Or, try this one out... If your L and R fronts are 20-200 and you are running them through your sub, how should you handle amplification?

My HK puts out 65 watts/channel on 2-channel setting and 55 watts/channel on surround. Volume control goes to "80", but I can't turn it up past 60-62... Way too loud.
I have no additional amplification and have never heard anything that would lead me to think that I am doing any damage to my speakers (no popping, rattling, unwanted distortion).
Am I alright with this? I know that everyone would say an amp couldn't hurt, but I've not got the budget to be selective on amplification.

wutadumsn23

It all depends everpress, AVR wattage per channel is not an end all to speaker selection. Most AVR's wattage ratings are done with only 2 channels driven and their power drops off considerably after adding another 3 or 5 speaker to the mix. Also speaker capacities are just suggestions as well. Don't take that the wrong way, but the lower end is something you don't want to fall below. On the contrary you can run a 500W amp to a 200W speaker and never have a problem as long as you don't abuse the "power". You could get a 5 channel amp that puts out 200W per channel and have no problem hooking up all your speakers to it, including the ones that are only rated to 125W. HK's are pretty consistent in their power ratings and as stated above 55W from an HK is sometimes better than another AVR's 110W per channel. If you are happy with your sound and don't have the money for an amp, then save up the cash until you do. Look at external amplification as something you don't "need" but it would be nice to have. That is where I am at in my HT experience and will stay that way until I can afford to do otherwise. Just my $.02 and hopefully I haven't given you any bad advice.

-Jeff

MrGlobe

Hey man,

I'm in a similar situation, using an HK 140 at 40wpc with a CS2, 70s and 60s. It sounds great, and gets crazy loud, I just wonder what they could really sound like with some real amplification.

apphd

RedBull wrote: »

This may be a dumb question, but I'm rather new to this whole audio business. Why is it more damaging to send less power to your speakers than more power? I ask because I am/will be in the market for an upgrade and don't know if I should get speakers or an amp.

Lasareath answered your question about under powered amps and their potential to damage speakers pretty good. That's a nice receiver and should drive most speakers with ease. What speakers do you have now? I would say an amp upgrade should be a lower priority upgrade. What is it that you are looking to improve on? Most times you are only using a small portion of the amps power. During dynamic peaks in the music is when you may see the amp actually use close to its full rated power, and then only for a short "burst" time wise. As of as much or more important is the current ability during those times. HK as a rule do pretty well with having plenty of reserve current available. Maybe you would be better off upgrading your source or doing some room treatments? Without knowing more of what you have and what you feel is lacking it's hard to make recommendations.