Confused about power req for my system

ryanjoachim

I need some advice on a new receiver. I currently have an Onkyo 605 powering 2 RTi10's, a CSi3, and 2 FXiA4's. I'm fairly certain all of those are underpowered at the moment, and I had a couple questions.

1: If they are underpowered, does that mean that the receiver is constantly running at full load? If so, does that put extra wear and tear on the receiver?

2: I've always been confused by the disparity between manufacturers with how they rate their "wpc". Could someone help me out with what my speakers need to be at "full power", and what receivers to look at?

3: My son likes to climb on the back of my couch, stand up, and poke the "bubble" at the middle of the woofers in my FXiA4's. So far only the tweeters show any damage, but i'm wondering how the sound is affected by dimples and creases in that "bubble". And also, how to repair damage done to them (if possible).

Thanks for any help you can give!

thuffman03

Answer to question 1 is yes. Overdriving the amp or hitting the clipping point will damage the amp and your speakers. IMO you are better off to have an amp that is larger than the max rating on the speakers because you will most likely never reach the peak of the speakers and just because you have a 200 watt amp does not mean you have to use all 200 watts. 10 watts of power can be pretty loud.

steveinaz

ryanjoachim wrote: »

3: My son likes to climb on the back of my couch, stand up, and poke the "bubble" at the middle of the woofers in my FXiA4's. So far only the tweeters show any damage, but i'm wondering how the sound is affected by dimples and creases in that "bubble". And also, how to repair damage done to them (if possible).

Thanks for any help you can give!

The dust caps being dented generally doesn't affect anything, try putting the end of a piece of scotch tape on the dust cap, then pull gently. With some finesse, you should be able to pop them back out.

steveinaz

ryanjoachim wrote: »

2: I've always been confused by the disparity between manufacturers with how they rate their "wpc". Could someone help me out with what my speakers need to be at "full power", and what receivers to look at?

Thanks for any help you can give!

This is a "ya gets what ya pays for question." Those HT in a box, you can bet their ratings are wrong. RMS/Watts per channel (RMS; Root Mean Square) technically is 78% of the peak power waveform, running continously (and never dropping below this level) in the true technical nature of the term, at the rated maximum distortion. However, the term is only meaningful to reputable audio equipment manufacturers. Even then it's usually measured at a single frequency (1kHz is the norm) with a perfectly resistive load of 8/4 ohms (which speakers never are).

Bottom line, go with good names; Pioneer Elite, Sony ES, NAD, Marantz, etc, etc,...

ryanjoachim

steveinaz wrote: »

This is a "ya gets what ya pays for question." Those HT in a box, you can bet their ratings are wrong. RMS/Watts per channel (RMS; Root Mean Square) technically is 78% of the peak power waveform, running continously (and never dropping below this level) in the true technical nature of the term, at the rated maximum distortion. However, the term is only meaningful to reputable audio equipment manufacturers. Even then it's usually measured at a single frequency (1kHz is the norm) with a perfectly resistive load of 8/4 ohms (which speakers never are).

Bottom line, go with good names; Pioneer Elite, Sony ES, NAD, Marantz, etc, etc,...

And of course, all out of my usual budget range. I'm going to start working on my wife to let me get a new receiver, but will probably have to stay around 300-350 max.

steveinaz

If you go used Ryan (See the MONDO Marantz in the flea market...HINT, HINT).....Dane is practically giving that monster away.