wattage

[Blakes 7]

Hi
i have a question of which i;m sure someone will be able to answer for me
i brought a set of jamo 305 surround speakers which came with a 75 active sub to power this i have a yamaha 7.1 amp the power output of the amp is about 90 watts per channel, the speakers can handel 50 watts continuous and 75 watts or so in short bursts will ibe ok running these speakers with this amp as long as i dont wind it up to full volume , i think the amp is rated at 8 ohms output but can be switched to 6 ohms to match the speakers ( the amps power output then increases to about 140 watts

Thanks
Blakes 7

 

[alexs2]

HI...this is a question thats asked many times,and in short the answer is that used sensibly,it's far better to have a higher powered amp used with a set of speakers rated at a lower maximum,than the other way round.

Most speakers will manage short term peaks in excess of their rated outputs,but if an underpowered amp is run into overload(or clipping) the result is a lot of high-frequency transients sent to the tweeters of the speakers,resulting in damage.

As an example,I use power amps capable of at least twice the rated maximum of my speakers,with no problems at all......you should of course be relatively sensible with the volume control!

 

[Blakes 7]

Thanks for the reply and advice

i had spent some time browsing through previous posts and understood "clipping" was to be avoided ,
volume will never go that high anyway
am i right in thinkimg power output will be proportional to the volume anyway
i.e full volume = full power etc

Thanks again
blakes 7

 

[alexs2]

Thanks for the reply and advice

i had spent some time browsing through previous posts and understood "clipping" was to be avoided ,
volume will never go that high anyway
am i right in thinkimg power output will be proportional to the volume anyway
i.e full volume = full power etc

Thanks again
blakes 7

Clipping should obviously be avoided under any circumstances,and is usually clear as the sound begins to harden and compress,before becoming frankly distorted.

To put your comment perhaps into clearer perspective,volume is proportional to power output,and for every doubling of power output,the volume will rise by 3dB.
As an example,a speaker with an efficiency of 84 dB/w will produce 84dB @ 1 watt input,94dB @ 10W and 104dB @ 100W.

Full power on an amplifier does not necessarily mean full volume on the speaker,or vice versa.....both are dependent on the speaker's efficiency and power handling,and the amplifier's maximum output....
As another example,a 30W amplifier at full output,will not drive a set of speakers with a maximum power handling of 500W to anything like their maximum SPL.