2. amps-preamps
  3. 123729-78800

Too much power?

Forgive me for what is probably a silly question.
I've been out of the entry level audiophile scene for nearly 17 years and I'm not sure about the set up I'm currently running as I had to replace my mains.
Long story, short, I had a pair of M&K S-125 speakers stolen 2 weeks ago when my house was burglarized. I decided to try something different and bought a pair of Definitive Technology SM45 speakers. I'm powering the SM45 speakers with a Parasound HCA-3500. I'm using an old Yamaha RX-V592 as a preamp. Between the Yamaha CD player I installed a Musical Fidelity X-ACT DAC followed by a Musical Fidelity X-10D (for a little warmer sound). All cables are by Monster Cable.
To me it seems that I may have too much power driving the speakers. The reason I believe that is that the volume dial does not have to move more than 75 degrees up from 0 to have the system on the loud side. The speakers are rated at 150W and the amp is rated at 350W.
Am I over-driving the new SM45 speakers?
Should switch over to the Carver TFM-35 I have powering the M&K S-80 center speaker?
Your thoughts would be appreciated 
exiledviking
tomtab
97 posts
 
i had my 3500 hooked up to my klipschorns for a few weeks.. what do you think happened there??   it was overkill loud.   my volume knob dident move much either.   you have the same problem.   overkill in power.  it will sound good for sure. just watch your volume or puff, there goes the speakers.  a preamp is going to sound better then your setup like everybody says but its not going to take care of the volume knob problem.  100 wpc to the speakers would be a better bet.  enjoy
tomtab
97 posts
 
exiledviking!!!!    i just saw a picture of the sm 45's..   wow.  now we know the problem for sure.   i knew what i was doing when i hooked up my 3500 amp to the khorn's.  i knew it was overkill.  but my god.   350 watt's into those little book shelf speakers.  the poor things.   kind of like putting a 2000 horsepower engine in a volkswagon beetle.  them speakers must be crying uncle every time to use them.  good luck with them.  if you send them back with burnt out voice coils they might not want to fix them for you.   enjoy the music.  sorry to hear about the theft. bunch of losers
tbg
5,263 posts
 
exiledviking, every component from phono stage, line stage, DAC, and amps has gain. What everybody is saying from it is unlikely that you will have a problem to the amp can burn out your drivers is true. Once because I was intrigued by a 200 watt tube amp, I tried it on my 103 db efficient speakers. I was very careful about the volume, but the sound was awful. The amp's noise was just too much into these speakers.

Your speakers are probably about 86 db efficient which is pretty low, so I don't think they are the problem, nor do I think the amp is, but I do think the preamp probably got too much gain and the pots for volume control are insufficiently resistive. 

exiledviking OP
5 posts
 
I appreciate all of your replies. I have decided to sell the Parasound HCA-3500 and the Yamaha receiver and replace them with a Marantz SR7008. I'm also selling my Carver TFM-35 in order to buy a DefTech center speaker to match the SM45s. After thinking about it for nearly a week I've concluded that my use of the SM45s is 97% for HT and the Marantz should be a good fit along with a matching DefTech center speaker. Someday I will build a 2 channel audio only system as well.
rocray's avatar
rocray
1,448 posts
 
You may even want to explore a passive preamp. I have a pair of Monarchy Audio sm70mkII's that I had paired with a NAD C160 pre. The pre just had way too much gain. The volume knob at 9:00 was on the verge of being too loud. I put a passive pre in place,and I haven't looked back.
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