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Am I going to blow my Apogees with all this power?

I just got a pair of Apogee Acoustics Centaur Majors to replace my Klipsch RF-7's. I purchased a Carver A760X that puts out 380wpc after hearing the RF-7's liked a lot of power, but the Centaur Majors are only rated for 100w-8ohm/200w-4ohm. Am I going to destroy these things? Should I go back to using my NAD 2400 (100wpc-8ohm) for now and consider trading the Carver for a lower power/higher quality amp?

More info: The Centaurs are nominally 6 ohms, but dip to 4 at times. If the Vu meters on the Carver are accurate I'm putting peaks of 300ish watts out at my preferred listening level (peaks of about 90db). The Apogees are much less sensitive, 83db vs 102db for the Klipsch. I haven't listened to the Apogees for extended periods yet.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
hirschmj
rgs92
974 posts
 
My apogee stages were driven just fine by a 200 wpc aragon 2008 amp (back in 1995). If the Centaur is anything like the stages, you will have speakers that can do the you-are-there thing like no other.
hirschmj OP
1 posts
 
Oh my goodness, thanks everyone for your responses! The carver's supposed to be stable all the way down to 1 ohm, which leads me to believe its got current to spare.

As far as the high power with sensitive speakers bit, That's a Klipsch forum thing. I know logically it makes no sense, but there's guys over there running 500 watt crown amps that swear makes them sing like no other.

Have the Carver back in the system, sound is definitely different, less gritty somehow, but t feels like the Venetian blind effect is a little worse. I'm having a hell of a time finding a spot for the centaur majors that doesn't make certain bass notes boom and others disappear. They're 4-5 feet from the back and sides of the room, so they have room to breathe. Maybe all the reflective surfaces? Lots of space, but also lots of wood and brick.

Anyway, thanks again everyone, hell of a community here, glad to be a part of it :)
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
I run a McCormack DNA500 into my Apogee Calipers. That's 500W into 8 ohms and 900W into 4 ohms, and my Calipers are basically 3 ohm speakers. No problems with the extra power - Apogees need that low impedance stability.

More importantly, are you bi-wiring them? Apogees "require" bi-wiring to sound their best. No logical explanation why, but it is very noticeable when you try this.
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