On jasonbourne comment about running horn speakers with 200 watt amp--is that necessarily a bad thing? My only experience with Klipsch speakers was at my brother in laws house in another State, and he was using an AVR to drive them that he proudly told me was "500 watts" (probably one of those promos that added all the watts across each channel). I absolutely hated the sound--every instrument sounded like a saxophone or trombone to my ears--but I always wondered what they might do if driven by one of those 10 watt tube amps.
How many watts??
If I have a 80 watt stereo amp and I normally listen at quarter volume and never play at levels higher than this. Do I really need 80 watts could I use a 15 watt amp at half volume?
My next question if I have speakers that my mfg states needs min 50 watts to really make them sound good with my current amp rated at 80 watts but played at qtr volume does that mean I am not really getting the best from these speakers. If I play at half volume this is too loud, do I need a bigger room. Sorry if I did not explain clearly enough.
My next question if I have speakers that my mfg states needs min 50 watts to really make them sound good with my current amp rated at 80 watts but played at qtr volume does that mean I am not really getting the best from these speakers. If I play at half volume this is too loud, do I need a bigger room. Sorry if I did not explain clearly enough.
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Your 80 wpc amp drives your 87db sensitivity speakers rather easily at your preferred volumes; and it has reserves for instantaneous needs. a less powerful amp would be a mistake IMO. If you like those speakers, I would be tempted to upgrade to their 9.5 speaker https://www.dagogo.com/salk-sound-ss9-5-speaker-review/ ................................... to answer your question: it is Logarithmic: a lot of additional power is needed for a small amount of volume increase. https://geoffthegreygeek.com/amplifier-power/ +3db = a perceptible volume increase. double the WPC needed for +3db volume, i.e. a lot for a little. to double the volume needs 10x WPC. thus 10x is needed for 2X |
The great Robert Harley famously said, "If the first watt isn't any good why would you want 200 more of them?" This is wisdom. We have heard the amp with fewer watts sound much better in every way than the amp with more watts, over and over again. Not always! Not saying lower power is better. Not saying there are no really good sounding high power amps. Simply saying watts are not the reason. |
Maybe this related to power and sq. I have noticed when listening at friend's system which is much more sophisticated than mine when listening at higher levels we can still talk to each other comfortably at the listening distance approx 12 feet from speakets without raising our voices too much . And the music seems more 3 dimensional. When in contrast at my place as I turn up the volume we can't talk to each other as well. Not sure if it is the quality of his system vs my system or room interaction his vs my room. |
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