2. speakers
  3. 1107392335

To much wattage for B & W 805s ??

After hearing the new 805S I'm thinking of purchasing. My problem is that I just bought a Madrigal Proceed HPA-2 (250wpc that doubles to 500wpc).. 0.1% THD) The B&W brochure advises using no more than a 120wpc amp. I rarely, if ever go near 11 o'clock on my volume setting. I have not yet sold my BPA-2 (125wpc) but would of course prefer to use the bigger amp. With all the dynamics in classical music would I have to worry about damaging the speakers. Would it be recommended I use the smaller amp and stay within B&W's guidelines. I would really appreciate your advice. Thank you! (and I apologize if this has been discussed, but I couldn't find it in another thread.)
classical1
artizen65's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
artizen65
273 posts
 
Jeffjarvis,

Ok I will be a little more specific. The B&W Floor standers are power hungry. The Monitors usually do fine with tubes.

Michael
hififile
236 posts
 
You are much better off with "too much" clean power than being underpowered, or having an amplifier go into clipping due to a poorly made power supply or output side. Once the signal goes into hard clipping (running out of steam) that's when you are more likely to blow tweeters and cause damage.

I had the quad 11L monitors, similar in size and power needs, and I had them powered by the Quad 909 amp, I've had them hooked up to a 300 Watt Classe', and opened them up to !LOUD! levels...no problems at all.

Get a high quality, well made, powerful amp and have FUN!

hope this helps
classical1 OP
168 posts
 
Thank you all for confirming this.. My equipment is not as high end as what some of you have. A number of you mentioned 'good clean power'. Does my 'poor mans' Levinson (the Proceed HPA-2) at 0.1% THD fall in that category. Again I do not listen at loud volmues. Thanks again for your help and confirming what I had hoped to be true. BTW, as I said in another post- I had not been a big fan of the 805N but have pretty much decided to become a B&W owner after hearing the new 805S.
More to discover