Hi all ...
A quick question .. might be a dump question .. hope u all dun mind ...

If my speaker is stating that the max power handling is 100w, Nominal impedance = 8ohm, can i use an amplifier that is having 125W per channel to drive this? Since the power delivered by the amp is higher than the power the speaker can handle, will it damage the speaker?

Thanks and hope to hear from you all ...

Regards,
JS

Yes you can, in fact its better to have a stronger amp. Just dont crank too loud and your speaker wont pecah.

what is the advantage of having higher power amp with lower power speaker ?

Some article did provide the following guideline:
"In general, the amplifier power needs to be larger than the speaker's rated power. This is because an amplifier only delivers its rated output power with sinewave signal, and delivers much less with a real signal with dynamics. As ageneral guideline, it is recommended to use an amplifier delivering 50% more power than the speaker's average ("RMS") power. For example, for a speaker with 450W average power, an amplifier with an output of 700W may be used. If a small amplifier is used, sufficient level will not be reached, nor the perception that it is attained, so the signal will tend to be clipped to compensate, thus endangering the integrity of the speaker."

But assuming an amplier is claiming that it will be able to deliver constant 125w and the max power that the speaker can handle is 100w, do you think this works fine?

Before we go further, can you let us know what the speaker and the amp is. The reason I ask,is if it is an AVR and you are driving more than 2 channels, chances are it will be much lower output.

Also is the 125w RMS or peak?

The speaker that i am using is the B&W DM602, rated as max power handling = 100W (RMS) and Norminal Impendence = 8ohm.
I am trying to get the Onkyo TX-SR706 or 606, which is having a 7*125w (RMS), so i am just worried that it may not match. A bit lazy to bring this heavy stuff to the shop .. hence ask some of you guys here and hopefully can get some good advise

jsng,

Are you planning to use the Onkyo for 2 channel music or for 7 channel movies? Or is it for both?

For both
but mainly for movie ..

The B&W DM602 shd be ok up till 120W I believe. Also the Onkyo definately does less than that shd u drive more speakers. Unless u r playing 2 channel speakers at high volumes (and distortion), u shd be ok. However, pls check with someone at the store.

Add: Again, it is safer if the amplifier max is within the speaker range for safety reasons. If u overdrive the speakers, ie, high volumes, then the risk is higher. Check the power rating of the amp if only 2 channels are driven at 8ohms, it would be higher, so don't blast 2 channel. If more channels, then shd be more than ok.

This post has been edited by anfieldude: Oct 21 2009, 04:02 PM

Quick answer...

Sure can, no probs..

muahahaha u r quick as well
Thanks anyway ...

As long as the max RMS Watt of the speaker and the power amp is not a big difference there should be no probs..

But check also the power amp impedance handling.

The problem comes when you have a 20W power amp and powering a 200W speaker at full blast..
Since the power amp has so little watts, what comes out of it is distortion rather than clean signals.
Distortion breaks speakers

or

Using a 200W poweramp to a 20W speaker at full blast...

Err... How about a pair of ancient JBL northridge series speaker with Max power 175 watt @ 8ohm impedence pair with Onkyo 674.

Will it cause clipping with 5 channel?

Bro care to elaborate a bit between RMS and peak power. For example my RF52 is 100W RMS / 400W peak. What's the difference? Thanks.

OK .... thanks all .. i believe i got the answer now :-)
Again .. thanks ..

I believe RMS is constant power, whereas peak power is instantaneous power (spikes). Thus most of the time it can handle up till 100W but it allows for maybe microseconds of very high power fed to it (high dB scenes).

The Onkyo 674 is rated at?

I doubt it can cause clipping.

cool. thanks for the info

Below is he info I get from Onkyo website:
Power Output
Front L/R .......................... 185 W + 185 W (6 Ω, 1 kHz, 1 channel driven, JEITA)
Center ............................... 185 W (6 Ω, 1 kHz, 1 channel driven, JEITA)
Surround L/R.................... 185 W + 185 W (6 Ω, 1 kHz, 1 channel driven, JEITA)
Surround Back L/R ........... 185 W + 185 W (6 Ω, 1 kHz, 1 channel driven, JEITA)
Dynamic Power................................... 225 W + 225 W (3 Ω, Front)
170 W + 170 W (4 Ω, Front)
105 W + 105 W (8 Ω, Front)

Based on this info, there shd be no problems.