Amp and Speaker Power Ratings

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

I'm sure this question has been asked before, in which case it shouldn't take long to resolve 😛

My 685s are rated at 25-100w at 8 ohms. Would it be dangerous to use and Amplifier with a power rating of say 120 or150w/ch?

This is a question asked in a response to a comment yesterday about a Kandy LIII amp, which I'm interested in but it is 120w/ch.

So basically is it dangerous to have TOO MUCH power for the speakers?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[d_a_n1979]

Ah hello NO

The B&W's would lap up that power and spit it back at you with avengance

It's more dangerous to run speakers with a too lower a powered amp IMO

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Dan,Thats great news thank you.

Never really considered Roksan before so I'm a bit unsure how it would work in my system.

I listen to a really wide range of music so the amp needs to play all of this well. CDs I've recently played are Eminem, Michael Buble, Nickelback,The XX,John Mayer, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee Rascal, Newton Faulkner and Florence and The Machine..so quite a range as you can see 😛.

I'd be looking to get a Kandy(if I went for one) off ebay as I dont think anywhere will still stock them, and would probably just sell it on again If I didnt like it.

What do you think?

Thanks

 

[d_a_n1979]

It'd work very well indeed but it can lack a little in midrange and bass sometimes; dependant on music etc...

I think an amp like the NAD C352, C355BEE or the Rotel RA06SE would be a better fit.

As I said before though a decent 2nd hand Arcam DiVA A85 integrated amp would be a very good addition indeed; it'll work very well with your speakers and CDP but you could also take a look at changing CDP's to the likes of a 2nd hand Rega Apollo or the Arcam CD72/73 as well

Personally; one change that would work well currently would be a change of speaker cable. The QED Silver Anniversary cable is good but it can like bite sometimes; the Chord Carnival Silverscreen, Chord Oddyssey 2 or the QED Revelation speaker cables would be a great upgrade

 

[AL13N]

Sorry, no idea about the Kandy LIII.

However, I agree that more power is better. As long as you're sensible when turning up the wick, you should be fine. Plus you'll really get to hear what your speakers can do.

 

[Anonymous]

I have just bought the power amp version of the Kandy your looking at and i run it with B&W 684's. I think its a great amp but as has been pointed out it does lack a tiny bit of mid range, one thing it does not lack is bass. I listened to many other amps before buying and i found it to be in a different league to the NAD mentioned and have more weight to the sound than the Naim Nait 5i.

Interestingly i upgraded from a Marantz PM6002,and found the difference to be incredible.

 

[seasiders rock]

You will stand more chance of frying your speakers with a low powered amp running flat out, clipping is the result and most of it goes to your tweeters. Kaputski !

You can never have to much power, bit like flogging a 1 litre hatch back up the motorway at 90, nothing in reserve, it,s strained and flat out.

The Halo I use puts out 200 rms per channel into 4 ohms, 65 on the P3 pre is about my limit, the dog gives up and hides at about 60.

 

[dave_k]

Yeah more power is definitely better. My 30wpc amp is out of steam at 9o'clock with my missions rated at 25-125w...

 

[Anonymous]

The other figure you need to look at is sensitivity. To quote from the maligned, but in this case succinct, Wikipedia:

A driver with a higher maximum power rating cannot necessarily be driven to louder levels than a lower-rated one, since sensitivity and power handling are largely independent properties. In the examples that follow, assume (for simplicity) that the drivers being compared have the same electrical impedance; are operated at the same frequency within both driver's respective pass bands; and that power compression and distortion are low. For the first example, a speaker 3 dB more sensitive than another will produce double the sound pressure level (or be 3 dB louder) for the same power input; thus, a 100 W driver ("A") rated at 92 dB for 1 W @ 1 m sensitivity will put out twice as much acoustic power as a 200 W driver ("B") rated at 89 dB for 1 W @ 1 m when both are driven with 100 W of input power. In this particular example, when driven at 100 W, speaker A will produce the same SPL, or loudness, that speaker B would produce with 200 W input. Thus, a 3 dB increase in sensitivity of the speaker means that it will need half the amplifier power to achieve a given SPL.