Enough power vs too much power

[spl84]

I know this is an age old discussion but I've always kind of gotten conflicting responses on this. I've almost decided on an amp to power my speakers. I think my speakers have a max power handling of 300 watts. I am wanting to power them with a Hegel H190 which apparently has a peak power of 500 watts per channel. The rms power output rating of the amp is 150w x 2 @ 8ohm. Could this "peak power" rating damage my speakers? I'm all about having enough power but only if the amp will not harm my speakers. Anyone have any real world insight into this? Thanks

 

[jjbomber]

Your ears will be damaged long before your hi-fi. Don't worry about it.

 

[Stuart83]

"A real world insight" and perhaps to put your mind at rest 😜 is It's always better to have more power than too little.
One can always turn it down a little but you can't turn an underpowered amp up over it's limit and it's dangerous when approaching it.

Contrary to belief and underpowered amp is more dangerous than one with too much power when used sensibly of course.
For haste and as it mirrors my understanding and experience only recently when severely damaging a pair of mission floorstanders on all four drivers causing both warping and burning out (see attached pictures) I'm pasting in Google's AI.

"An underpowered amplifier can clip and damage them:
Clipping
When an amplifier is underpowered for the volume setting or speakers, it can clip, which generates square waves.
Damage
These square waves can burn out the speaker's high-frequency driver because of the extra high-frequency harmonic content"

To avoid clipping, make sure the amplifier matches the speakers and desired volume levels. You can check the amplifier's speaker impedance range, which is usually printed near the speaker terminals. For example, an amplifier might be compatible with 4-8Ω speakers.

I only play at loud volumes having the luxury of living in a semi detached bungalow set away from other houses.
I only go for amps north of a genuine 100w to make sure I have plenty of headroom despite knowing with adequate current 60W can get most speakers to open up nicely.

Over the yrs I've managed to damage a few pairs of speakers but find quality gear lasts.
There's obvious and quite dramatic telltale signs when your pushing too far.

Audible Distortion is the biggest give away which is unmistakable when up there in the danger area it comes along side almost lisping treble highs that will make most wince.

The more concerning silent killers are clipping which with certain genres is hard to spot especially if not paying much attention with busy lively music masking things.
The heat build up over time causes warping and blistering to the inner coils and consequently a malformation in the speaker thow.
This causes the scratching to the inner coil in the pictures when rubbing up against the core until they completely seize up.

This can happen over time silently as I found, cranking up the clash with too much gain from my Bluetooth connection was the speakers last few death throws pardon the pun.

The other failures I've had where more common in djay gear which was a regular occurrence but at home over the yrs another 2 pairs of missions bit the dust, one with a torn spider but at 33yrs old of playing loud music it's testament to how well made they were and it wasn't because of anything but age with them.
The others were my first ever bought speakers with the rubber surrounds wearing out again at 20 plus yrs of loud music.
Even a pair of old tannoy M15's took abuse for 20 plus yrs before an accidental knock to the tweeter caused them to disintegrate after time.

I mention this off point as with the correct pairing even small speakers can take a battering but none are indestructible.
If the specs in ohms are matched with quality gear then too much power isn't a problem as the volume dial therefore "power" is at your commands.

 

[nopiano]

Could this "peak power" rating damage my speakers?

No!


Peak power is an instantaneous measure of mere milliseconds duration. It’s a bench test to check the current capability of the amp. It has no meaningful relationship to your speakers ‘power handling’. As @Gray has said, you’ll be turning the volume down long before you blow anything up!

 

[idc]

Based on my experiences with hifi, I would choose a powerful amp driving sensitive speakers. Volume plays a huge part in sound quality, with a sweet spot that creates maximum dynamism and clarity at normal, sensible, practical listening levels. A low volume is flat and misses detail. Too high and it is fatiguing to listen to, again misses detail and can start to distort. I find that sweet spot is easier to achieve and is larger, when the amp has ample power to drive the speakers.