Strange Question: How loud will my speakers be?

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I have a rather strange question, but I'll ask it nonetheless.

I have a pair of Celestion DL8 Series II (150watts RMS each) and have recently bought a Cambridge Audio A4 Integrated Amplifier off eBay. I wondered if anyone could give me an idea on how loud they will be. I'm having a house party and the speakers will be set up through the amp and into my laptop. The room is about 7m x 7m. The amplifier isn't arriving until Friday and so I thought I'd see if anyone might have a vague idea of the relative 'loudness' the speakers will end up producing.

Basically, I'm asking if they will produce enough of a punch to give me a good party, or will the amp be somewhat lacking? I'm probably needlessly panicking, so please give me some reassurance.

Thanks,

Josh

 

[Anonymous]

Easy, if your speakers have a sensitivity of 89db at 1 watt at 1 meter, they will produce 92 db at 2 watt at 2 meter, 95 db at 4 watt and 98 db at 8 watt and so on.

Look up the specs of your equipment, and do the math. This is just somewhat of a generalisation though, the number of db's also can vary because of your room set-up and how far away you are seated from the speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah pretty loud...depending on how much you turn it up by...

 

[Anonymous]

Should be a headbanger! Jan, I have no idea how that db stuff works, but wouldn't 92db actually be 2watts at 1m rather than 2watts at 2 meters and 95db is 4watts at 1 meter? I hope so, otherwise pumping even 20 watts into most speakers would pass their SPL....

 

[Andrew Everard]

With 89dB/W/m sensitivity speakers such as the DL8s and an amp delivering 50 w per channel at full whack, you should be able to get 105dB or so out of the speakers at 1m, but it'll be a struggle. And given that level is reduced to a quarter, or -6dB, every time you double the distance from speaker to listener, plus the way all those bodies will absorb speaker power, you're rapidly back down to relatively low figures again.

In other words, your amp and speakers should be loud enough for sensible music levels, but don't expect club levels of music - for that you need big speakers able to shift a lot of air, and huge amounts of amplifier power. We're talking kilowatts at least.

Oh, and don't get hung up on the fact your speakers are '150w RMS each' - that's simply an indicator of the amp power the speakers can handle.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]Oh, and don't get hung up on the fact your speakers are '150w RMS each' - that's simply an indicator of the amp power the speakers can handle. [/quote]

Yes, please don't run it for long past 12 o'clock because the result will be awsome for 15mins followed by something rather expensive!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Hughes123"]Should be a headbanger! Jan, I have no idea how that db stuff works, but wouldn't 92db actually be 2watts at 1m rather than 2watts at 2 meters and 95db is 4watts at 1 meter? I hope so, otherwise pumping even 20 watts into most speakers would pass their SPL....[/quote]

Blimey, in my haste I've made a type-o. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="Hughes123"]Yes, please don't run it for long past 12 o'clock because the result will be awsome for 15mins followed by something rather expensive![/quote]

In fact on most amps anything much above the 12 o'clock position on the volume control is simply adding distortion, not level.

And what does distortion mean?

Studio audience: 'Me-e-e-elted voice coils' (Wild applause at the catchphrase)

So given that you may have some trouble getting new drive units for the Celestions, and especially at midnight on a Saturday, I'd advise some caution with the volume control.

If you want more level than your amp can deliver at 12 o'clock on the volume control then, as the man said, you're gonna need a bigger boat. Or amp, anyway...

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
[quote user="Hughes123"]Yes, please don't run it for long past 12 o'clock because the result will be awsome for 15mins followed by something rather expensive![/quote]

In fact on most amps anything much above the 12 o'clock position on the volume control is simply adding distortion, not level.

And what does distortion mean?

Studio audience: 'Me-e-e-elted voice coils' (Wild applause at the catchphrase)

So given that you may have some trouble getting new drive units for the Celestions, and especially at midnight on a Saturday, I'd advise some caution with the volume control.

If you want more level than your amp can deliver at 12 o'clock on the volume control then, as the man said, you're gonna need a bigger boat. Or amp, anyway...
[/quote]

I always wondered why speakers arn't ventilated in some way that would preserve sound quality and yet dissapate heat...hmm....I have a buisness plan coming along.....

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="Hughes123"]I always wondered why speakers arn't ventilated in some way that would preserve sound quality and yet dissapate heat...hmm....I have a buisness plan coming along.....[/quote]

It's been done. Ferrofluid cooling in tweeters and so on. But there's only so much cooling you can do, and the wires in a tweeter voice coil are very fine and easy to fuse together.

 

[Thaiman]

You sound very techie today Mr. E. Did you like the show?

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for the feedback, guys. It's reassured me somewhat.

Josh