EPI 180 Speakers with a Pioneer SX 650 receiver

[MikeFrank]

I am considering pairing my SX 650 receiver (which I love, many thanks to all the good information on this site) with a pair of EPI 180 speakers. I have done my reading as best I can, but I am still struggling a bit to understand the speaker/receiver compatibility issue. I will continue to learn as I go, but I am wondering if you good people could tell me if these 2 pieces of equipment will work well together? I am not looking to shake the house and I would put this in a room that is not huge. Perhaps if you are kind enough to answer, you could give me an idea of how loud would be too loud with this pairing (if they are compatible.)

Here is a manual for the receiver and should take you to the page where the Pioneer specs are explained:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/718286/Pioneer-Sx-650.html?page=4#manual

This seems to be the best site to explain the specs of the speakers:

http://www.humanspeakers.com/e/epi180.htm

This forum is invaluable when researching equipment and learning how to use them. Thank you to all of you for making this site great.

 

[onwardjames]

I could bog you down with technical blah blah, but essentially, you're fine. Play them. Epi's are forgiving, easy to drive speakers. I have restored 201's, and will likely never sell.

 

[onwardjames]

And.....welcome to AK!

 

[MikeFrank]

Best. Reply. Ever.

(If you do want to bore me, I would legitimately like to learn. If you have a good article/link that does that, or you are some amazing samaritan type, you can message me with the full explanation.)

 

[onwardjames]

Haha, thanks, Mike. What you need to know in regard to speakers and matching up with amps/receivers is a real deep pit, but here's the MUST KNOW stuff.

1) More power is better than too little.
2) Clipping is bad for tweeters.
3) NEVER EVER disconnect leads from a speaker with the amp on. At the very LEAST, hit the A or B switch to "off". Those damned little wires seem to WANT to touch, and if so, BOOM.
4) Certain speakers, such as some Infinity and electrostatic speakers can be very demanding on amplifier. I don't know them all, but it's not a huge amount, just a few you gotta watch.
5) Should you go the Polk route, in regards to the SDA effect, you'll need an amplifier that has "common ground". More on that here on these boards, should you find a pair. I do, and I'm always careful to watch what I use for power. Easy to test with a multimeter.
6) Your volume knob isn't the best way to determine if you're reaching a threshold for either amp or speakers. Use some common sense and your ears, and you'll be fine.

I'm sure others can add to this, but these are my die-hard maxims, and they've served me well.

 

[MikeFrank]

Thank you onwardjames. Much appreciated.