Stupid speaker power rating question

I own a Pioneer SA-9800 amp, rated 100 WPC. The only speakers I currently have are a pair of Cerwin-Vega D-1s hooked up through the crossover in a CV SW-12B passive subwoofer. The D-1s are only rated for 100 watts, and don't have the protection circuit that is in the bigger D series speakers IIRC. I've been looking for a second pair of speakers, but in the meantime how dangerous would it be to hook up these three CVs to the 100 watt amp? The sub's gonna bleed off some power from the signal before it gets to the D-1s, but that will be from the low end of the signal. Will I be putting the tweeters at risk? Keep in mind that I have a three-year-old in the house, who is an expert at climbing on stuff to get at other stuff -- Foe

Not a problem! The 100 watts is the theorectical maximum output of the amp and the reality is that with high efficiency speakers you will rarely draw more than 10 watts from the amp on a continuous basis.

Quite simply, speaker power ratings are near meaningless. For example, here are my home speakers:



These Altec Lansing Model 19's are rated for a whopping 65 watts. Now below is the latest and greatest from that famous loudspeaker manufacturer, Frisby (what - you've never heard of them?) This system is rated at 2,000 watts and sells for the bargain price of $49 for the entire setup. The drivers used in my home system are updated versions of what were staples of professional audio for over 30 years. They were used to fill stadiums with sound in addition to versions that provided monitoring for most of the recording studios in the 50's and 60's. Which do you think will take more power?

The point is that there are no standards for power ratings, and even if there were, it does not preclude using an amp that is rated for more power than your speakers. Many people use 300W/channel and higher amps with the Altecs just because of the headroom that keeps distortion down to extremely low levels and allows effortless tracking of transient peaks.

Conversely, you can use amps with much lower power ratings than your speakers. Many people power these same Altecs with 5W and less SET amps. Like your CV's, they are extremely efficient (99db/w) and will draw less than 1W under the vast majority of circumstances. You do need to be more careful with underpowering as opposed to overpowering since putting an amp into clipping will fry your speakers. However, you would likely suffer permanent hearing damage long before clipping your amp with the CV's.

They got that fonkay neon glow, Don! You gotta get with tha NEW THANGS, ya know :thmbsp: :lmao:

One Two Three

NOT!

OK, I guess as long as I make sure the darling child has not turned the volume way up, before I turn on the amp, there's no risk of damage. I'll just need to be careful of that. Her turning up the bass all the way on my SA-510 is what led to my 18-year-old CV surrounds ripping apart. At sane listening levels everything should be groovy -- Foe

A little strategically placed super glue stops that opposable thumb thing for awhile! ;-)

-Ed

Nice post Don, I've had a pair of 19's myself.

You are more likely to damage a speaker with and under-powered amp, than over. In most of my setups, I have grossly exceeded the 'rating' for the speakers, with continuous power ratings on the amp.

For example, the model 19's - I ran mine on a 375wpc Carver TFM-45, and on (a rare) occassion hit 90-150w peaks (per the meters). Never had a single issue.

"Clipping' is your word of the day, look it up, get your read on.

Cheers,
Russ