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My amplifier's wattage is lower than the recommended one for the speakers I want to get

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CharLimitDum

New Member
I have an old Sherwood S-2640 CP receiver given to me by a friend. I could not see the watt per channel at the back of it, but after some research I discovered it's 25w/c.
I haven't yet completed my audio setup so I need speakers and I was looking at the Monitor Audio Bronze 2 but the specs say the recommended range for the amp is 30-100w. Will it be a problem if I pick those up? Will it damage them? Will it sound wrong? If it sounds quiet, can't I just turn it up until it's loud enough?
 
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CharLimitDum said:
Will it be a problem if I pick those up? Will it damage them? Will it sound wrong?
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The answers to these questions will depend largely on your listening habits and preferences.

CharLimitDum said:
If it sounds quiet, can't I just turn it up until it's loud enough?
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To a degree, yes you can. But, this is also where the answers to the above questions can become yes.

MA likely chose their minimum power rating based on a broad average of listener preferences. If you're conservative with listening levels, your receiver will probably be just fine. If you like to blow out the cob webs occasionally, or like dance/disco music with ample and deep bass that can be heard several rooms away you're going to quickly exhaust your receiver's ability to cleanly power your speakers and this is where problems/damage can begin.

Give us more information about your listening habits/preferences.
 
Those speakers are nominal 8ohm and rated at 90db/w at 1 meter. I don't see any issues as long as you're only running 1 pair of speakers at a time. If running 2 pairs, the back panels recommends both be 8 - 16 ohms.

CharLimitDum said:
If it sounds quiet, can't I just turn it up until it's loud enough?
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Yes,as long as you monitor the sound and reduce the volume if it starts to sound bad. How large is your listening space and how loud do you normally listen to music?

I've run 3w amps with 90db sensitive speakers and don't run out of volume knob before it gets loud enough. This is in a 11 x 13 room though and if your trying for concert hall levels in a larger room this combination probably won't work.

Let us know how you like them.
 
Should be fine.
Trying to play very loud could drive the amp to clipping which could be bad for your speakers.
I'd bet at low to moderate listening levels it'd be fine. If you like to rock out or play loud for parties, you should consider another amp and or different speakers.
 
Learn to listen for distortion. It’s usually a sign that you’re working your amp or your speakers too hard and you’re about to break something.
 
bowtie427ss said:
If you like to blow out the cob webs occasionally, or like dance/disco music with ample and deep bass that can be heard several rooms away you're going to quickly exhaust your receiver's ability to cleanly power your speakers and this is where problems/damage can begin.
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Ah, damn it. I'm a rocker, you know where this is going... I usually like cranking the volume up high. If I do get these, I guess I'll have to listen at a low volume until I get a new amp, luckily a "20th century hifi" store near me sells them for reasonable prices. What do waveform clippings sound like?
 
CharLimitDum said:
Ah, damn it. I'm a rocker, you know where this is going... I usually like cranking the volume up high. If I do get these, I guess I'll have to listen at a low volume until I get a new amp, luckily a "20th century hifi" store near me sells them for reasonable prices. What do waveform clippings sound like?
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Gonna need more rig for the gig. ;)
 
Clipping sounds raspy or harsh, followed by a sudden loss of high frequencies as the tweeters go permanently silent. Square waves are hell on the fine wires inside tweeters. You need a bigger amp. And possibly speakers with more swat. Try a bigger amp first. If you don’t get the results you are looking for, grab some vintage speakers. AR, Advent, KLH, Cerwin Vega, JBL.
 
SpruceMoose said:
Clipping sounds raspy or harsh, followed by a sudden loss of high frequencies as the tweeters go permanently silent. Square waves are hell on the fine wires inside tweeters. You need a bigger amp. And possibly speakers with more swat. Try a bigger amp first. If you don’t get the results you are looking for, grab some vintage speakers. AR, Advent, KLH, Cerwin Vega, JBL.
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Will I completely exclude the possibility of clipping if I listen to music at a lower volume?
 
SpruceMoose said:
Yes. It all depends on when the amp starts to run out of power.
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Is there any way to predict that? Quick edit, I know that there's a "dynamic headroom" specification which refers to how well amps can cope with short peaks of energy, what's a good spec for dynamic headroom?
 
I’m sure there’s all sorts of charts that take everything into account, but in the end it comes down to your gear, musical tastes and volume preferences, and the room. The more power available above your preferred listening level the better. Taken to extremes, an infinite amount of power, running just short of bottoming any drivers (mostly woofer) is the best amount of headroom.

a long time ago, when I was running single advents, they sounded better with a Carver cube amp (205 wpc) than with my Kenwood KA8100 (75 wpc). They were rated at 15 wpc MINIMUM, no maximum in a typical home listening environment.
 
The difference between 25 watts and 30 watts is not even discernible by most people. You'll be fine. As long as you don't crank it into severe distortion. Severe distortion sounds bad. If you are sober, you should be able to tell the difference without difficulty. You might even find a spot on the volume knob where you can tell when it starts to distort, like fine and dandy at 12 o'clock, but a little harsh and crackly at 1 o'clock...
 
CharLimitDum said:
If I do get these, I guess I'll have to listen at a low volume until I get a new amp...
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No, you won't.
sqlsavior said:
The difference between 25 watts and 30 watts is not even discernible by most people. You'll be fine.
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Absolutely.

Forget the manufacturer's recommendation. They have to say something and saying "any amp will do, don't worry about it" doesn't look good, so instead they say "30W - 100W" on the assumption that 90% of potential customers will have an amp in that range so nearly everybody will feel happy.
You're in the remaining 10% but you'll be happy too.
 
It will work but don't max out the volume on the receiver.

It might be a good idea to find a nice 2-channel amplifier that meets or exceeds the speaker ratings.
 
I have a pair of speakers rated for 75 watts and 91db. I have them connected to a 5.5 wpc tube amp. While the amp won't produce enough power to shake the windows it sounds good. Solid bass, great midrange and clean highs. It still gets loud enough that you have to yell to be heard over it at max output though.
 
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