My Speakers Starving?

[4-2-7]

But the issue I keep coming back to is that of expense. For some people, cost is no object in the pursuit of audio perfection (regardless of whether it is an achievable goal). For most people though, bigger may be better, but it is also much more expensive.

Yes good big power cost a lot, or a good pro amp and really a good one cost the same.

Everyone else is willing to live with whatever 200 bucks will get you. But even audiophiles have budgets. What you already own is infinitely cheaper than the alternatives, and if you like it, blowing a fuse now and then may be fine. Or maybe turning it down just a little bit will also be fine.

However one can reduce the cost and get very high efficient speakers. If he had some 100w, 102db speakers with his 150 watt amp he can blow himself out the room. And here again he would be over powering the speakers with the advantage of head room and power on reserve. Also with 102db speakers and 150 watts he can go very loud without clipping.

So there is cheaper options and this is why I never start with speakers, I match speakers to the power I can afford. The same with the belief that one needs to spend 50% of the budget on speakers, that's dumb IMHO. You can't arbitrarily buy speakers without knowing the power your going to have as you can't spend all your money on the speakers and not be able to afford the power.

 

[quiet]

I was wondering when someone would point out the option of matching the speakers to the amp. Seems like a good option to me.

 

[damacman]

without going to far into explaining, would you plug a constant voltage signal to your speakers , a electrical power source ? with no peaks or valleys, just electricity / low direct constant ac voltage to the voice coils speaker rated at 200 watts music play / direct very loud humming electricity to all voice coils for 10 minuets straight? how about every day for 1 hour? with no heat rest time , just voltage signal. sometimes for hours straight. Now what about a higher voltage feed , but now with lower voltage cooling pauses, and even no signal at times for cooling. What is safer for the speaker. Constant voltage and heat to the VC burns up drivers. A Constant voltage signal is what clipping means, I wish it wasnt such a nice sounding word. The music dynamics turns into basic wall electricity, albeit not 120 volts but constant.

A clipped signal isn't constant Voltage. Guys, come on - the future of our hobby relies on us learning before we repeat stuff like this as gospel ...

 

[darkblue94]

With 102dB speakers and 5 watts he can go very loud without clipping.

 

[4-2-7]

With 102dB speakers and 5 watts he can go very loud without clipping.

When I first got my MC275 Mk VI (the first one) I had my Sansui SP-5000 speakers 90 watt 102 db. Yeah it was alright but it could be better so that same week I bought a second one and mono blocked them. So now we're talking 180 WPC, holy **** that was a fun setup. This was and has been the only speakers matched up to these amps that I could turn all the way up. Yep those SP-5000s would love that power and blow you right out of the room. They would start to distort maybe around 160 watts but still didn't care if I through the last 20 at them

 

[freQ(*)Oddio]

A clipped signal isn't constant Voltage. Guys, come on - the future of our hobby relies on us learning before we repeat stuff like this as gospel ...

Yes it is pretty much a flatline of the amps output capacity , while the listener is wishing for more volume. Macs feed the listener with enough db to satisfy a listener without this happening but a cheap amplifier doesnt, it just creates a “square wave”

 

[Lossless]

There are a variety of issues that factor into the question of whether bigger is better. Certainly clipping, from a lack of power, is a bad thing. And, if I understand these things properly, if its the usual class A/B, the bigger the amp, the more power is available in class A before the transition to B, the transition being a source of audible artifacts. And it is commonly accepted (and I agree) that tube amps seems to have more oomph than equivalent rating solid state equipment. And amps interact with the complex loads that speakers present, so often results differ from expectations.
But the issue I keep coming back to is that of expense. For some people, cost is no object in the pursuit of audio perfection (regardless of whether it is an achievable goal). For most people though, bigger may be better, but it is also much more expensive. And audio perfection simply doesn't matter that much to most people, not least, because it is unachievable. Most people do want good sound, but only audiophiles are willing to spend much on it. Everyone else is willing to live with whatever 200 bucks will get you. But even audiophiles have budgets. What you already own is infinitely cheaper than the alternatives, and if you like it, blowing a fuse now and then may be fine. Or maybe turning it down just a little bit will also be fine.
If the OP decides that he doesn't want to blow fuses anymore, and is willing to save up his cash, more power to him (literally). If not, also more power to him (now metaphorically).

.

 

[Nat]

If I were the OP, I'd be getting frustrated. First, some well wisher makes him doubt that his stereo, which he has enjoyed for years, has enough power. Granted, he has blown fuses a couple of times, so he is out a couple of bucks, but otherwise everything was cool. So now he is concerned enough to ask if the advice is correct, and first he is told that he must absolutely buy an amp or amps, which will necessitate also buying a preamp all of which will cost an arm and a leg. And now he is told he also ought to buy more efficient speakers.
What next - he must upgrade his sources?
Lets keep things in context - he didn't ask for advice on how to purchase entire systems - what to start with, or what is needed for audible perfection. He asked whether he was starving his speakers (what ever that might mean). At over 100 watts steady state and more than double that on peaks, he is hardly lacking power by normal standards. Certainly he could do better - we all could. But most of us have other things in life that also matter, so we settle for good enough, which his system clearly was, and is.

 

[quiet]

Yes, you are right.
It's a confusing subject.