I have Just purchased a pair of Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 speakers. The listed power requirement is 30~300 watts. That's a pretty large window and would seem to cover most amps. I've had people tell me that my vintage Kenwood KA-9100 at 95 wpc will be just fine. Others... well, they say if you really want these to sound good, you ought to have as much power as possible, even more than the 300 watts max. If need be, I could upgrade my amp in the future, but would it be just wasting money?
Please Explain Speaker Power Ratings
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swechsler
Frog Whisperer
Like many things in audio, the answer is "it depends". Your Kenwood was a pretty great amp in its day and can probably hold its own against most decent amps being produced today. The Sonus Fabers are listed has having a 90dB sensitivity, which is pretty sensitive. The variables that would decide whether you'd need more power are: how loud you like to listen, the type of music you listen to, the size of the room and how acoustically "live" or "dead" the room is. As long as the amp has enough headroom to handle all of the demands you place on it (including musical peaks) without any clipping, IMO you're not going to hear much (if any) difference going with a more powerful amp.
If you do decide you need a more powerful amp, don't worry about going above the speakers power ratings: if you were to watch your Kenwood's power meters while music is playing, you'll probably see that the majority of the time you're using only a small fraction of its maximum output capability. What you need to worry about is the musical peaks (which the meters will likely not show). The peaks (for example, a kick drum) can be only of a fraction of a second but will require much more power; typically a speaker can handle peaks of higher than its max power rating.
Now, if you listen to loud pipe organ music then all bets are off.
If you do decide you need a more powerful amp, don't worry about going above the speakers power ratings: if you were to watch your Kenwood's power meters while music is playing, you'll probably see that the majority of the time you're using only a small fraction of its maximum output capability. What you need to worry about is the musical peaks (which the meters will likely not show). The peaks (for example, a kick drum) can be only of a fraction of a second but will require much more power; typically a speaker can handle peaks of higher than its max power rating.
Now, if you listen to loud pipe organ music then all bets are off.
JoeESP9
ESL's & tubes since 83
Having more power than you need is always better than not having enough.
There are numerous speakers with 86dB and 84dB sensitivity. There are even a few that go as low as 80dB. When you also account for a 4 Ohm load you can see where very high power can sometimes be necessary.
There are numerous speakers with 86dB and 84dB sensitivity. There are even a few that go as low as 80dB. When you also account for a 4 Ohm load you can see where very high power can sometimes be necessary.
swechsler
Frog Whisperer
The sensitivity of a speaker is not an indication of its sound quality. All else being equal, I'm sure speaker designers would want their speakers to have the maximum efficiency that's practical; however, speaker design is a matter of compromises, and a particular driver that has low sensitivity may have advantages in other areas that the engineer wants to incorporate into the design. Or it could be the choice of the design itself (such as acoustic suspension vs. ported) that is the cause of the low efficiency.
JoeESP9
ESL's & tubes since 83
That's sort of easy to answer. There are sealed boxes, ported boxes, planar magnetics, horn loaded, electrostatic, Ohm type drivers, ribbons, radial strahlers, plasma and Heil (pleated diaphragm) type speakers that I can think of off the top of my head. Different speaker types and enclosures or the lack of all make a difference in the sound and the sensitivity.
The most important thing about any speaker is that it sounds good to you. That's why I advocate selecting speakers first and then buying the power needed to drive them to the levels you want in your room.
woodj
Super Member
Speakers can be efficient, but not sensitive.
As Joe has indicated that which impedes (puts a physical load on) motor/plasma/ribbon/etc. movement/reaction will make a speaker less efficient/sensitive; also included could be voicecoil construction in cone type speakers sometimes making them easier or less easy to drive.
Crossover components can in some instances (engineered to couple drivers together) contribute or inhibit efficiency/sensitivity.
As Joe has indicated that which impedes (puts a physical load on) motor/plasma/ribbon/etc. movement/reaction will make a speaker less efficient/sensitive; also included could be voicecoil construction in cone type speakers sometimes making them easier or less easy to drive.
Crossover components can in some instances (engineered to couple drivers together) contribute or inhibit efficiency/sensitivity.
Hi,
Well that doesn't make much sense, the only speakers that are
efficient but relatively not sensitive are high impedance devices,
which simply does not apply to this thread.
In fact with a 6 ohm nominal impedance, and 90dB sensitivity,
the actual efficiency is nominally about 1.25 dB lower.
rgds, sreten.
willyrover
Super Member
A 500w amp gets you 3dB over a 250w amp and 6dB over a 125w amp. Not as big a difference as one would think.
Very generally speaking, for a 90dB@1w speaker and an 80 dB@1w speaker
1w 90dB 80dB
2w 93. 83
4w 96. 86
8w 99. 89
16w 102. 91
32w 105. 94
64w 108. 97
128w 111. 100
256w 114. 103
512w 117. 106
So let's say your chugging along at about 93dB average listening level. The 90dB@1w speaker will do that at 2w while the 80db@1w would use 32w.
Now let's say there was a sudden loud passage in the music. Maybe a cannon fires and drives the level up to 110dB. The 90db@1w speaker would manage (barely) with a 128w amp however the same amp would not be able to cleanly drive the less sensitive speaker.
Very generally speaking, for a 90dB@1w speaker and an 80 dB@1w speaker
1w 90dB 80dB
2w 93. 83
4w 96. 86
8w 99. 89
16w 102. 91
32w 105. 94
64w 108. 97
128w 111. 100
256w 114. 103
512w 117. 106
So let's say your chugging along at about 93dB average listening level. The 90dB@1w speaker will do that at 2w while the 80db@1w would use 32w.
Now let's say there was a sudden loud passage in the music. Maybe a cannon fires and drives the level up to 110dB. The 90db@1w speaker would manage (barely) with a 128w amp however the same amp would not be able to cleanly drive the less sensitive speaker.
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