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question about rated watts of having to components together

ziggy123

ziggy123

New Member
if I hooked up a pioneer sx-1080 receiver which is rated at 120 watts per channel to my acoustic research amplifier which is rated at 60 watts at a 8 0hm load do I add both these numbers together to figure out the max wattage my system is putting out to my speakers I am confused ?
 
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In the simplest of terms yes, you will have a possible total of 180 watts available from both amplifiers. (if I understand your term 'hooked up' is the usual meaning of the term i.e. both fed from the same source, and with one set of speakers in use for each amplifier).
 
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If connecting the AR to the main out on the rear of the 1080 and the speakers to the AR you're only using the AR as the power amp so only 60watts/channel.

The amplifier in the 1080 could still be used to drive an additional set of speakers but not the same pair so no the outputs of the two are not really summed the way you might be thinking.

For instance, I've used a Kenwood KA-7300 to drive the mains, with a second amp with its own gain control connected to the 7300 to drive the rear lanai speakers.

So I have the 65watts of the 7300 for the mains, and the 34watts for the lanai but both are not cumulative into one load.

Hope that makes sense lol.
 
Sgt Shultz said:
If connecting the AR to the main out on the rear of the 1080 and the speakers to the AR you're only using the AR as the power amp so only 60watts/channel.

The amplifier in the 1080 could still be used to drive an additional set of speakers but not the same pair so no the outputs of the two are not really summed the way you might be thinking.

For instance, I've used a Kenwood KA-7300 to drive the mains, with a second amp with its own gain control connected to the 7300 to drive the rear lanai speakers.

So I have the 65watts of the 7300 for the mains, and the 34watts for the lanai but both are not cumulative into one load.

Hope that makes sense lol.
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yeah it does help thanks
 
Your Pioneer SX-1080 is 120 watts per channel meaning 120 watts for the left channel and 120 watts for the right channel = 240 watts total driving a pair of speakers.

Is your Acoustic Research mono or stereo?
If your Acoustic Research is mono and only putting out 60 watts total = 60 watts for a single speaker. If it is stereo and putting out 30 watts per channel = 60 watts total driving a pair of speakers.

If you are using both the Pioneer and Acoustic Research together each with their own pair of speakers, then you would have a sound system pushing 300 watts total where the left channel would be 150 watts and the right channel would 150 watts.
 
ziggy123 said:
if I hooked up a pioneer sx-1080 receiver which is rated at 120 watts per channel to my acoustic research amplifier which is rated at 60 watts
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What do you mean by 'hooked up'?

Do not connect the speaker outputs of two amplifiers together. You are likely to damage one or both amps.

Output power is determined by available voltage swing (P= V^2/R). To get a higher swing, you cannot connect voltages in parallel.

If you use the amplifiers to drive separate speakers, then you can add the individual powers.
 
Dswankey said:
My guess is the OP wants to use the Pio as the power source and utilize the AR for Pre-amp duty,
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In which case, the power rating of the AR is irrelevant, as you would not connect the power amp (speaker output) of the AR to the preamp input of the Pioneer. Not unless you wanted to blow up the Pioneer input stage...

The OP maybe needs to ask some basic questions or do some reading about how an audio amplifier works, and the nature of signals at the input and output of an amplifier. (Input: small signal, low voltage, sometimes high impedance, not intended to, or capable of driving speakers. Output: large voltage, low impedance, capable of driving speakers; where the rated output power comes from).
 
Retire the AR Integrated. Had one as a teen and it illustrated how an amp could sound poorly at low levels.

Does not have pre-out/main-in jumpers to use separate sections.
 
Let's just cut to the chase which I believe is the heart of the OP's question:

There is no way of combining the outputs of separate power amplifiers resulting in a sum of the power of the two - unless there is some unusual exception of equipment expressly designed to be so configured. If such a thing exists, it's probably limited to professional use equipment.

Aside of that hypothetical, you're not going to be able to combine a 120 watt model from manufacturer x with a 60 watt model from manufacturer y to get a 180 watt amplifier.

If the speaker has terminals for biamping, you will still not get the equivalent of a 180 watt amplifier even when using both amplifiers because the maximum useful power is always limited to the lower of the two. Would have more effective power by using the 120 watt amplifier alone without biamping. In any case, the theoretical difference in SPL between 120W & 180W is only 1.75 dB (at max output) which is relatively insignificant.
 
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