Receiver watt Output / Speaker watt input

[danfury]

Hello there,

I'm looking into getting an older stereo receiver for music listening, and I have a question about the watts per channel output of a receiver and speaker watt input ratings.

I currently own the Sony SS-F6000 floor standing speakers. They have an input max of 180 watts per channel. I am currently using them with a Sony 5.1 receiver with a phono preamp along with other Sony speakers from the same line. It all sounds decently good but I'd like a better, older receiver to use for listening to music (turntable/tape/cd) and I want to make sure I understand the relationship between receiver and speaker and get something that will be adequate for these speakers.

in short, what is the minimum watt per channel output I should be looking for? i've read that having too little output can cause some problems. most of the receivers i've seen are rated around 25-50 watts per channel, much less than the max of the speakers.

any and all advice is appreciated. thanks!

 

[Turboracer]

I can say from what I've experienced, much lower watts than the speakers can be just fine. It's just the Max output of the receiver that you have to worry about. Clipping from a receiver is much worse for a speaker than over driving them for sure. I have a tiny 17 wpc receiver that drives some speakers very loud for my space.

 

[danfury]

I can say from what I've experienced, much lower watts than the speakers can be just fine. It's just the Max output of the receiver that you have to worry about. Clipping from a receiver is much worse for a speaker than over driving them for sure. I have a tiny 17 wpc receiver that drives some speakers very loud for my space.

so, essentially, cranking a receiver that runs 50 wpc into the 180 watt max speakers would be a bad idea, but normal listening volumes should be fine?

 

[nickrobotron]

so, essentially, cranking a receiver that runs 50 wpc into the 180 watt max speakers would be a bad idea, but normal listening volumes should be fine?

I don't know much, but I do know you'll be fine with vintage 30 wpc and up.

 

[Hajidub]

so, essentially, cranking a receiver that runs 50 wpc into the 180 watt max speakers would be a bad idea, but normal listening volumes should be fine?

Your 180 watt max is probably peak input. 50WPC on an older receiver is RMS. As the earlier poster stated, a 30wpc receiver would drive those speakers just fine.