Will a Sansui AU-555A be able to drive my KEF C-30's?
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Oldsansui441
Super Member
It should be able to drive them no worries, should sound very nice also. I have just recently paired some KEF Chorale's (early version) with a Sansui 2000 and it is a fantastic pairing. The Chorale's use a similar B200 woofer as your C-30's.
, 2 black ones and 2 wood finish
don philipe
Super Member
Your title says AU-555A and your post says AU-777A.Which is it?
I have a AU-555A and have driven many different speakers with it effortlessly.It's a sweet little amp.
I have a AU-555A and have driven many different speakers with it effortlessly.It's a sweet little amp.
How long is a piece of string? You can't under power speakers, that's a total misnomer. You can clip your amp though and the more you clip an amp, the more your speaker output goes from looking like a nice sine wave to looking more like a square wave, and the distortion will eventually destroy your speakers one way or another, through irregular voltage spikes that will burn out your speaker coils. Or alternatively by sending one of your woofers/tweeters out of travel, on a journey to a far away land, never to come back.
To work out what you need, you have to look at the efficiency/decibel. Say one set of speakers from the 1980s might be 85decible/meter (yard) and another might be 96db/decibel meter (yard) That means at 1watt at 1 meter, the first set of speakers will be outputing 85db. The other will be putting out 96db at 1meter. It's not about how many watts you have its how many decibels a speaker can put out per meter/yard. Now lets return to your argument your proposing here:
You state you have an AU-555 powering a set of KEF C-30. I will answer this question about your stereo. The KEF C-30 is a fairly efficient speaker which means it puts out 90db at 1 meter. Too effectively double your output you need a db increase of 10db. So lets say you crank your stereo up just 1watt more watt, anyway, you'll be able to put out 180db which is 4.5times louder again. Now that is also beyond the limits of total deafness in about 2minutes flat. The AU-555 has 20watt so it has more than enough power with some headroom for those speakers. Provided you don't go past half way on he volume knob you wont have any problems with those speakers ever... Considering you have a speaker with an efficiency of 90db you shouldn't need to go past 2watts pretty much ever.
The AU-555 will power those speakers just fine. Just don't crank them all the way up. It's not really the rocket science people make it out to be. People conflate watts with decibels when the two terms aren't even analogous to each other. NB:
Most night clubs have a limit of about 120db that they follow by guidelines. I'll just leave that as food for though.
The only thing you want to look at other than the frequency response curve and the frequency response rate when you're looking at speakers is the efficiency which is measured at decibels/meter (yard) these are the three factors that matter about a speaker and nothing else until you know a whole lot more about speakers.
Teach a man to fish as they say.... And they should not need to come back again.
To work out what you need, you have to look at the efficiency/decibel. Say one set of speakers from the 1980s might be 85decible/meter (yard) and another might be 96db/decibel meter (yard) That means at 1watt at 1 meter, the first set of speakers will be outputing 85db. The other will be putting out 96db at 1meter. It's not about how many watts you have its how many decibels a speaker can put out per meter/yard. Now lets return to your argument your proposing here:
You state you have an AU-555 powering a set of KEF C-30. I will answer this question about your stereo. The KEF C-30 is a fairly efficient speaker which means it puts out 90db at 1 meter. Too effectively double your output you need a db increase of 10db. So lets say you crank your stereo up just 1watt more watt, anyway, you'll be able to put out 180db which is 4.5times louder again. Now that is also beyond the limits of total deafness in about 2minutes flat. The AU-555 has 20watt so it has more than enough power with some headroom for those speakers. Provided you don't go past half way on he volume knob you wont have any problems with those speakers ever... Considering you have a speaker with an efficiency of 90db you shouldn't need to go past 2watts pretty much ever.
The AU-555 will power those speakers just fine. Just don't crank them all the way up. It's not really the rocket science people make it out to be. People conflate watts with decibels when the two terms aren't even analogous to each other. NB:
Most night clubs have a limit of about 120db that they follow by guidelines. I'll just leave that as food for though.
The only thing you want to look at other than the frequency response curve and the frequency response rate when you're looking at speakers is the efficiency which is measured at decibels/meter (yard) these are the three factors that matter about a speaker and nothing else until you know a whole lot more about speakers.
Teach a man to fish as they say.... And they should not need to come back again.
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Binkman
Lunatic Member
"instant deafness".. actually the formula/ term is 'db per meter' but 'watts/ meter' is used, too. As per tube amps compared to SS amps i.e. many of our 'Aussie' friends with tubes etal. short summary.. 92 db drivers over say 88db. A 75 watt amp w/92 wattage rated studio' say pretty good matched per wattage will produce same db/meter at less wattage.
Flip... neighbor brought over next door mounted a 1000 watt sub mounted on a car top. (kids) at 36 feet outside house through all the insulation and interior wallboard..next door as driver was pointed at that residence.... all the few small wall mounted pictures framed were bouncing off the walls about 1/2 inch off a low hz boomer bump. I was inside and it was intolerable and snuffed the boys experiment. You do the math per meter LOL... to bounce pictures off an interior wall.
Flip... neighbor brought over next door mounted a 1000 watt sub mounted on a car top. (kids) at 36 feet outside house through all the insulation and interior wallboard..next door as driver was pointed at that residence.... all the few small wall mounted pictures framed were bouncing off the walls about 1/2 inch off a low hz boomer bump. I was inside and it was intolerable and snuffed the boys experiment. You do the math per meter LOL... to bounce pictures off an interior wall.
Excuse me its 1AM in Australia I'm tired and probably not making as much sense as I could. At 2watt those speakers could produce 180db, which is enough if you really don't like your ear drums to blow them out if you parked your ears in front of those speakers in about oh I don't know. Off the top of my head roughly 2 minutes. Maybe temporarily if you're lucky. Maybe not. I'll find a link past 100db either temporary ear ringing or permanent damage can occur within 15minutes, that's off my head. That figure halves to 7.5minutes at 120db continuously. Its a sliding scale of how much more you want to go up. 150db is the same amount of noise as standing in front of a jet engine without ear protection.
I was young once and didn't respect my ears went to nightclubs and stood in front of speakers. I have no significant permanent hearing loss at this point and can here down to oh I don't know about 18hz or so... But prolonged stupid behavior will eventually lead to sudden profound deafness. It might take 60 years, it might take a matter of a gunshot going off within your ear distance causing permanent deafness. You don't know it's not an exact science in audiology. But prolonged stupid behavior will lead to deafness.
As a result I now never listen to anything at more than 80db for any short period of time if by choice or I wear earplugs if I am forced to go to nightclubs.
http://www.hearnet.com/at_risk/risk_aboutloss.shtml
I was young once and didn't respect my ears went to nightclubs and stood in front of speakers. I have no significant permanent hearing loss at this point and can here down to oh I don't know about 18hz or so... But prolonged stupid behavior will eventually lead to sudden profound deafness. It might take 60 years, it might take a matter of a gunshot going off within your ear distance causing permanent deafness. You don't know it's not an exact science in audiology. But prolonged stupid behavior will lead to deafness.
As a result I now never listen to anything at more than 80db for any short period of time if by choice or I wear earplugs if I am forced to go to nightclubs.
http://www.hearnet.com/at_risk/risk_aboutloss.shtml
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Ahwww! Thanks alot for this depht ful answer! Wow!
You're welcome.
If you want to shake the walls of your neighbours house you're not gonna win, but this becomes a question of how much you want a noise complaint unless you live on a farm in the boondocks. But lets do another equation. Most peoples living spaces are more than oh I don't know, 16feet squared (3feet is also about a meter) 16 ÷ 3 gives me about 5watts to fill that room with noise that nobody should be listening to regularly with those speakers.
Watts are overrated, efficiency is king.
"instant deafness".. actually the formula/ term is 'db per meter' but 'watts/ meter' is used, too. As per tube amps compared to SS amps i.e. many of our 'Aussie' friends with tubes etal. short summary.. 92 db drivers over say 88db. A 75 watt amp w/92 wattage rated studio' say pretty good matched per wattage will produce same db/meter at less wattage.
Flip... neighbor brought over next door mounted a 1000 watt sub mounted on a car top. (kids) at 36 feet outside house through all the insulation and interior wallboard..next door as driver was pointed at that residence.... all the few small wall mounted pictures framed were bouncing off the walls about 1/2 inch off a low hz boomer bump. I was inside and it was intolerable and snuffed the boys experiment. You do the math per meter LOL... to bounce pictures off an interior wall.
If you want to shake the walls of your neighbours house you're not gonna win, but this becomes a question of how much you want a noise complaint unless you live on a farm in the boondocks. But lets do another equation. Most peoples living spaces are more than oh I don't know, 16feet squared (3feet is also about a meter) 16 ÷ 3 gives me about 5watts to fill that room with noise that nobody should be listening to regularly with those speakers.
Watts are overrated, efficiency is king.
Binkman
Lunatic Member
Absolutely! I listen for 'clarity' and quality of tones reproduced.. i.e. I love to hear the drummers 'hi-hat' and cymbals while others may find that annoying and it doesn't require wattage to produce that. As I noted above many of our Aussie mates commonly run 10 watt amp? e.g. 2 watts tube driven can drive a quality horn to impressive levels reported by one member.
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I too am very careful about listening db levels. I've often been accused of being a 'mumbler'. Why? because my common response was 'you talk too loud and it hurts my ears' (just conversation across a small room)
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Another example of hearing loss was my grandfather who always put up hand to cup his ear? During a physical the doctor found a wad of cotton in his ear that had been there for years (his other ear was pretty gone) he'd blast the Tv just to hear cupping his ear, we'd have to near shout at him. His hearing in that ear was near a 25 year old after testing. He really enjoyed music and general ability to hear simple things like a bird chirping again.
My dad is a guitarist. I am always amazed about his valve amplifiers. He turns it up to 1 or 2 on the dial and its already overly loud. The thing is he lives out of town on acreage so no one seems to care. I'll tell you something, I used to have super hearing, enough to hear a tube TV when it was turned off. I can still hear down to about 18hz or so but I also have permanent tinnitus because of my past behavior, going out to night clubs, and underground RAVE parties and listening to music way to loud. You learn with another 10 years of life experience to turn that music down.
Binkman
Lunatic Member
Its not so much hearing the low hz per 'human' hearing but graded above 20khz.. most avg is about 18khz with age and usually 'din' associated with work and just living environments like the din of a big city. The guy driving a jack hammer is wearing hearing protection while people nearby don't have protection. Factory din. etc. it all takes a toll.
Another thing that drives my hearing way off is a big weather front or hurricane (i.e. I live in NC) where the Barometric pressure goes way down and screws my head up. This affects my sinus' and ear passages, almost a headache but can't hear finite audible. Today is a super clear day and my 'ears' are clearing up.
Another thing that drives my hearing way off is a big weather front or hurricane (i.e. I live in NC) where the Barometric pressure goes way down and screws my head up. This affects my sinus' and ear passages, almost a headache but can't hear finite audible. Today is a super clear day and my 'ears' are clearing up.
You may have 'ringing' or tinnitus as I have in one ear but I ignore it, I'd bet aside from that your ears are still pretty good if your dad is only on a low gain off his amps and you're not in front of the speaker. I'm sure db cutting ear plugs are available as I see many wearing them to cut the avg. work place or city din. or just swimming to avoid water in the ears Wearing them sort of retrains your hearing over time in many cases.
