Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Amplifier wattage too low?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Amplifier wattage too low?

post #1 of 12
11/28/12 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 

I recently bought a very nice looking pair of speakers online and they supposedly crank out 130W. However, in a compromise towards the price of the speakers, I purchased a lower end amp which can only crank out 20W*2. I am just wondering how/if the lack of power from the amp will affect the speakers.

Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 12
11/28/12 at 9:20pm

Same problem here. Till now no answer at all. Finally I am planing to purchase a new speaker.

Reply
post #3 of 12
11/29/12 at 4:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thesuperguy View Post

I recently bought a very nice looking pair of speakers online and they supposedly crank out 130W. However, in a compromise towards the price of the speakers, I purchased a lower end amp which can only crank out 20W*2. I am just wondering how/if the lack of power from the amp will affect the speakers.

 

There's many more factors impacting your experience with this setup: impedance and effectiveness of the speakers, output impedance of the amp, even the technology of the amp. One thing is certain though: the speakers are capable of goint twice as loud as the amp will be able to drive them. Other than that, if the impedances are matched, the 20W amp should be fine even at reasonably loud listening levels, unless you are planning to use it in a large room.

The difference with higher output amp is that distortions will be noticeable at lower volume levels. Whether you ever go loud enough to notice is another story. I'm using 75W speakers with 15W amp and for my study this setup is more than sufficient.

Reply
post #4 of 12
11/29/12 at 4:28am
The answer is:

how efficient are your speakers?
how loud do you want to listen?
how big is the space you want to listen it?
how far away will you sit from your speakers?

the answer depends on all these factors

with a reasonably efficient set of speakers, it is surprsing how loud 1 Watt of power is.
Reply
post #5 of 12
11/29/12 at 5:10am
+1 i have set up small cute TA2020 T-amp with "180w rated" floor standers for peeps with smallish/mid sized TV rooms with great results using fairly efficient floor standers tongue.gif
Reply
post #6 of 12
11/29/12 at 8:17am
Thread Starter 

Efficiency (amp) Can't find efficiency for speakers.

88% @ 12W 8ohm
81% @ 20W 4ohm

 

The speakers are 6ohm
 

These speakers are being used in a moderately small room and positioned a maximum of 3 meters away from me. I was hoping to get the volume to something similar to earphones on a moderately loud volume.

Reply
post #7 of 12
11/29/12 at 5:51pm

If you regularly run with your volume set at more than about half of full, you might consider a more powerful amp if clean sound is important to you. 

 

The power rating of speakers is typically the largest amp that they can handle, not the recommended size. The efficiency of the speaker is what you should look at (typically dB SPL at 1 m with 1 W of drive). If you search "amplifier power speaker dB SPL" you'll find a plethora of descriptions of how to figure out how much power you are likely to need.

 

I still run a NAD 310 25-Watt integrated amp and original NHT Super Zeros from the same era and find it more than adequate in my rooms.

 

NHT SuperZero: two-way, acoustic-suspension minimonitor. Drive-units: 4.5" paper-cone woofer, 1" soft-dome tweeter. Frequency response: 85Hz-25kHz, ±3dB. Crossover frequency & slopes: 2.2kHz, 6 and 12dB/octave. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 7.5 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Power handling: 100W maximum, 15W minimum.


Edited by jeffsf - 11/29/12 at 5:53pm
Reply
post #8 of 12
11/30/12 at 3:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thesuperguy View Post

Efficiency (amp) Can't find efficiency for speakers.
88% @ 12W 8ohm

81% @ 20W 4ohm

The speakers are 6 Ohm.
These speakers are being used in a moderately small room and positioned a maximum of 3 meters away from me. I was hoping to get the volume to something similar to earphones on a moderately loud volume.

Hi,
The amplifier efficiency tells us nothing useful relative to your situation.
But at 3 meteres away in a smallish room at a moderately loud volume tou will probably be OK.

The 25 Watt NAD works OK for jeffsf!
Reply
post #9 of 12
11/30/12 at 6:18pm
Thread Starter 

Well I've determined that the sensitivity of the speakers has to do with efficiency so I'll post that here.

 

The speakers have a sensitivity of 85dB. From what I've been reading, 85dB is generally low efficiency...
 

Reply
post #10 of 12
12/1/12 at 4:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thesuperguy View Post

Well I've determined that the sensitivity of the speakers has to do with efficiency so I'll post that here.

The speakers have a sensitivity of 85dB. From what I've been reading, 85dB is generally low efficiency...

 

85 dB is rather low, but jeffsf uses 86 dB speakers with a 25 Watt NAD amp.
Reply
post #11 of 12
12/1/12 at 11:35am

Peeps have reported being happy with the 84dB Pioneer BS21s mated with TA2020s tongue.gif

Reply
post #12 of 12
12/1/12 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 

That's convenient, I just so happen to have the BS41s with the LP-2020a+


Edited by thesuperguy - 12/1/12 at 6:04pm
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Computer Audio

Gear mentioned in this thread:

Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Amplifier wattage too low?