[yeahman67]

I need each channel to be atleast 100 watts. It can also be a stereo receiver.

 

[milkweg]

Why does it need to be at least 100w? The difference between 75w and 100w is marginal. I know THX says 100w for base line Home THeater that meets THX specs but it all depends on your room size. I used to wake up the neighborhood with my 60w per channel Audiolab 8000a and that was with no distortion too. If it is for headphone use too then I would go with the Pioneer A-35 or a Harman Kardon.

Pioneer USA - Elite Amplifiers

harman/kardon

 

[yeahman67]

Well, if I ever wanted to buy bookshelf speakers, those require a lot of power. However, the room in which is plan to put these is kinda small, well I wanted say small, but the area is open, so is 100w too much?

 

[milkweg]

Bookshelf speakers don't require much power at all. 30w amp would be plenty sufficient even. Depends on the sensitivity of the speakers you buy too and how good the amp is. Get decent efficient 8ohm speakers and one that Pioneer I listed and you will be in audio heaven. I read it has decent headphone output too.

There are audiophile level 2 channel amps from the UK that are only 30w per channel and cost more than many Japanese 150w per channel surround amps. That's because rooms in the UK tend to be a bit smaller and they want pristine audio quality and not tons of power. My Onkyo is 75w per channel driving 7 channels and it drives all of them to very loud levels, I've never needed to crank the volume past 50%.
To get an appreciable differnece in loudness from that I would have to buy a 150w amp. The difference between 75w and 90w is just not a worthwhile upgrade at all.

100w is not too much, I'm just saying you can save quite a bit of money by buying 60 - 75w amp. You don't need 100w. Like I said, my old Audiolab is rated at 60w per channel and can bring the house down effortlessly. Go for quality and not loads of power. When you see speakers rated at 10w or something liken that it doesn't mean that's how much power you need to drive them. That just meas that is how much power they can supposedly handle without distorting. If you had a 200w amp and the speakers were rated for 100w then in theory you could blow them easily if you cranked the volume on the amp too high.

 

[obobskivich]

i agree with milkweg entirely on this (on an unrelated hijack: didn't you used to have that ugly woman as your avatar?)

to help you see this more visually, lets enjoy some Musical Fidelity marketing literature:
Welcome to Musical Fidelity

basically to condense their little applet:
wattage is a very small piece of the puzzle
you also have to consider sensitivity/efficiency
number of speakers
etc

so say you've got a stereo pair of Yamaha NS-777's (I'm using this as a for instance, because its what I happen to have sitting in front of me, and I know their #'s off-hand), which are 89 dB/W/M/ea

with 1W input from my receiver, I'll get ~92 dB/W/M from my pair (+3dB (double loudness) because of having two speakers)

with 2W input, I'll get ~95 dB/W/M

with 4W input, I'll get ~98 dB/W/M

with 8W input, I'll get ~101 dB/W/M

and if we keep expanding this out to where Yamaha specifes my receiver will stop (125W/ch), thats 8 -> 16 -> 32- > 64 -> 128W/ch @ 113 dB/W


now first of all, lets consider 113 dB, which is on the level of something like a pistol or jackhammer, and thats an estimate #, it would probably be higher given the size of this room, and I'm guessing there'd be some distortion or clipping, but consider that at 2W output, you're talking ~95 dB output, which is generally "too loud" for up close listening (headphones), and "about right" for an intimate setting (like my small HT), now consider 100W, which would have these blasting along like a machine gun (and probably damage them)

however, that doesn't mean I'd be happy with a 1W/ch or 2W/ch amplifier for these speakers, here's why:

peaks take more power.

in other words, when I'm watching a movie, I'll usually have these dialied in something like 15-20% output (I really don't like it loud), which is comfortable, and probably only sees 1-3W/ch on average, even if peaks are doing 5-10x that per channel (like explosions), this lets my media have dynamic range (this is where mufi is saying go to 110 dB, while I think they're a bit inflated in their #'s, you do want a lot of headroom for peaks, at least for theatre, with music its a bit less required, since modern music is mastered so close to 0 dB anyways)

I would honestly suggest something like the A-35R, you want to go with quality over quantity, and unless you're driving massively inefficient speakers (I mean sub 85 dB/W here) in a fairly large space (think thousands of cubic feet), 10-20W/ch is more than enough

now to answer your Q:
receivers under $150, brand new, are usually kind of dinky
look for used receivers in that price range, you'll probably have better luck with quality
OR
the A-35R is probably your best bet (I don't have an opinon on the new h/k stereo receivers, haven't used them/seen them/read about them/etc)

 

[yeahman67]

So, would this work, if the speaker's max output power is 100 watts, and the receiver's max output power per channel is 65 watts, does that mean that the receiver will be able to play the bookshelf speakers at 65 watts maximum? Would this cause any damage???

 

[obobskivich]

no, did you entirely not read anything I or milkweg wrote?

it will work just fine, and you won't really be missing anything, the 100W rating on the speakers is the maximum INPUT power, and 65W vs 100W is fairly minimal difference

 

[milkweg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif i agree with milkweg entirely on this (on an unrelated hijack: didn't you used to have that ugly woman as your avatar?)

Yes, that was Ena Sharples who was a character on Coronation Street way back in the early 60's. She used to scare the hell out of me when I was a little kid so have never forgot her. She died quite some time ago. R.I.P.

 

[milkweg]

Most amps these days have dynamic power too. That means they can double (sometimes more) their wattage ouput for brief periods for when the music or movies demand it. My sub is rated at 150w@8ohm nominal but has dynamic power of 300w.

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Most amps these days have dynamic power too. That means they can double (sometimes more) their wattage ouput for brief periods for when the music or movies demand it. My sub is rated at 150w@8ohm nominal but has dynamic power of 300w.

forgot that they held reserves like that, thats another good point to consider

and wow, just that pic makes me afraid, is she the old woman on Pete's Dragon?

 

[milkweg]

Isn't Pete's Dragon American? She is British.This was my previous avatar, the above photo is her on a good day, this one is her normal grumpy face on Coronation Street.

 

[Headphony]

More important than amplifier wattage is the numbers that the volume knob goes up to. Look for an amp that goes up to at least "11".

Seriously though, unless you have particularly hard to drive speakers, a large room, and big budget, power output need not be a main criteria in choosing an amp. Chances are, most speakers within your budget are reasonably efficient, so amp power shouldn't be a big issue.

 

[juniperlater]

That Pioneer Elite integrated is very good for the cash. I almost bought it, but spent twice as much on my Marantz.

 

[milkweg]

Don't know which Marantz you bought but a review I read compared Marantz to Pioneer Elite and they hcose the Pioneer Elite over the Marantz. I bought Onkyo but wish I bought Pioneer Elite now because I have read their headphone section is decent and the Onkyo is a bit bloaty in the bottom end for headphones use.

 

[juniperlater]

I know the Marantz kills the elite, but for a LOT more money - $200 (retail) vs. $450 (on sale). It is the PM7001.