Amplifier Power Rating

[Robert Inocencio]

I was checking into the Marantz 8077 7-channel amplifier on their web site. The power rating is 150w into 8 ohms -- 2 channels driven. OK, so what is the power rating with all channels driven? I could not find it anywhere and so I downloaded the user manual, thinking that it certainly must be there. Nope... nowhere to be found. At least not on the specs page. Is there a formula for figuring this out?

 

[Irvrobinson]

Just out of curiosity, why is this important? The surround channels seldom require much power.

 

[Robert Inocencio]

Just out of curiosity, why is this important? The surround channels seldom require much power.

This would be for the center channel, 2 surrounds, and 4 elevation speakers. I thought it was important to know how many watts per channel channel, since I will always be driving all of them. Not so?

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd think the amp will be fine for surround use without knowing the exact limits of the unit....but bench test here.

A Marantz amp wouldn't be my first choice but if you have a matching pre-pro....maybe aesthetically it would look nice.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I doubt the surrounds and elevation speakers will consume more than a few watts each, unless you have a huge room.

 

[Robert Inocencio]

I'd think the amp will be fine for surround use without knowing the exact limits of the unit....but bench test here.

A Marantz amp wouldn't be my first choice but if you have a matching pre-pro....maybe aesthetically it would look nice.

Which amps would you recommend?

 

[Robert Inocencio]

I doubt the surrounds and elevation speakers will consume more than a few watts each, unless you have a huge room.

My family room is 25' by 20', but there are large openings into the dining and kitchen areas. Not much that I can do there. What do you think the minimum wattage should be for center & surrounds? I had no idea that the surrounds consumed such little power.

 

[lovinthehd]

The Monoprice 7ch amp looks nice for the price, or if you want to spend more as you would on the Marantz (assuming the Amazon $2400 price is in the ball park of what you're looking at), maybe an ATI 1807 or similar. Maybe even a stack of pro amps like Crown XLS 1502s. Might depend how much you can score the Marantz for, tho, and what your aesthetic requirements are.

 

[Tankman]

I was checking into the Marantz 8077 7-channel amplifier on their web site. The power rating is 150w into 8 ohms -- 2 channels driven. OK, so what is the power rating with all channels driven? I could not find it anywhere and so I downloaded the user manual, thinking that it certainly must be there. Nope... nowhere to be found. At least not on the specs page. Is there a formula for figuring this out?

You would be hard-pressed to find those specs your asking about unless You find a Pro review on it or maybe put in a call to the manufacturer and ask them or shoot them an email. But even than I don't believe the manufacturer would even give you them specs maybe they will I can't say. I haven't looked at that unit but a round about watt number let keep it say 75 watts maybe more or less. Like some of the others have said I wouldn't worry too much about that, unless your room is really huge. But than that's a whole nother subject.

 

[lovinthehd]

What model/makes are the speakers you need to drive with the amp?

 

[lovinthehd]

You would be hard-pressed to find those specs your asking about unless You find a Pro review on it or maybe put in a call to the manufacturer and ask them or shoot them an email. But even than I don't believe the manufacturer would even give you them specs maybe they will I can't say. I haven't looked at that unit but a round about watt number let keep it say 75 watts maybe more or less. Like some of the others have said I wouldn't worry too much about that, unless your room is really huge. But than that's a whole nother subject.

Try the bench test I linked....

 

[Tankman]

Try the bench test I linked....

Just saw that link in your post..you think OP looked at it?.also just saw the an "aesthetically"..still lolo on that one..and I haven't had my beer piss yet. lolo..smooth man..lolo.not bashing gear, thats the one thing that has kept me from Marantz...

Mike

 

[Robert Inocencio]

What model/makes are the speakers you need to drive with the amp?

SVS Ultra center channel, SVS Prime L&R surrounds, and four SVS elevation speakers.

 

[Robert Inocencio]

Just saw that link in your post..you think OP looked at it?

I did see the bench test and it answered my question. Thank you for the info!

 

[Robert Inocencio]

The Monoprice 7ch amp looks nice for the price, or if you want to spend more as you would on the Marantz (assuming the Amazon $2400 price is in the ball park of what you're looking at), maybe an ATI 1807 or similar. Maybe even a stack of pro amps like Crown XLS 1502s. Might depend how much you can score the Marantz for, tho, and what your aesthetic requirements are.

Aesthetics is not important. I will definitely do some research on these. Thanks!

 

[lovinthehd]

Aesthetics is not important. I will definitely do some research on these. Thanks!

No problem but you might also consider the sensitivity/distances of your speakers for your amp needs before deciding. Surround channels can have as much content in some recordings as mains (not sure how that applies to the ceiling type surround content, haven't played with that), but as was said demands are generally much less (let alone all at the same time like a bench test) but smaller surrounds may be less sensitive than mains, so specific speakers and your spl goals still matter.

 

[lovinthehd]

Just saw that link in your post..you think OP looked at it?.also just saw the an "aesthetically"..still lolo on that one..and I haven't had my beer piss yet. lolo..smooth man..lolo.not bashing gear, thats the one thing that has kept me from Marantz...

Mike

A surprising number of high end amps are sold on aesthetics...and some just want all their gear to have a certain facade/face plate look. That said, the porthole look on the Marantz ain't my favorite....

 

[Robert Inocencio]

This is the only forum of any type that I belong to and I need to say that I am absolutely blown away by the responses and the amount of knowledge that is out there. Thanks to you all for making this such an awesome experience!

 

[Tankman]

A surprising number of high end amps are sold on aesthetics...and some just want all their gear to have a certain facade/face plate look. That said, the porthole look on the Marantz ain't my favorite....

But it looks so nice on Pass Lap and Krell gear..to me anyways..could be a Sticker shock thing thought..

 

[Irvrobinson]

My family room is 25' by 20', but there are large openings into the dining and kitchen areas. Not much that I can do there. What do you think the minimum wattage should be for center & surrounds? I had no idea that the surrounds consumed such little power.

Actually, most speakers only a need a few watts to produce a lot of sound. If the speaker produces 85db at 1w into 8 ohms at 1 meter (typical for surround speakers), and sound level falls off at about 6db for every doubling of distance, at four meters (~13 feet, two doubles) you'd still get 85db from the speaker with ~16w, which is quite loud for a surround or elevation speaker. And more likely you're listening at a lower level and the speakers are closer. (Assuming 97db is required at 1 meter to get 85db at four meters. Amplifier power must double for each 3db increment in loudness, so 97db-85db = 12db, 12db/3db = 4, so four doubles in power = 2,4,8...16 watts.) And the real requirement is probably bursty and lower in power, and probably occurs on only a subset of the channels.

Personally, I think these seven channel super-amps are overkill, but that's just me.