I know this is a basic question, but I can't seem to find the answer in older posts on the forums. Here it goes...
Does the wattage of my reciever have to match or be less than that of my speakers (which are 100 watt continuous/400 watt peak)? In other words, will a 130 watt per channel receiver blow my 100 watt speakers?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
If you crank up the volume control all the way, and put on some music, it is virtually certain that you will destroy some of your equipment, and very possibly your ears as well. And, very probably, the destruction will be immediate.
Assuming that your speakers are accurately rated (which is very doubtful, as such ratings are not standardized), and assuming that the receiver is rated according to the required standards (continuous RMS output), then you could destroy them with your amplifier, even according to the ratings. You see, that receiver can put out 130 watts continuously, and the speakers can only handle 100 watts continuously (even if we believe the rating, which is probably optimistic BS). Additionally, speakers can handle different amounts of power at different frequencies; typically, tweeters can handle far less power than woofers, and so if you put on a test tone of, say 15 kHz and fed your speakers 100 watts of that tone, it would be very surprising if you did not destroy your tweeters.
As a practical matter, you do not need to match the power ratings for a speaker and a receiver. I have used, for many years, a receiver rated at 160 watts RMS per channel with speakers rated to handle about 60 watts. Just because a receiver is rated for a certain output, that does not mean that it is putting out that much power at any time ever. It is a claim about what it is capable of doing. How much power it will put out at any given moment will depend upon many things, such as the strength of the input signal and how far up the volume control is turned. Generally speaking, if one puts on music that is at a fairly constant level, one can turn up the volume until one starts to hear distortion, and then turn it slightly down until one hears no distortion, and that will be the maximum safe volume for the system. (Naturally, I am assuming that you are using speakers that are an appropriate impedance for the amplifier you are using.) Of course, if you then used a higher input signal, it will not be safe to have the volume control at the same setting. It is a way of finding the maximum safe volume (sound) level, not a way to find a maximum safe position for the volume control.
Anyway, do not worry about the power ratings of speakers too much. Just listen and enjoy the music, and if it sounds distorted, turn it down. And if you put on something that is very dynamic, such as the Telarc CD of Tchaikovsky's
1812 Overture, try it out at a fairly low level first, and only gradually try higher levels. Otherwise, when the cannons start, you could destroy things.
