Speaker watts vs reciever watts

[Leon1972]

So, the speakers I want are rated at 150 watts. What happens if my reciever is only capable of 80 - 100 watts?

Don't know if this is needed for the answer but I'm looking at the momitor audio r270 x 2, r225, and the r90 x 2

 

[PENG]

80 to 100W amp may be fine for those speakers but first of all you have to find out if those rated watts are continuous average (many call it RMS, a misnomer for power technically speaking) or peak, if peak, for what duration? It will also be good if you can tell us your approx room dimensions, distance from you sitting position to the speakers, and what kind of SPL you need.

 

[ImcLoud]

So, the speakers I want are rated at 150 watts. What happens if my reciever is only capable of 80 - 100 watts?

Don't know if this is needed for the answer but I'm looking at the momitor audio r270 x 2, r225, and the r90 x 2

this calculator is helpful when it comes to figuring what you need for power, simply enter in your desired db level, your speakers sensitivity rating, the distance between the listener and the speaker, and leave the headroom at 3db, it will tell you how many watts you need to accomplish that...
Amplifier Power Required Calculator

I find if you pick a speaker you like the sound of, look up the manufactures recommended power and find an amplifier that satisfies that, obviously you are not going to run them at 100% and also keep in mind if you are going to cross the bass to a subwoofer you don't need as much power...

 

[markw]

Speaker watts and amp watts are a pretty loosey-goosey relationship.

A speaker can handle more watts than it's specced for and, likewise, it doesn't have to be fed it's maximum wattage to provide satisfyingly loud sound. In fact, it's rare that a speaker will be called upon to handle more than a fraction of it's rated power. Most listening is done with only a few watts, generally less then five.

But, if you are in the habit of cranking it unmercifully, you should be aware that you could overdrive a weak amplifier into clipping, not a good thing for either the amp or the speakers.

But, one good ting is that the amp (and the speakers) generally give audible warning before damage occurs. They start to sound harsh, gritty or just plain bad. These are signs that one of them doesn't like the levels at which it's being played.

The solution is to turn it down immediately. If you follow one simple rule, they should live to see another day.

That rule is: If it starts to sound bad, turn it down NOW!!!

This rule applies to both using a high powered amp on low powered speakers and a low powered amp on speakers that can absorb gobs of power.

 

[Leon1972]

Herer are the stats for the speaker. It actually gives two different rms ratings. I've never seen that before. Is the single for that one speaker and the system for the whole setup? I don't understand the difference between the two. And a recommended wattage. I don't really listen to earth shatteringly loud stuff. I prefer a medium level with clarity and nice base. Here are the stats.

Room dimensions and distance change continuously as I'm military

This is for the monitor audio r270 ( front towers)
Power Handling Single (RMS): 100 W
System Power Handling (RMS): 150 W
Recommended Amplifier Requirements: 20 - 150 W

 

[PENG]

Herer are the stats for the speaker. It actually gives two different rms ratings. I've never seen that before. Is the single for that one speaker and the system for the whole setup? I don't understand the difference between the two. And a recommended wattage. I don't really listen to earth shatteringly loud stuff. I prefer a medium level with clarity and nice base. Here are the stats.

Room dimensions and distance change continuously as I'm military

This is for the monitor audio r270 ( front towers)
Power Handling Single (RMS): 100 W
System Power Handling (RMS): 150 W
Recommended Amplifier Requirements: 20 - 150 W

If I was looking at the right speakers in the link below, I would suggest you

R270 | Radius | Monitor Audio

just follow their recommendations and get an amp with 150WPC maximum. Any more than that won't do much good because well before you put continuous average power of 100W to them they would be screaming to let you know time to back off. I am just guessing this base on their 4" bass driver size, ported design, and the 22 lb weight for a floor standing speaker. I have no idea what they mean by system power handling, may be they mean short duration peaks (but how short, right?), really can't know for sure unless you email or phone them and hopefully end up getting an answer from the technical people who know the answer. I find speaker power specs are typically much less informative than amps or even mid range receivers. Keep in mind too any decent mid range AVRs such as Onkyo 700, Denon 3300 series can handle a couple or more dB for short durations as well as into some impedance dips.

 

[Leon1972]

Oh believe me I'm not going to go over 150 watts. I was wondering if the speakers would still work well with a reciever that is only 100 watts. I ask this because I can't find a well priced 150 watt reciever. Don't know if I can talk the wife Into a 1000 dollar reciever as it seems all the 150 watt receivers I find are over 1000 bucks

 

[markw]

Leon, you're not understanding what Peng and I have been saying. Re-read our posts and try to comprehend what's being said in them.

foer a working example of what we're saying, check my AV system in my sig line. My receiver is rated for 90 watts. My speakers can absorb 200 watts.

so far, it's bee nabout ten years and I've never had a problem and, trust me, it certainly plays loud enough.

If anything, those 4" speakers will be your limiting factor. Just because a speaker can absorb and survive so many watts doesn't mean it'll sound good while doing so.

 

[Leon1972]

If I was looking at the right speakers in the link below, I would suggest you

R270 | Radius | Monitor Audio

just follow their recommendations and get an amp with 150WPC maximum. Any more than that won't do much good because well before you put continuous average power of 100W to them they would be screaming to let you know time to back off. I am just guessing this base on their 4" bass driver size, ported design, and the 22 lb weight for a floor standing speaker. I have no idea what they mean by system power handling, may be they mean short duration peaks (but how short, right?), really can't know for sure unless you email or phone them and hopefully end up getting an answer from the technical people who know the answer. I find speaker power specs are typically much less informative than amps or even mid range receivers. Keep in mind too any decent mid range AVRs such as Onkyo 700, Denon 3300 series can handle a couple or more dB for short durations as well as into some impedance dips.

guess I'm still learning. Should have been more specific. I meant the current radius hd line. Here's a link R270HD | Radius HD | Monitor Audio

 

[Leon1972]

Leon, you're not understanding what Peng and I have been saying. Re-read our posts and try to comprehend what's being said in them.

foer a working example of what we're saying, check my AV system in my sig line. My receiver is rated for 90 watts. My speakers can absorb 200 watts.

so far, it's bee nabout ten years and I've never had a problem and, trust me, it certainly plays loud enough.

If anything, those 4" speakers will be your limiting factor. Just because a speaker can absorb and survive so many watts doesn't mean it'll sound good while doing so.

ive done my listening to them. I love the way they sound at the levels ill be using them. Besides its more important for me to have clarity and a happy wife than earth shatteringly loud volumes and a wife that glares at me every time she walks into the living room because our living room is now ugly. I'll wait till I retire and get my dedicated home theater room she said I can have if she can have an exercise room.

 

[PENG]

guess I'm still learning. Should have been more specific. I meant the current radius hd line. Here's a link R270HD | Radius HD | Monitor Audio

Sorry I link the older version of the Radius line instead of the newer HD. They specs are similar though, in that their power rating is 100W (RMS, they stated) for a single speaker. That does not always mean it can take 100W average all day long. So nothing much change, they are still basically limited in how much continous average power they can take due to the smallish drivers, and the fact that it weighs only 22.5 lb, that is on the light side for a floor standing speaker. I still think a 90 to 100W AVR such as the Marantz SR-5007, Denon AVR-3312, Yamaha RX-A1020 will do a fine with them.

 

[BMXTRIX]

This is the part that mattters to you:

Recommended Amplifier Requirements: 20 - 150 W

Will you be buying a receiver with more than 20 watts? Yep!
Will it be less than 150 watts? Yep!

You are fine.

Amplifiers on receivers tend to put out different wattages depending on how hard you drive them and how many speakers are connected. There is a ton of reading out there on the actual power output depending on the A/V receiver you purchase. It is almost unheard of for an A/V receiver to put out 100 watts per channel across all five channels when all channels are being driven. Typically, it may be 20% to 50% under their rated power (so 50 watts in the case of a 100 watt rated receiver). Is 50 watts between 20 and 150? Yep! So, power doesn't truly matter until you start getting into the much higher listening levels which some people enjoy. People that want ear-splittle sound levels available to them need to get speakers which can truly handle a great deal of power and amplifiers to drive them to those levels. Commercially rated amps from Crown can do things like that really well, but for the typical home listener that's complete overkill.

 

[j_garcia]

I agree with the others and to add to what BMX is saying, unless you have a HUGE room, at what would be considered normal listening levels you are likely using only a few watts per speaker that are playing at the time. Rarely if ever will you have all of them playing at the same time. It is only during dynamic peaks that you need to have large amounts of power in reserve (headroom) to handle those jumps in sound level and multiple speakers playing, which is why you don't need to hit the "rated" power on the speakers. The fact is also the MAX rating means that is the point at which things will begin to FAIL because one or more components can only handle that much power.

 

[Leon1972]

Guess its a moot point now. Talked the wife into the receiver I want so I have 105 watts each channel. Should be plenty. Lol. Thanks guys appreciate the help.