Does my receiver have enough power?

M

marcb

Enthusiast
I currently have a 1998 Onkyo DS-747 rated at 90W/ch@8ohm, and 105W/ch@6ohm. I'm powering a pair 1980's Cerwin Vega D5's(3 way W/12" woofers), and a small pair of PSB 300IB's for the rears; No center.

Onkyo claims it's a high current amp, but I only see spec's for 8 and 6 ohmns

I just ordered a re-edge kit for the CV's, as I like the sound of those old bears.

If I go for new fronts like the Polk Lsi9's, or the Klipsch RB-75's, does my receiver have enough power to comfortably drive them?

Not sure if I will buy new; I might search out a set of vintage Klipsch's or Polks.

Thank you,....marc
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
A full set of LSis, I would say no. Should be fine with the Klipsch though.
 
T

tbewick

Senior Audioholic
I'm not sure if you amplifier is powerful enough or not, but to get a worthwhile increase in power output, you'll need to spend a lot on a new amplifier. I mean, to get up to 110 dB sitting quite far away you'll need at least 200 watts, assuming the speakers have a quite common sensitivity of ~90 dB. I doubt whether such a powerful amplifier is worth getting, in terms of value for money. You could spend that money on a pair of more efficient and sensitive speakers. Horn-loaded designs are more efficient, which Klipsch used to do. I saw some top-end Tannoy studio monitors (horn-loaded) which have a sensitivity of 104 dB. Another thing is that I doubt less efficient/sensitive speakers will sound very nice being played so loud even on unclipped material.

I believe one of the reasons for getting very powerful amplifiers is to stop the tweeters on the speakers blowing out. In studios, where they deal with uncompressed recordings, they have very powerful amps for this reason. In terms of sound quality, human hearing cannot detect clipping if it occurs in very short segments, which it usually does. It's more to do with protecting your speakers.
 
patnshan

patnshan

Senior Audioholic
marcb said:
I currently have a 1998 Onkyo DS-747 rated at 90W/ch@8ohm, and 105W/ch@6ohm. I'm powering a pair 1980's Cerwin Vega D5's(3 way W/12" woofers), and a small pair of PSB 300IB's for the rears; No center.

Onkyo claims it's a high current amp, but I only see spec's for 8 and 6 ohmns

I just ordered a re-edge kit for the CV's, as I like the sound of those old bears.

If I go for new fronts like the Polk Lsi9's, or the Klipsch RB-75's, does my receiver have enough power to comfortably drive them?

Not sure if I will buy new; I might search out a set of vintage Klipsch's or Polks.

Thank you,....marc
The Vega's are usually pretty effiient, meaning they do not require a lot of power. There are some new twin 15's over at UBID right now that have 97 Db sensitivity. That amp would probably make them sound just fine. I'd give it a try before I bought new stuff.

Pat
 
Daz3d&Confus3d

Daz3d&Confus3d

Full Audioholic
97 db sensitivity is extremely effecient! Klipsch is a good option as they are known to drive to high db levels with little power....my living room is 19 x 16 x 10 with the seating area 10ft from the speakers and when setting my receiver to -13, it is very loud for both music and movies!!! I like it loud and its even loud for me at that level!!! My rf-35's are 98 db as a reference point for you.:)
 
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