mrgooch
Audioholic Intern
In a room 13' x 21' with a vaulted ceiling. Playing a variety of music,how many watts would be suitable in a vintage receiver. Many older units were made in much lower wattage.
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j_garcia
Audioholic Jedi
What speakers and what specs are they?
Buckeyefan 1
Audioholic Ninja
Yes, we need to know the impedance and spl rating. You could get away with a 30 watt unit driving a set of Klipsch towers.j_garcia said:
Pyrrho
Audioholic Ninja
As j_garcia implies, the particular speakers will make a difference in what is required, as some speakers are more efficient than others. Also, the acoustic characteristics of the room are relevant, as some absorb more sound than others, and the placement of the speakers is relevant, as well as the listening position. It is also important to know what kind of music one listens to (as some is more dynamic than others), and how loud one wants it to be.
If we consider a typical example of a speaker of, say, 90 dB @ 1 watt @ 1 meter efficiency, this means that if you feed it 1 watt and sit at one meter, you will hear sound at 90 dB, which is loud. However, you are likely to sit further back, and so it may be more like 85 dB at your listening position (the exact level, of course, will depend on how far you are from the speaker, as well as the acoustic properties of the room). To add 10 dB, you need 10 times the power, so at that listening position, 10 watts will give you 95 dB. If you don't have serious peaks, and if you don't want to go deaf, really 10 watts is likely to be enough. 100 watts would give you 105 dB, and 1,000 watts would give you 115 dB (assuming, of course, that the speakers are capable of this and will not be destroyed with such power). (If you double the power output, you add 3 dB to the output. Notice that all of this means that a slight difference in output will make very little difference in dB output, so that a slight difference in power is likely to be unnoticeable.)
As a general rule of thumb, I like to have about 50 watts per channel for a stereo, though, as stated above, that may be more than is needed. Of course, if one has inefficient speakers, or one listens at literally deafening levels, 50 watts may not be enough.
It is also worth noting that there is no disadvantage in having more power output capability than one needs (except, of course, to one's budget and the likely use of additional power for a higher electric bill).
If we consider a typical example of a speaker of, say, 90 dB @ 1 watt @ 1 meter efficiency, this means that if you feed it 1 watt and sit at one meter, you will hear sound at 90 dB, which is loud. However, you are likely to sit further back, and so it may be more like 85 dB at your listening position (the exact level, of course, will depend on how far you are from the speaker, as well as the acoustic properties of the room). To add 10 dB, you need 10 times the power, so at that listening position, 10 watts will give you 95 dB. If you don't have serious peaks, and if you don't want to go deaf, really 10 watts is likely to be enough. 100 watts would give you 105 dB, and 1,000 watts would give you 115 dB (assuming, of course, that the speakers are capable of this and will not be destroyed with such power). (If you double the power output, you add 3 dB to the output. Notice that all of this means that a slight difference in output will make very little difference in dB output, so that a slight difference in power is likely to be unnoticeable.)
As a general rule of thumb, I like to have about 50 watts per channel for a stereo, though, as stated above, that may be more than is needed. Of course, if one has inefficient speakers, or one listens at literally deafening levels, 50 watts may not be enough.
It is also worth noting that there is no disadvantage in having more power output capability than one needs (except, of course, to one's budget and the likely use of additional power for a higher electric bill).
j_garcia
Audioholic Jedi
I had a room that was 14x25x10 with 92dB efficient speakers up front and it didn't require a ton of power to fill the room adequately. The speakers are the primary x factor here, though I completely agree that the room acoustics are a big part of the equation.
It's tough to go on wattage alone too, because the ratings can be deceiving. The reality is, the actual power drawn for average listening is quite low, but if you have demanding speakers (in particular if they extend fairly low in the bass department), you will likely be better off with a more powerful amp.
It's tough to go on wattage alone too, because the ratings can be deceiving. The reality is, the actual power drawn for average listening is quite low, but if you have demanding speakers (in particular if they extend fairly low in the bass department), you will likely be better off with a more powerful amp.
mtrycrafts
Seriously, I have no life.
Buckeyefan 1 said:
Or, at a much lower level with other speakers?
mtrycrafts
Seriously, I have no life.
mrgooch said:
Besides the other comments, how loud do you want to listen? Even a 1 watt amp will drive many speakers but not very loudly.
Daz3d&Confus3d
Full Audioholic
"Even a 1 watt amp will drive many speakers but not very loudly". That sounds funny.....when was the last time someone bought a 1 watt amp.....rofl!
N
Nick250
Audioholic Samurai
You have an odd sense of humor. Mtry was making a valid point.Daz3d&Confus3d said:
Votrax
Audioholic
I wouldn't go with anything less than 63.457312 watts. Seriously...I think anything rated at a honest 50w/channel or better would work just fine.
How many watts
Well all the other folks responding are right. I prefer to use higher efficiency speakers instead of a nuclear power plant amplifier. If you build yourself a simple speaker consisting of four woofers and 2 tweeters you can literally blow the windows out with a small amp. Lets say we have one woofer with an efficiency of 89 db/1watt @ 1 meter. If you add another and you apply one watt to each you get an spl of 95 db/1watt @ 1 meter. If you then add 2 more for a total of four woofers you will have an spl of 101 db/1watt @ 1 meter with 1 watt input to each woofer. So, for a total of 4 watts of amplifier power you have lots of spl.
I have never heard any speaker that I really liked much with an input of more than 10 watts. Loudspeakers remain the weakest link in the audio chain with distortion and nonlinearities greatly exceeding a cheap amplifier or virtually any CD player.
Anyway, just another way to look at it. By the way, I have two line array main speakers with 8 woofers each and 4 planar tweeters. They play at realistic levels without sounding strained and have reasonable frequency response characteristics.
Otherwise, I agree with Votrax, buy yourself a 50 watt receiver and let that be it. Especially if you have a powered subwoofer.
Well all the other folks responding are right. I prefer to use higher efficiency speakers instead of a nuclear power plant amplifier. If you build yourself a simple speaker consisting of four woofers and 2 tweeters you can literally blow the windows out with a small amp. Lets say we have one woofer with an efficiency of 89 db/1watt @ 1 meter. If you add another and you apply one watt to each you get an spl of 95 db/1watt @ 1 meter. If you then add 2 more for a total of four woofers you will have an spl of 101 db/1watt @ 1 meter with 1 watt input to each woofer. So, for a total of 4 watts of amplifier power you have lots of spl.
I have never heard any speaker that I really liked much with an input of more than 10 watts. Loudspeakers remain the weakest link in the audio chain with distortion and nonlinearities greatly exceeding a cheap amplifier or virtually any CD player.
Anyway, just another way to look at it. By the way, I have two line array main speakers with 8 woofers each and 4 planar tweeters. They play at realistic levels without sounding strained and have reasonable frequency response characteristics.
Otherwise, I agree with Votrax, buy yourself a 50 watt receiver and let that be it. Especially if you have a powered subwoofer.
mtrycrafts
Seriously, I have no life.
That is a great amp. You are killing me.Votrax said:
mtrycrafts
Seriously, I have no life.
How true this is. Many loose sight of this though for whatever reason. Maybe the marketing forces.Marti said:Loudspeakers remain the weakest link in the audio chain with distortion and nonlinearities greatly exceeding a cheap amplifier or virtually any CD player..
Welcome. Hope you will stick around
mtrycrafts
Seriously, I have no life.
Not sure, but my boombox may be only 1 watts.Daz3d&Confus3d said:
Works great, thanks.
Buckeyefan 1
Audioholic Ninja
Thus why I'm always recommending BIC/Acoustech speakers. Very high sensitivity. People will figure this out one day.
http://www.acousticsounddesign.com/core/view_BigProduct.cfm?pid=1061&sc=32
People will figure this out one day.http://www.acousticsounddesign.com/core/view_BigProduct.cfm?pid=1061&sc=32
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