Need help selecting a receiver.

[YogiBizz]

My dad needs help upgrading his receiver. He has a 7.2 set up. The L/R are the old technics sb-a55. 110w continuous @ 8 ohms, 260w max. They have the highest watts continuous of all the speakers. Does this mean i need to find a receiver that pushs 110w per channel? The Denon I bought is 90w per channel and it doesnt sound as loud, he says, as his old sony receiver; 100w per channel. Is this because the 10watt difference? I'm new to hi-fi and the omhs and watts thing is confusing. I also plan on upgrading his sub the dayton audio sub-1000. I appreciate the help.

 

[lovinthehd]

Perhaps start with this article and continue the series linked at the bottom....

As far as the apparent loudness difference, hard to say, likely that little power difference wasn't detectable, probably had more to do with the source and gain structure.

 

[lovinthehd]

Another thought on difference in volume between the avrs, were each calibrated the same way? Sony usually doesn't use the same method as other avr brands for calibrated volume levels. Then there are differences with different sound field/dsp programs if any are employed....

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Ignore power ratings on loudspeakers. They are near-meaningless.

Important loudspeaker specifications * are efficiency and to a certain extent, impedance and phase characteristics. The rest is mostly just marketing doublespeak.

If you know the efficiency, then you can determine how much power you need to drive them to the desired Sound Pressure Level (SPL) (means "how loud"). That is how you choose electronics to mate with the existing speakers you have.

There is virtually no difference between 90 and 100 watts output into the same loudspeaker. In order to play twice as loud (2x) you need 10x the amplifier power. A +11% difference (1.1x) is measurable but nearly inaudible.

If the new receiver doesn't sound as loud as the old, it's almost certainly due to some other reason. Now, you say you aren't an audio guy and watts and ohms confuse you. It may well be that you are misreading the output power of the new receiver, and if so, then there could be an issue based on power output. If you can offer the model numbers of the old and new, it would make it easier to determine if in fact that's the case.

* Naturally, Sound Quality (SQ) is important, but you evaluate that by listening, not reading.