New guy needs help... Please

[stangracing72]

I am no where a audio guru but, my ears know sound. So after taking my Sony home theater in a box that I had for a grueling 10 years and throwing it off a cliff I decided to try and piece a decent sounding stereo/surround sound set up... It seems (at least to me) that everything now a days is compact and small giving up quality of sound for a small footprint? After listening to several of these I just about gave up.. They all sound so limited and hollow.

That was until I scored a set of Infinity Alpha 50's along with a Alpha 1200 Subwoofer and a Onkyo A-809 Amp.. In mint condition with limited use. Been stored for many years..

Now I know they are older speakers but, it's the best set I have heard in the last month at any chain audio superstores around here..

Now my dilemma is a receiver.. I noticed that my speakers are rated at 8 ohms and most of the receivers I have looked at that have a higher wattage per channel are all rated at 6 ohms.. Upon closer inspection those receivers rated at for example 145 watts per channel at 6 ohms or only rated at say 80 watts at 8 ohms per channel.. Seems rather underpowered for my speakers per specifications. Although I have the older amp it has limited capability's it seems on what I can amp so is this the normal for the new receivers or am I going to have to spend a bank load of money to find a receiver capable of giving me the power I am wanting..?

I still need to find a decent center speaker and a set of rears for the surround which I am debating installing them in the ceiling but, I am going to wait until I can find a decent receiver..

Any help or input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Shane

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum, Shane!

What is your budget for a new receiver? A "bank load of money" means different things to different people.

As for your speakers, their efficiency rating is decently high at 91 dB. My NHTs are rated at 85 dB, and receivers like the Onkyo TX-NR626, Denon AVR-E400, and Denon AVR-S900 can play them very loudly (to me) with no discernible distortion of lack of dynamics. That have ratings in the 90-95W range for an 8-ohm load from 20-20k Hz at small total harmonic distortion. Ratings in the 80W or 90W range are going to be similar in performance if the rest of the amp is designed the same. An ability to handle short duration, high power peaks (e.g. from cymbal crashes) is important to maintain accuracy at higher volume levels, and the amps that I mentioned are recent models that I've used that do that. I think that has a lot to do with the capacitors, but others here can chime in if I'm wrong about that.

For every 10 dB of volume increase (viewed by some as being twice as loud), you need 10 times the power. A lot of times, you're using under 1 W to power your speakers. To get twice as loud as 80 W, though, you'd need 800 W.

 

[stangracing72]

Thanks for the reply Adam. My budget is around the $500 range for a receiver. I just thought that since the speakers had a handling capacity of 200 watts that I would have to find a receiver that had the ability to produce a true 200 watts RMS or they would be under powered and sound horrible.

 

[Adam]

I just thought that since the speakers had a handling capacity of 200 watts that I would have to find a receiver that had the ability to produce a true 200 watts RMS or they would be under powered and sound horrible.

Gotcha. Nope, you don't need a 200 W receiver for those speakers. Those specs often lead to that sort of confusion. Those speakers will sound fine will much less power. The louder that you like to listen, the more power you'll want in a receiver/amp. The best way to find what works for you is to try some out, but I'd think that something in that 90 W (or around there) range should work well. You might need more for your listening habits, but those receivers played my speakers very loudly (and I was running five speakers for my testing) with power ratings in that range.

 

[Swerd]

My budget is around the $500 range for a receiver. I just thought that since the speakers had a handling capacity of 200 watts that I would have to find a receiver that had the ability to produce a true 200 watts RMS or they would be under powered and sound horrible.

Adam has it right about power. The Onkyo A-809 integrated amp is rated at 105 watts per channel, http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/onkyo/a-809.shtml. That seems to work well with your speakers.

When shopping for an amp or receiver, ignore any power ratings unless they specify "… at 8 ohms, 20 to 20,000 Hz, and are less than 1% total harmonic distortion (THD)". Power measured at 6 ohms or 4 ohms will be larger numbers.

You had mentioned in your original post looking for center and rear channel speakers. At the time Infinity sold the Alpha 50 speakers, they also made and Infinity Alpha Center speaker. Look for a used one. It appears to be made with similar drivers to your speakers.

I personally avoid in-wall or ceiling mounted speakers, especially for the center channel. If you must skimp on size or quality, its better to do that on the rear channel speakers as they matter less than any of the front 3 speakers.

 

[stangracing72]

Swerd I have been looking for a Infinity Alpha center speaker for the last two weeks it's just a matter of time before I find one in decent shape hopefully.. I have always heard that if there was one speaker you didn't want to be cheap on was the center channel. For the ceiling was referring to the two rear speakers but, have been told by several to try and avoid using them as you had said.

Most of the 5 channel receivers that I looked at range in the 70-90 W range and that's about it unless you run a 7 channel receiver or more..

Adam and Swerd thanks for the helpful info and quick reply!

Now it's what brand of receiver.