Newbie has a quick question

[fsdhy]

Hey guys, I just have a real simple question for you.

I've come upon a brand new Pioneer VSX-1015TX. Its definitely a better receiver than the JVC RX-6042 that I'm using right now with my Athena Micra 6 speakers. The Pioneer outputs 120W per channel, my Athena speakers are only 100W per channel. I just bought a new plasma, and wasn't planning on upgrading my home theatre so soon. But since the Pioneer was free, I'd like to put it to use in the mean time. Is there anything I can do to get this Pioneer receiver working with my Athena speakers until I have some extra cash for new, more powerful speakers?

Will hooking up the Athena speakers to the more powerful receiver destroy them?

Thanks guys.

 

[MacManNM]

Hey guys, I just have a real simple question for you.

I've come upon a brand new Pioneer VSX-1015TX. Its definitely a better receiver than the JVC RX-6042 that I'm using right now with my Athena Micra 6 speakers. The Pioneer outputs 120W per channel, my Athena speakers are only 100W per channel. I just bought a new plasma, and wasn't planning on upgrading my home theatre so soon. But since the Pioneer was free, I'd like to put it to use in the mean time. Is there anything I can do to get this Pioneer receiver working with my Athena speakers until I have some extra cash for new, more powerful speakers?

Will hooking up the Athena speakers to the more powerful receiver destroy them?

Thanks guys.

You will be fine. Having a little extra power isn't going to hurt your speakers. Just don't go cranking it up till your ears bleed.

 

[fsdhy]

Even though the Athena manual says overdriving the speakers leads to distortion, I'll be fine with 20W per channel above the recommended Wattage?

Thanks for the quick reply MacManNM, I appreciate it.

 

[MacManNM]

Even though the Athena manual says overdriving the speakers leads to distortion, I'll be fine with 20W per channel above the recommended Wattage?

Thanks for the quick reply MacManNM, I appreciate it.

Yeah it will be fine, again just keep the levels reasonable. In reality, when you are in multi channel mode, that pioneer won't put out 120 w/ch. So if you have more than 2 speakers connected, it can't put out 120.

 

[fsdhy]

Yeah it will be fine, again just keep the levels reasonable. In reality, when you are in multi channel mode, that pioneer won't put out 120 w/ch. So if you have more than 2 speakers connected, it can't put out 120.

Ok, that brings up one last question. If the speakers were to receive the full 120W, would they be damaged? I get what you're saying about keeping the volume at a reasonable level. If it was only me using the system, that would be fine. But if someone were to accidentally max out the volume, would they blow right away?

The reason I ask is because the manual is kind of making me feel that the receiver will be outputting closer to the 120W than you're suggesting. Maybe its just manufacturer hype, you'll have to tell me. If its 120W x7, since I'm only using it for a 5.1 setup, does that mean its going to be close to 120W?

I'll have to quote the manual to show you what I mean:

"The VSX-1015TX-S delivers a full 120 watts x 7, with MOSFET amplification circuitry that ensures clean, efficient power at the precise instant it's called for by a song, a movie, or an explosive game soundtrack."

"Features high quality MOSFET design. This receiver offers high-quality discrete MOSFET configuration unique to Pioneer for low distortion, and generates equal amplifier power to all channels."

Sorry if I sound a little anal, making you confirm this 3 times. Its just that the wife wouldn't be too happy with me blowing 3 month old speakers

 

[chas_w]

If you are still concerned, email Athena....in my experience they have always been pretty good about answering questions quickly.

Nice free receiver by the way!

 

[fsdhy]

If you are still concerned, email Athena....in my experience they have always been pretty good about answering questions quickly.

Nice free receiver by the way!

Good idea, I just sent Athena a quick message through their webform.

While I'm waiting for a reply, I would appreciate if anyone has any further input on my question 2 posts above... Thanks.

 

[mike c]

your micra satellites are rated up to 100watts ...

http://www.athenaspeakers.com/micra6SystemSpeakers.htm

now, the 120w x7 actually means it can churn out 120w to every channel BUT NOT at the same time, what it CAN DO is 120w x2 channels.

so you are safe in 5.1 setup. your problem is in stereo mode (2 channels) maxing out the volume probably WILL reach 120w (over your 100w satellites). so DONT max it out. unplug it, put a sign, kill all visitors ... (just kidding)

(im sure these speakers have a bit of leeway in terms of "over supplying of power") but the best people to answer that is athena

 

[BMXTRIX]

Yes, don't confuse 120 watts available with 120 watts all the time.

Just because a receiver has that power (theoretically) available, does not mean that it will ever deliver that much power at one time.

The only time it can deliver it is if you have your volume turned ALL the way up and only one or two speakers are receiving audio and it is a full audio strength signal.

Then - MAYBE - you will have an issue.

In the end, I wouldn't even think about it other than keeping it as a thought in the back of my head.

That, and "Gee, if I blow these puny little (but nice sounding) speakers, I'll have to get some much nicer bigger speakers that sound even better and can play much louder."

 

[bpape]

Even if it could, you'd probably still be OK for a couple of reasons.

- The speaker rating is likely a continuous power rating. You'd likely only ever get close to 120WPC on very short transient peaks.

- Most speaker manufacturers underrate their products handling capabilities for a bit of safety margin.

- Clean power very rarely blows speakers. What blows tweeters out is an amp clipping. Under normal circumstances, only about 10-25% of the power put out by an amp goes to the tweeter. When you clip an amp, it generates a TON of high frequency garbage - thereby throwing a higher percentage of the output power to the tweeter - bzzzzt.

 

[fsdhy]

Awesome guys, thats exactly the answer I was looking for. Thanks everybody.

Its time to go hook it up & test her out... I'll just hide the remote so the wife can't blow the speakers & blame it on me

I can't wait to try out this MCAC thing... I've never seen anything like that before.