Question on Watts and speakers

[Paul_Canada]

Hello:

I was wondering if a AV receiver the puts out say 135 watts would damage speakers that are only say 75 watts. I know the answer to this question may seem very obvious but if you did not turn up your receiver too loud could this work or would they (speakers) be damaged once you turned your receiver on.

The reason for this question is I am planning to buy a new receiver, but will not upgrade my speakers for another year or so (when I buy a new home and have a bigger listening area).

Thanks!

 

[Quickley17]

The quick dirty answer is that it is better to have more power than the speaker can handle. You run into issues of clipping the signal when the reciever is trying to provide more power than it is normally capable of to the speaker, and this is generally more dangerous to the physical components of a speaker than more available power.

As I learned from PENG and a host of others on these boards recently, most of your listening at most listening levels will require only a few watts at a time. So the answer is no. If you do not use the reciever at extreme levels, you should be fine with your speakers.

 

[adwilk]

Hello:

I was wondering if a AV receiver the puts out say 135 watts would damage speakers that are only say 75 watts. I know the answer to this question may seem very obvious but if you did not turn up your receiver too loud could this work or would they (speakers) be damaged once you turned your receiver on.

The reason for this question is I am planning to buy a new receiver, but will not upgrade my speakers for another year or so (when I buy a new home and have a bigger listening area).

Thanks!

You'll be just fine. I'm sure there's a more technical answer, but your receiver is only gonna supply the wattage that your speakers ask for. Depending on the sensitivity of your speakers, the type of material you're listening to, and how loud you're playing them, you will likely never even reach 75 watt threshold.

That's not to say you're speakers can't be blown, but given your scenario, its highly unlikely at normal listening levels.

 

[bandphan]

here is an spl calculator to play with

 

[PENG]

Assuming your room is not too big, say less than 15X20X9, your ears will quit before your speakers. Your 135W amp could, not that you would let it, damage the speakers, but only if you plug your ears in order to turn the volume right up. You asked one of the rare kind of questions that almost always get similar answers from any who cares to respond.

By the way I hope you are going to play with the calculator banphan posted, you may find that you only need a few watts average most of the time. It will be the occasional peaks that may push your amp towards its limit. How close would it get to or even pass the limit will depend on how loud you listen to and the kind of music you listen to. Such high peaks rarely last longer than a split second to a couple of seconds and while they may result in audible distortion they will not likely damage your speakers.

 

[ozmedia]

Better mroe than less

Under powering speakers will cause FAR mreo damage than overpowering.

If your receiver doesn't puch clean power, or is underpowered, it will distort and clip as it requires much higher volumes, causing a LOT more damage than over powering speakers.

Techniclaly speakers SHOULD be over powered because most output ratings for receivers are for peak power that you may see a spike of once a year, even when noted as RMS. If you have a DECENT, not necessarily high end, receiver you shoud be putting out clean enough power.