question

[psy4life]

My speakers are rated at 100watts but the reciever i have is at 110watts. Someone told me it is not a good idea to use the speakers i have with the reciever. Because it might damage the speakers. Is it true? Thank you in advance!

 

[MDS]

Nope, you'll be fine unless the speakers are low impedance (4 Ohms) and you push the receiver so hard (ie cranked up all the way) that it clips the signal. In general, an amp that is more powerful than the rated wattage of the speakers will be better because you will be using it within its linear range and not sending a clipped, distorted signal to the speakers.

That's the quick answer. Search the forum for more discussion if you like because this type of question is pretty common.

 

[j_garcia]

The rating on the speakers is a MAXIMUM rating, not a REQUIRED power level. You will be perfectly fine, unless you have a situation as mentioned above with speakers that are of too low of an impedance.

 

[markw]

To put it politely, your friend has no idea what he's talking about.

All things being equal, as long as you remember the golden rule in audio you'll be fine.

"If it starts to sound funky, turn it down NOW! Sumptin' ain't happy."

FWIW, the silver rule is "ALWAYS power (not just turn) down everything when you kerfutz around with cables and interconnects"

 

[hifiman]

Roll up a newspaper and smack whoever told you that on the nose. Bad friend!... Bad friend!

 

[tbewick]

I did see that recommendation once in an old Tannoy manual, for the HPD series, that you should match the speaker power rating to the amplifier power rating. The problem apparently is that many integrated amplifier manufacturers have their maximum pre-amp volume level far too high, so that if you did turn it all the way up, the (integrated) power amp would clip.

Nowadays, the speaker manual normally suggests how powerful the amp should be, e.g. 25 - 175 watts. If the amplifier does clip, the sound will be harsh and grainy, and if you put it up even higher, the tweeter may blow.