Yamaha Home theater setup.

H

HumbCa

Audiophyte
Hello, and thank you for helping me out.
I'm new to hi-fi setups so please excuse if I don't provide enough/relevant information, so please do not hesitate to ask anything that might help you help me.
I have a Denon AVR-X2500h audio receiver which has the following specs in terms of power output:

-Power Output (8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.08% 2ch Drive) 95 W
-Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 0.7% 2ch Drive) 125W
-Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 10% 1ch Drive) 185 W

I do understand these are power ratings at different impedance loads, however it says 2 channel drive, what about a 5 or 7 channel setup such as the one I want? Is the drive still 95W @ 8 Ohm or 125 W @ 6 Ohm? This confuses me and makes me worry for reasons I'll elaborate now.

I went to a Yamaha local representative that suggested a Yamaha audio receiver with similar power output but higher THD, coupled to the following speakers:

- Yamaha NS-P51 Nominal Input Power: 60 W Maximum Input Power: 180 W Centre and 2 surround speakers
- Yamaha NS-F330 Nominal Input Power: 50 W Maximum Input Power: 200 W Tower front speakers
- Yamaha NS-B750 Nominal Input Power:
30 W Maximum Input Power: 120 W Rear speakers

All are 6 Ohm speakers.

I am worried because both my Denon receiver and the receiver suggested by the expert at Yamaha exceed the nominal ratings of all the speakers, this is my main concern.

Also, if there's something I'm missing about the setup proposed and it will work fine with my receiver, I'd like to know how these compare to a Focal Audio Dome 5.1 speaker set.

Thank you for helping a newbie out.
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
Just be prudent with the volume button. It ultimately controls the power being delivered to your speakers. An amp that struggles to deliver power to a pair of speakers can be just as damaging as over driving your speakers.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Hello, and thank you for helping me out.
I'm new to hi-fi setups so please excuse if I don't provide enough/relevant information, so please do not hesitate to ask anything that might help you help me.
I have a Denon AVR-X2500h audio receiver which has the following specs in terms of power output:

-Power Output (8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.08% 2ch Drive) 95 W
-Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 0.7% 2ch Drive) 125W
-Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 10% 1ch Drive) 185 W

I do understand these are power ratings at different impedance loads, however it says 2 channel drive, what about a 5 or 7 channel setup such as the one I want? Is the drive still 95W @ 8 Ohm or 125 W @ 6 Ohm? This confuses me and makes me worry for reasons I'll elaborate now.

I went to a Yamaha local representative that suggested a Yamaha audio receiver with similar power output but higher THD, coupled to the following speakers:

- Yamaha NS-P51 Nominal Input Power: 60 W Maximum Input Power: 180 W Centre and 2 surround speakers
- Yamaha NS-F330 Nominal Input Power: 50 W Maximum Input Power: 200 W Tower front speakers
- Yamaha NS-B750 Nominal Input Power:
30 W Maximum Input Power: 120 W Rear speakers

All are 6 Ohm speakers.

I am worried because both my Denon receiver and the receiver suggested by the expert at Yamaha exceed the nominal ratings of all the speakers, this is my main concern.

Also, if there's something I'm missing about the setup proposed and it will work fine with my receiver, I'd like to know how these compare to a Focal Audio Dome 5.1 speaker set.

Thank you for helping a newbie out.
The more amplifier channels on your avr you use, the lower the available power will be. I’m on a Marantz... if I use all 9 amp channels I might only see 60-70 w/ch instead of the 110 per 2 channels. You sometimes will se a spec that states, for example, 100w rms per ch, all channels driven. That means full power is available through each channel.
I can’t check out the Yamaha sales recommendation right now as I’m in stormy sonoma county with power and internet going wonky! But remember, that salespersons job is to SELL you his product, not help you make the best decision! (Company sales, commission... whatever.)
We love helping people here make sense of gear and guiding you through the process... if you want. Maybe his recommendation ends up being best for you in the end, but I would urge caution. :)
What’s your full set up right now... speakers, etc? What’s your focus and usage (music vs HT)? What are your goals for your rig?
Cheers!
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Speaker wattage ratings are a guideline and generally there's no real guideline as to how they're arrived at let alone how useful they are. You only use as much power as you twist the volume knob, too, so if things start to sound bad, back off (and if copious amounts of alcohol are involved all bets are off :) ). I'd be more interested with how they got to the nominal figure but I don't see an explanation. Use the speaker sensitivity and impedance ratings as well as the distance you are from the speakers for a better idea of just what amp you need. I look at the NSP51 speaker and it has a stated sensitivity (2.83V/1m) of 92 dB and a nominal 6 ohm rating. If inputting 60 watts continuously (the nominal rating) this would be ear bleedingly loud with just about any avr :) even at 12-15 feet away. You can always play around with an spl calculator http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

AVRs of 95 vs 125 wpc (just to choose two numbers) are fairly similar, only a 1.2dB difference ....consider it takes a doubling of amp power to gain merely 3dB spl from your speakers. An ACD (all channels driven) rating is only so useful as the chance you're going to need to amplify all 7 channels simultaneously to their max is pretty much not a real world concern. You can look up various avr bench tests to see how much power drops from 1 or 2ch ratings to the 5 or 7 output tests, but more a sign of the strength of the overall single power supply behind all the amps.

Small differences in THD are relatively meaningless, too. It is said we really can't detect 1% THD (your speakers typically have greater THD than your amp, too).
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
1. You (like most people) are worried about the All Channels Driven (ACD) Power Requirement.

In the real world, you do NOT have to worry about this ACD.

ACD is for TESTING the amp- like a Stress Test.

2. Most speakers don’t require as much power as many people would have you believe if the volume is safe. For most cases, most AVRs will have more than enough power. As already mentioned, just listen sensibly and protect your hearing.
 
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