amplifier - speaker wattage compatibility

[alphacentury100]

It is always better to use amps with higher power, otherwise, the dynamics of the music will be lost. Speakers tend to drop in Impedance drastically, so only an amp capable of producing high power can drive the speaker properly. For low volume listening most of the amps will do, but for moderate and high volume listening, you do need a high power amp to get a clear undistorted sound with good dynamics. It is always good have more power on reserve, and that is why Emotiva has introduced a new 5 channel beast-XPR5, which can deliver 400W/channel at 8Ohms.

 

[corElement]

It is always better to use amps with higher power, otherwise, the dynamics of the music will be lost. Speakers tend to drop in Impedance drastically, so only an amp capable of producing high power can drive the speaker properly. For low volume listening most of the amps will do, but for moderate and high volume listening, you do need a high power amp to get a clear undistorted sound with good dynamics. It is always good have more power on reserve, and that is why Emotiva has introduced a new 5 channel beast-XPR5, which can deliver 400W/channel at 8Ohms.

Reserve is relative to the requirement of a speaker. Just having an ocean of reserve where it's not needed and sacrificing the benefits of a lower reserve, better sounding pairing, is just silly.

For example I would not use that 400w emotiva class AB push pull amp on my 90db 4ohm 170 watt, low dampened concert 8. I would look at a Class A SET 20 watt tube amp or Class A push pull 30-60 watt solid state. As long as the output of the amp has atleast 10-15db tube spl (or 10 solid state class A watts) to spare. However if I had an usher be-718 with 85-86 db sensitivity with 8ohm impedance with a complex crossover, I would most certainly look at the emotiva. But I would also consider a GM70 tube amp in push pull configuration at a higher priority.

 

[Audio_Freek]

"one say 15 W other 150 W and some one 500W amp to match 200W speaker?"

Tube amplifiers are HIGH voltage amplifiers. The 1st watt in SET class A tube topologies are the most important. When a tube in Class A SET mode fires up, the 1st watt is usually around 50db spl give or take 20db (60db in the lyrita 2a3's case) So suppose the amp is outputting 60db. After the first watt everything changes. the 2nd watt is half the power output of the 1st but draws twice the mount of power than the 1st watt.

So 1st watt if it's 60db 2nd watt will be 30 and third will be 15. Meaning a total of 105db. My speakers are 90db sensitivity, so basically it's base criteria of 90db is met at the 2nd watt which is 60+30db= 90db. As a result the 3rd watt is headroom for the amp to be further pushed. HOWEVER if my speaker were 86db sensitivity like an usher be718, then the amp would have to be played at 100% volume, leaving no headroom for impedance ups and downs and eventually speaker damage.

This was tube logic in class A SET, now lets go to solid state. In solid state the opening 1st watts value is much much much lower (Unless we're talking first watt amps like nelson pass f5 and what not). So for example if the opening watt is something around 30db, the 2nd watt would be 15 and similar divided and divided and further divided, the smaller the number gets the more prone to distortion the watts become...depending on the MODE and topology of the amp. What this means is that watts is just a unit of power, the value of the unit changes amp to amp.
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This wat the answer I was looking for, as for long days i way thinking what could be the secret behind a Low rated Tube\Class A would drive a big drivers.Even though they say the signals are individually processed supplier from dedicated transformers.

So really the Hi-end Stuff operates on High-end mode

Thanks for the neat description:yahoo:

 

[alphacentury100]

Reserve is relative to the requirement of a speaker. Just having an ocean of reserve where it's not needed and sacrificing the benefits of a lower reserve, better sounding pairing, is just silly.

For example I would not use that 400w emotiva class AB push pull amp on my 90db 4ohm 170 watt, low dampened concert 8. I would look at a Class A SET 20 watt tube amp or Class A push pull 30-60 watt solid state. As long as the output of the amp has atleast 10-15db tube spl (or 10 solid state class A watts) to spare. However if I had an usher be-718 with 85-86 db sensitivity with 8ohm impedance with a complex crossover, I would most certainly look at the emotiva. But I would also consider a GM70 tube amp in push pull configuration at a higher priority.

The Emotiva 400W amp was just for an example. Don't take it literally. And I never said anything against "better sounding pairing".
My understinding is "It is always good to have reserve power" meaning "The amp should have more wattage capability than the speaker".

 

[corElement]

This wat the answer I was looking for, as for long days i way thinking what could be the secret behind a Low rated Tube\Class A would drive a big drivers.Even though they say the signals are individually processed supplier from dedicated transformers.

So really the Hi-end Stuff operates on High-end mode

Thanks for the neat description:yahoo:

Glad I could help

The Emotiva 400W amp was just for an example. Don't take it literally. And I never said anything against "better sounding pairing".
My understinding is "It is always good to have reserve power" meaning "The amp should have more wattage capability than the speaker".

I know, don't worry. But for those who don't know they might take it as a literal example so I just broke it down a little more for future readers. It's all good

 

[Hiten]

So 1st watt if it's 60db 2nd watt will be 30 and third will be 15. Meaning a total of 105db.

I don't claim to know technical things. But since SPL is logarithmic measure doubling the power output from 1W to 2W will increase the SPL level by 3db and next additional 1 watt would increase SPL level by approx. 1.5db. So total would be around 64.5db.
Peak SPL Calculator
regards