Underpowered amps vs overpowered amps

[heliumflight]

I have been listening to my Tannoy MG 15 switching between 2 ampflifiers with power rating at opposites of extreme. One is EL84 rated at 10watt push pull and the other is a SS power amp rated at 180 watt with a pre tube. Though the pre power seems to give me a sense of control, its the little 10 watt fella that sounds very musical to me. The speakers just sing beautifully. Infact I have also been blessed with an opportunity to even try them with a more powerful EL34 mono blocks (about 35 watts), but its the EL84 without being pushed over 1 O clock that wins.
Given the discussion on power ratings I am not sure if I should be driving them with minuscle power.

Also, the EL34 has fresh out of the box tubes whereas the EL84 has been around for a quite a long time, so not sure if this could be the reason.

Appreciate the advise.

I've heard this little devil- Lyrita EL84. It has tingling highs, shimmering voices and deadly decay of notes.

 

[kanwar]

Also like to share the Luxman amp has 3 taps for 8/6/4 ohms, so am I safe at high volumes to get room filling sound in room size 150 sqft?

It's in front of the panel

Yes that knob in the front is for impedance selection of the load.

55W per channel is moderate power for an amplifier, depends on how loud you listen to, will point towards the actual program material hitting the clipping point.

Usually -6dB is taken as the averaged level at which the music peaks of +6dB hit the clipping for short intervals.

 

[heliumflight]

Kanwar my question was in reference to the inference you had given. Is it there/ somewhat or underrated amp with my SMG?

Originally Posted by ?????R View Post
"An amplifier must be 1.5X times the power handling capability of speaker it is driving. The music signal has very high average to peak ratio with respect to its program content.

Underpower amplifiers clip easily and which can burn the voice coils easily especially tweeters".

 

[kanwar]

Yes your 55W amplifier is underrated in that respect, since your speakers are rated at 100W , therefore you simply need 150W for good headroom.

 

[heliumflight]

Yes your 55W amplifier is underrated in that respect, since your speakers are rated at 100W , therefore you simply need 150W for good headroom.

Ok, thanks now I get it.

 

[heliumflight]

What is the minimum wattage recommended for pioneer cs 905 speakers? At the rear it shows Max Music Power 300 Watts Rated Power 100 Watts Impedance: 8 ohms.

 

[sound_cycle]

1. https://geoffthegreygeek.com/calculator-amp-speaker-spl/
2. Video goodness discussion https://youtu.be/itKqSWH07_Y How many watts do I need for my speakers ? (added bonus: delightful accent)

ciao
gr

 

[heliumflight]

Thanks for providing the links with the formulas but I just wanted to know if a 40 watts amp can drive pioneer cs 905 speakers which has 99db sensitivity? It plays really loud @ 4 o'clock position

 

[JayaRaa]

Thanks for providing the links with the formulas but I just wanted to know if a 40 watts amp can drive pioneer cs 905 speakers which has 99db sensitivity? It plays really loud @ 4 o'clock position

what is your amplifier? room size? 4 o clock means amp is really being pushed

 

[sound_cycle]

Thanks for providing the links with the formulas but I just wanted to know if a 40 watts amp can drive pioneer cs 905 speakers which has 99db sensitivity? It plays really loud @ 4 o'clock position

What that calculator shows that with your speakers, from a listening position 10 feet away, your amp has a headroom of about 16db when you are listening at 90db.

That sounds like plenty to me - I rarely cross 9 and find 10 too loud with a similar rated amp and speakers that are far less sensitive at 89db.

If you are not happy with the calculator i linked there is another here on the crown amps website which shows that you will have about 16db headroom (plenty ???)

But this does not get us anywhere with respect to musicality or whether that is loud enough for you (90db is way plenty for me).

See https://www.crownaudio.com/how-much-amplifier-power

If you cant keep the power amp from clipping (say, you have no limiter and the system is overdriven or goes into feedback) the amplifier power should equal the speakers continuous power rating. That way the speaker wont be damaged if the amp clips by overdriving its input. In this case there is no headroom for peaks, so youll have to drive the speaker at less than its full rated power if you want to avoid distortion.​

I am the compleAt clueless newb on this. AFAIK you cannot look at a spec and decide whether it sounds good. I will fallback to my default read and learn mode once I hit submit.


ciao
gr

 

[heliumflight]

what is your amplifier? room size? 4 o clock means amp is really being pushed

Sorry, it is 10 clock position and not 4. Room size 200 sqft, Nad 40 watts rms

HiFi: Asus Xonar STX Sound Card > JRiver > Nad 2240PE > Pioneer CS-905

 

[heliumflight]

Will a SET 2a3 3watt amp drive Pioneer CS-905 (99 db) speakers in 300 sqft room?