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Amps and Speakers and there watts (1 Viewer)

Allen Marshall

Supporting Actor
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Sep 26, 2003
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tryin to kill a couple hundred birds with one stone on this thread.

Can the outlaw 770 really hit 300 watts at 4 ohms?
As i understand it alot of recievers cant get to the watts it actually says it is and when i look at how many watts that thing is and how cheap it is, i gotta ask.

I've heard 2 different things.

In a long ago thread somebody told me that you should aim alittle bit lower in watts then the speaker can actually handle, then in another thread somebody told me a speaker can handle more watts then its power handling rating. Somebody told me they get there power handling number by using as many watts on the speaker as they can before it goes, so im confused.

Lets say i have a 400 watt amp and a 250 watt speaker and i put 400 watts into the speaker (though i could never see why i would) would it be fine or would it just blow or shut off or do whatever speakers do when there gettin to much power.

Another question is, is it safe to say that i would never put 300 watts into my speakers thus getting an amp with over 300 watts being pointless?

Im guessing you would get a more expensive amp with lesser watts because the amp gives a speaker better power then the other amp?

Just to make absolutely sure, does the amp effect what the sound sounds like or the pre amp or the processor?


"Audio signals come from a source (CD player, DVD player, VHS player), then go to a processor to have it divided for multichannel output (Dolby Surround, DTS, Dolby Digital). Then go to pre-amplifier to get some corrections and make it a standard level (also may have treble and bass regulated- as well as overall volume level), then go to (power-) amplifiers who produce power (voltage times current), so it can drive a speaker and make a lot of noise."

reading that i'd basically say "the processor makes the sound and the pre amp fixes it a bit" but like can the amp effect it, like would a rotel amp on a B&K ref 50 sound different then say an outlaw amp on the B&K ref 50?
 

Jack Briggs

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Jun 3, 1999
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16,805
Allen, it is quite likely that the Outlaw can reach 300 watts into a 4-ohm load while clipping at 1 kHz with even all channels driven. Just remember that speakers don't consistently present the same resistance at all frequencies — the 4-ohm rating for a given speaker is the nominal rating.

Also, I wouldn't dwell on speaker power-handling ratings; they're just general assessments of a given speaker's capabilities. On the other hand, it would be silly to connect a super-small sat/sub combo from a low-end mass-market, non-specialist manufacturer to, say, a top-of-the-line, all-out McIntosh, Krell, Theta, or other high-end, dedicated power amplifier.

If you have a set of mains and surrounds rated at around 200 watts in terms of power-handling, you're not going to hurt anything by connecting them to an amplifier that can deliver a genuine 300 watts per channel. Just operate the unit within reason.

Finally, you are aware, aren't you, that no amplifier is outputting its rated power all the time? Most of the time, with most loads, amplifiers are cruising along at less than a single watt.
 

ChrisWiggles

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Aug 19, 2002
Messages
4,791


Most speakers are damaged because of clipping, which arises usually from underpowered amps. Extra headroom is definitely preferred, so a more powerful amp than you need ensures that your speaker is getting good power. It is FAR less likely that you will damage a speaker by overdriving it with too much power (with the volume too loud), than by clipping an underpowered amp. Also, all that extra headroom means you aren't pushing the amp as hard, thus won't be distorting, etc, and should sound good.

And yes, amps can sound different. The differences are not huge, IMO, and are probably much less difference than other parts of the system.
 

Allen Marshall

Supporting Actor
Joined
Sep 26, 2003
Messages
561
my reciever is 75x6, is it possible i may have damaged my mains? i dont have an SPL meter (yet) so all i can say is my reciever volume goes from 0 to 99, 0 being the loudest and i've gotten it down to 14 watching the matrix and 18 listening to music with the bass at +10 and the treble at 0. I cant help but put the bass at +10 cause at 0 there's like nothing there and i dont have a sub yet. When i put my hand on the side of one of my main's the sound rattles the wood in sort of a screechy way but not to extreme, my klipsch sub that im using as a foot rest right now shakes but feels different then how my mains shake, i can feel high frequency noises shaking the wood on my mains to and i dont think they did that when i first got them im not sure. When i put my hand on my center speaker i cant feel any sound vibrating the wood at all, zip, zang, zippo which gives me reason to believe i did something to them perhaps?

The system goes the watts times 2 everytime decibels go up 3 right? like 90db=1 watt 93db=2 watts etc if your speaker has a 90db sensitivty? then on my 75 watt reciever does that mean at 0 volume its using 75 watts (theoritically) cause even if my speakers didnt hiss i couldnt possibly see any reason why anybody would put it below 10 unless they were over 20ft away from the tv or something, music perhaps, but not movies. Im wondering because if 75 watts can do that much then people would rarely go over 50 watts right? which makes me wonder why alot of people with not to big area home theaters get such powerful amps, 110 watts seems like a heck of alot of headroom to me.
 

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