Question regarding subwoofer power (1 Viewer)

The receiver I am considering (Panasonic SA-XR25S) says it has a power output of 100w for each of the 6 channels. For the subwoofer, does this same number apply? I noticed that powered subwoofers have their own power output. Do I need a subwoofer with 100w or more? or will a 75w subwoofer work fine without damaging the subwoofer.

I really don't need much power from it, I want a bit of a kick, but I have downstairs neighbors who might not appreciate listening to bass line of my music.
Thanks for your help.

The power requirements for subwoofers are very different than for other speakers. This is primarily because it takes more power to produce the same output for the lower frequencies than for the higher ones. Which sort of means that, all things being equal (which they won’t be) your sub should require more, not less power. But on the other hand, if you are listening at reasonable volume levels, you won’t be using much of that 100 watts in any case. Only for the peaks and then usually only if you have cranked the volume a bit.

How powerful you sub needs to be is really a function of how loudly you listen, if you like to get an extra kick from the LFE channel, the size of your room and the efficiency of your sub (and other speakers).

It is best to use a SPL meter to calibrate your speakers, including your sub.

In my opinion, a 75 watt sub won’t be adequate in a good many situations. I’m guessing that you want to be thinking in terms of 200+ watts. But please remember that this is a meaningless number, as it depends on so many factors.

Chris:

Every speaker needs to be powerd by an amplifier somewhere. The amps in your receiver are there to power your main speakers. You notice that you do NOT have speaker-level connections that go to a sub on a receiver. Instead, you have an RCA line-level output that gets sent to a sub. that's because a sub usually has it's own amplifier onboard. The power specs for your receiver are totally separate, and totally irrelevant to the subwoofer.

That being said, getting good, HT bass from a sub is very difficult to acheive. It requires a very large sub, and ample power, or a smaller sub with way MORE power to couter the lack of efficiency and the EQing usually necessary to get good sound from that small a sub. See SVS subs, that's the kind of size/power that is really necessary for real HT experience.

Hope that explains things for you.

Good luck!