Martin logan vs Magnepan (1 Viewer)

[Luke_Khuc]

hi,

my next question is that will it matter if the amp is rated higher than the speakers? the amp i will use is the outlaw 755 (300 wpc/4ohm) and the mmg is 40-150 w. should i go with more powerful speakers instead. thank you

 

[Meaux]

Luke,

It shouldn't matter at all unles you get crazy with the volume.

Maybe my imagination but I've always wanted more power than the speaker was rated for, I think they sound better.

Just my 1.4 cents, after taxes.

 

[Luke_Khuc]

thanks,
that's really helpful. i do get crazy with the volume when i listen to music only... well with some action movies.
p.s.: "Just my 1.4 cents, after taxes."

 

[Jason Watson]

Luke,

I have MGMC1 surrounds and am driving them with an Acurus A250. The A250 does 250wpc into 8ohms and I think (but not sure) about 400 into 4. No worries.

Jason

 

[Andrew Pratt]

What kills speakers isn't too much powre but to little. Having more watts will only mean the amp will have an easier time driving the speakers then an amp that is been pushed beyond its limits. When an amp is pushed beyond what it can handle it usually "clips" meaning its going to send a very dangerous signal to your speakers which is often very damaging if not fatal depending on how the amp clips.

 

[Ron Shaw]

What kills speakers isn't too much powre but to little

Actually, what kills speakers is too much power. To be fair to Andrew, low power amps DO kill more (tweeters) than high power amps, for the reason he states, which is amplifier clipping. Tweeters, which must respond quickly to rapidly changing audio signals, need to have very low mass. Rugged voice coils and low mass do not go together, so tweeters (with thier delicate, lightweight voice coils) usually cant handle much power by themselves (about 5W RMS is typical). But thats OK, as the power requirements in the high frequency regeon is quite small. The crossover elements keep the high powered bass signals from reaching the tweeters, only letting the high frequency signals pass. The problem that arises is when you crank up the volume, and try to force the amplifier to put out more power than it can. It simply 'clips' off the waveform that exceeds its voltage swing capability. This 'clipped' waveform now looks much like a 'square wave'. A square wave contains a lot of high frequency harmonics. Since these high frequency harmonics are within the tweeters part of the spectrum, they are passed by the crossover elements. Since thy are made up of voltage swings close to the maximum output of the amplifier (and well beyond the rating of the tweeter voice coil), the tweeters usually just say bye bye.

 

[ling_w]

Nothing will kill the magnepans, especially the fused QR tweeters (the true ribbon might eventually give in to metal fatigue, even if properly fused.) The bass panels would just flap louder and louder if overdriven, but with its open voice coil, overheating it is pretty unlikely.