Need help with receiver/speaker compatibility (1 Viewer)

[TheSadPanda]

Hello all I SEVERELY need your help with this, so please bare with me. I currently have a Kenwood KR-3090 receiver/preamp (http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/oldp5-4070-3090rx.gif) hooked up to my turntable. The turntable isn't important in this, but what is important is the speakers. I have 2 small stereo speakers hooked up to them, plus 2 Hitachi HSA-3000 (50W constant per speaker) floor speakers hooked up. I have come across a good pair of Cerwin Vega 380se for purchase and would like to replace the smaller speakers with the Vegas. The Vegas are quite powerful (400W max), and i'm very concerned about not being able to supply the right power to both sets of rather large speakers without blowing up the amp, speakers, or both. Would I need to reinvest in an amp? Any good answer that would lead me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!

 

[John Brill]

Hmm, 26-27 wpc vintage receiver to power a pair of speakers with 15" woofers... somehow I think you will be severly disappointed and there is a risk of blowing your Kenwood. Unfortunately your Kenwood doesn't have any pre-outs which means you can't simply hook up a 2channel amp so you would need to get new receiver/amps to power the Vega's.


JB

 

[TheSadPanda]

I figured this might be the case considering the super low output of the Kenwood. What kind of amp would one suggest I get to hook these monsters up to?

 

[John Brill]

Hard to say. The speakers are rated 5 watts to 400 watts with a a 102 dB sensitivity rating... 20 years ago. See the specs in this tread #26 http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=207619&page=2


I'm not big into vintage audio and much prefer the sound of todays more efficient speakers from Totem, PSB, B&W, etc... so it's hard to recommend what will work with such large speakers.


If the effect you want is big, loud, sound with as little distortion as possible, I'd hook them up to an amp with a rated 200-300 watts RMS x 2 into 4 ohms. Anything more is likely to be overkill. However, an amp in the 125-200 watts RMS x 2 into 4 ohms will provide plenty of power. The bigger question is, what's your budget? This is what's going to limit your options. Also, do you want to stick to vintage audio or go with more modern options?


Cheers, JB

 

[Robert_J]

Originally Posted by TheSadPanda

The Vegas are quite powerful (400W max), and i'm very concerned about not being able to supply the right power to both sets of rather large speakers without blowing up the amp, speakers, or both. Would I need to reinvest in an amp? Any good answer that would lead me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!

You need to understand the specs. Speakers aren't powerful at all. They are transducers. They convert electrical energy to mechanical energy. That spec means they can absorb 400w max power before things start to melt. Sensitivity is directly proportional to the efficiency. At 102db/1w/1m means they will convert more electricity to motion and less to heat. In reality, all speakers are less than 10% efficient so about 90% of the power turns to heat.


What you need to do is match impedance. At these new speakers 4 ohm or 8 ohm nominal? Is your current amp designed to drive a 4 ohm load? Wattage is not worth mentioning. Paul Klipsch never had more than 35w/channel on his personal system.