Speaker Pairing Help (1 Viewer)

[13u66le5]

Hello,


I'm currently in the market for some new speakers and came across the Cerwin-Vega VE-12F 12" 3 Way's. My concern is whether or not these will get along with my receiver as I'm still fairly clueless how the hell to figure power measurements. I have an ole Pioneer VSX-517. The Cerwin's have a 300-watt load each. Here are the manuals for both of them.


My receiver - Specs on Page 36 - PDF format

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_11221/410585298VSX517OperatingInstructions0206.pdf

What I think I should be looking at but don't understand it.

Continuous Power Output (stereo)

Front. . . 110W (20Hz to 20kHz, THD 0.2%, 8 Ohms


Rated Power Output

(surround/ 20Hz to 20kHz, THD 0.07%, 8 Ohms)

Front . . . 90W per Channel

Center. . . . 90W

Surround. . . 90W per Channel


Speakers Manual from site - Specs shown on page 19 - PDF format

http://www.cerwin-vega.com/manuals/home/vemanualrevbweb.pdf


The Cerwin's Specs

Freq Rep: 28Hz-20kHz

Recommended Power/Output: 300W

Sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 93dB


I'm looking at these because it has the whole package I want in two speakers. I was thinking about getting two speakers and a sub, but I honestly would like to have it all in the two speakers.


To keep things simple, all I want to know is will this set-up get along without ruining each other. Last thing I want is to either burn out my AMP or ruin the speakers with an underpowered AMP. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.


Cheers!

 

[Al.Anderson]

the wattage specs for speakers are hard to use with any accuracy. The two you are comparing are also slightly different. The receiver spec is average output, and the speaker spec is max output. However, they seem about normal and should be fine. If you are planning to crank everything to 11, then you have to dig deeper.

The measurement you really want to check is the impedance (ohm rating). The receiver should be rated to go as low as the speaker. The usual worst case is the speakers are 4 ohm and the receiver is rated at 8 ohm. In that case, you could conceivable hurt your receiver. If the reciever has protection circuitry you may not hurt it, but it may shut off a lot. (Actually, the worst case is using proprietary HTiB speakers, which are often rated at 3 ohm, with a receiver rated for 8 ohms.) If your receiver spec is lower than your receiver, repost your specs and people will be able to give better advice.


As far as the sub goes, if you are playing mostly music you can get good performance using a decent set of speakers without a sub. Many people like the sub to free up the main speakers from having to play such a wide range of freqencies; plus it reduces the load on the receiver since low end bass takes a lot of power. But the only time I'd really push you to a sub is for movie watching, as straight speakers just can't get down as low to effectively produce the special effect frequencies.

 

[Robert_J]

Al explained everything you need but I want to go into detail on few topics.

The Cerwin's have a 300-watt load each

A speaker's "load" isn't measured in watts. It's measured in ohms. That is the amount of resistance presented to an amp. The less resistance, the more current that flows. Too little resistance means that too much current will flow. If more current passes through the transistors than was designed, then things get too hot and burn out. At minimum, protection circuitry kicks in.


Speaker wattage ratings are really how much power a speaker will handle over a specific amount of time before things start to fail. After 10 minutes or an hour (no one really tells you how long) of 300w of input, components in the CV will start to break down. Glue that holds the driver together will start to melt. Resistors in the crossover will burn out. This is usually measured with a pink noise tone. Music and movies aren't nearly as hard on a speaker.

ruin the speakers with an underpowered AMP

If underpowered amp ruined speakers, you would ruin speakers every time you turned down the volume. Paul Klipsch never had more than a 30w amp on his personal stereo. As long as you stay within the operating parameters of your amp, then you are fine. If you crank up an amp to the point of clipping, then you are heating up the speakers faster than normal music or movies. But you are still not torturing them like when testing for RMS power.

 

[sharronlog]

I just purchased 2 of Rockit 5 near field speaker to use them as a pair of stereo speaker.
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