What happens to AV receivers when doing music?? (1 Viewer)

[Phil_M]

How do you typically listen to a cd? 2 fronts and a sub? If that is the case ...do you get more power to the two fronts? For instance on 50 watt x 5 receiver...would you get 100 watts on the two fronts? assuming your sub is self powered? What I'm getting at here is how much power do I need to run a surround system. Can I get by with 50 watts x5 for a pair of rti8's and a self powered sub?

 

[Nathan Stohler]

Look at the specifications for the receiver. For example, I notice some specs will say:

100 W/channel x2 channels 20 Hz - 20 kHz (

 

[JimIroc]

I'm going to try to answer your question with a bit of a different approach.

Forget about the power, and just take a look at what's happening. By filtering the bass out of your main speakers, they will be able to play much louder than they would otherwise. Likewise, with the amp free of the need to use all of its power on the bass, it will have more power available for the higher frequencies.

So to answer your question... yes, you get more power. But, not requiring your main speakers to play the bass is just as important to the speakers as it is to the amp in terms of being able to make things loud.

Just make sure your receiver does in fact filter the bass out of your main speakers when using 2 channel analog sources. Some, like my NAD, do not. My 2 main speakers are always full range unless I'm in a multichannel mode.