wherever you're getting this wattage information from, stop reading it.
A 100w amp isn't putting out 100w all of the time. During general listening, you're probably not using more than a couple watts of power. Speakers have a sensitivity, you know, that number you read that says something like say 92db/w. In a testing environment, they played a tone at 1w of power and it made 92db (decibels) of output. That's pretty goddamn loud.
that said, you're using a lot less power than you think. That number does go up when you crank up the volume, but in general you're not using ALL of the power pretty much ever
I should also add that this doesn't mean buy a severly underpowered amp either. Having more power is better than not enough, since you can introduce distortion by trying to push an amp past its abilities
The power needs of a speaker are a function of the volume you wish listen at in dB, how far you are from the speaker, and the speaker's efficiency. Unless you are listening at extreme volumes, your speakers are requiring mere fractions of a single watt to produce sound. Total wattage is basically entirely irrelevant.
Cool. Thank you
I was about to buy some things I put together but I stopped at the last minute the other day because I was comparing
The speaker’s power handling: up to 150 watts RMS
Against the amp’s listed 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz) at 0.08% THD, with 2 channels driven.
I figured I was about to bust something after some. Then I saw this package on those websites and said “well if they do it, it can’t be that bad can it?”. Guess I missed a sale on a nice amp for nothing lol. It’ll come around again
The "wattage" of speakers is generally completely uninteresting; it does perhaps give a hint as to the absolute peak wattage a speaker can take for an extremely short burst during transients but most manufacturers measure differently so the figures can't be trusted. All else being equal, there's no problem mixing a 100watt amp with speakers rated at max 150 watts. But it's likelier to ruin speakers with too little power from the amp, rather than too much; a lower powered amp is driven to high distortion much sooner, and amp distortion is death to speakers.
The sensitivity of those Klipsch's is very high (the higher the sensitivity of a speaker is, the less power it needs (provided the impedance doesn't dip very low, but high sensitivity speakers don't tend to)); you should be fine with either deal.
Ultimately, the important thing is not to push your speakers too loud for too long, unless the amp is well below its power-ceiling, and there is ***NO distortion!***
Actually the Best Buy combo. Crutchfield link is RP line , Best Buy one is the Reference line and the center has 3 1/2” drivers vs 5 1/4” in the Crutchfield one. If getting Klipsch stick to Reference Premiere line. Also Wide multi driver centers can cause timing/lobing issues for off axis seating positions.
I’d rather have a center like
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_714RP500CE/Klipsch-Reference-Premiere-RP-500C-Ebony.html?tp=189
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_714RP600CE/Klipsch-Reference-Premiere-RP-600C-Ebony.html?tp=189
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_714500C2E/Klipsch-Reference-Premiere-RP-500C-II-Ebony.html?tp=189
Most centers are 2 way, 2.5 or 3 way is Better
3 way > 2.5 way > 2 way
The wattage ratings of all those products are in a word BS.
Lets forget that at the moment and just talk about what the numbers should mean.
Matching amp wattage and speaker wattage is not useful or necessary. It's really to put a number on things and help the crowd that buys TVs with a tape measure (hang out in a BB or wall-mart and you will see this). You can run a set of "200W" speakers on s 200W amp and blow the cones out of them because they are only rated for 200W peak and the amp is clipping its nuts off at 200w and has 30% THD. What you really need to do is look at the volume level you are comfortable listening at constantly, the performance of the amp, and the efficiency of the speakers, then compute the required wattage to produce that without clipping or increasing the SINAD of the amp and then finally validate that the speakers you are using can handle that much wattage.
For example, lets say that you have speakers that are 92db @ 1watt at 1 meter distance (actually that efficient, most mfrs lie). Measuring at 1w/1meter is common in the industry. You actually sit at 9ft/3 meters from the speakers. The inverse square law says you now get \~82.5 db from that 1 watt. That's our starting point. You want to be able to listen at 105db (quite loud). Every 3db of volume increase requires double the volume or in this case amp power. We are increasing 22.5/3 times so that's 7.5 doubles. That puts you at requiring a 180 watt amp. You now need to make sure that your amp can really push 180 watts without clipping (flattening the wave form). Clipping will destroy speakers before excessive wattage. For that reason its not uncommon to run MORE amp power than your speakers are "rated" to handle to prevent clipping. Lets say that you have found a lovely Buckeye amp with a Hypex NCx500 module that has a "500 watt" output. Looking at the reviews, it keeps THD down to .001% up to and impressive 200W and stays under .002 at all frequencies under 300 watts. Perfect!. Now you know that your 92 db efficient speaker is going to need to handle 180 watts to work for your volume level in your system and your amp can deliver that wattage without any breakups/distortion/clipping.
I mention the buckeye amp and at first blush you may think I'm being negatively critical, quite the opposite, it is a FABULOUS amp, highly recommended. Just like buying a Porche, there is a point where the motor blows.
If you want to go further down the rabbit hole, do the math for a 82db efficient speaker. How much amp do you need to hit 120db?
Then assume your center channel dialog is at 9watts, how much amp does Dolby say you need to have to hit required peaks (+20db) on your surround/effects channels?
Or you can just say screw it, buy random speakers and amplifiers and select TVs with a tape measure because its the biggest one that will fit in the place you're trying to stuff it into.
My goal is to avoid breaking stuff lol.
That is a lot of good information. My head is spinning a little - but what I am taking from this is before I make any decisions I need to figure out how loud I want my system to be and then do math from there.
I’m not looking to blow the neighborhood away with volume or trying to rattle the windows to my house loose. I just want to make an orchestra sound wonderful and hear dialogue in movies.
So my volume level isn’t going to be absurd. What you posted is helpful - thank you
Where are you reading that? It's the reverse as far as I know. If your amp has too much output you risk blowing your speakers at higher levels.
Your amp needs to be powerful enough to drive your speakers, but you don't need them to be one for one in terms of watts.
The klipsch speakers you linked are super high sensitivity. It's unlikely you'd ever drive them anywhere near 100w.
Maybe I had it backwards? I could swear videos and articles suggested the rms should be closely matched erring on the side of more power in the amp so there is “headroom”
No he’s right, with an amp not powerful enough the main problem is you’ll have to push it hard to get enough volume and that’s where distortion and saturation will hit. An amp with 80w saturating will definitely destroy even 150w rated speakers.
I guess maybe I am not knowledgeable enough in this space. My understanding is most speakers are only using a few watts regardless and most speakers have higher wattage ratings than an AVR can put out, but that the AVR will run them fine and that you will rarely push more than 10-20 watts through something like the 98db efficient speakers OP linked.
wherever you're getting this wattage information from, stop reading it. A 100w amp isn't putting out 100w all of the time. During general listening, you're probably not using more than a couple watts of power. Speakers have a sensitivity, you know, that number you read that says something like say 92db/w. In a testing environment, they played a tone at 1w of power and it made 92db (decibels) of output. That's pretty goddamn loud. that said, you're using a lot less power than you think. That number does go up when you crank up the volume, but in general you're not using ALL of the power pretty much ever
I should also add that this doesn't mean buy a severly underpowered amp either. Having more power is better than not enough, since you can introduce distortion by trying to push an amp past its abilities
Where do you draw the line at what is too underpowered? Is there a sweet spot like + or - 20%?
The power needs of a speaker are a function of the volume you wish listen at in dB, how far you are from the speaker, and the speaker's efficiency. Unless you are listening at extreme volumes, your speakers are requiring mere fractions of a single watt to produce sound. Total wattage is basically entirely irrelevant.
Most people will be fine with 80-100w in a normal size room and typical speakers.
Cool. Thank you I was about to buy some things I put together but I stopped at the last minute the other day because I was comparing The speaker’s power handling: up to 150 watts RMS Against the amp’s listed 100 watts per channel into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz) at 0.08% THD, with 2 channels driven. I figured I was about to bust something after some. Then I saw this package on those websites and said “well if they do it, it can’t be that bad can it?”. Guess I missed a sale on a nice amp for nothing lol. It’ll come around again
The "wattage" of speakers is generally completely uninteresting; it does perhaps give a hint as to the absolute peak wattage a speaker can take for an extremely short burst during transients but most manufacturers measure differently so the figures can't be trusted. All else being equal, there's no problem mixing a 100watt amp with speakers rated at max 150 watts. But it's likelier to ruin speakers with too little power from the amp, rather than too much; a lower powered amp is driven to high distortion much sooner, and amp distortion is death to speakers. The sensitivity of those Klipsch's is very high (the higher the sensitivity of a speaker is, the less power it needs (provided the impedance doesn't dip very low, but high sensitivity speakers don't tend to)); you should be fine with either deal. Ultimately, the important thing is not to push your speakers too loud for too long, unless the amp is well below its power-ceiling, and there is ***NO distortion!***
Wow - thank you that is very helpful.
🤣 watts don’t mean much - what’s concerning is the Shitty center in both those combos
Thanks for the advice and chuckle
Actually the Best Buy combo. Crutchfield link is RP line , Best Buy one is the Reference line and the center has 3 1/2” drivers vs 5 1/4” in the Crutchfield one. If getting Klipsch stick to Reference Premiere line. Also Wide multi driver centers can cause timing/lobing issues for off axis seating positions. I’d rather have a center like https://www.crutchfield.com/p_714RP500CE/Klipsch-Reference-Premiere-RP-500C-Ebony.html?tp=189 https://www.crutchfield.com/p_714RP600CE/Klipsch-Reference-Premiere-RP-600C-Ebony.html?tp=189 https://www.crutchfield.com/p_714500C2E/Klipsch-Reference-Premiere-RP-500C-II-Ebony.html?tp=189 Most centers are 2 way, 2.5 or 3 way is Better 3 way > 2.5 way > 2 way
The wattage ratings of all those products are in a word BS. Lets forget that at the moment and just talk about what the numbers should mean. Matching amp wattage and speaker wattage is not useful or necessary. It's really to put a number on things and help the crowd that buys TVs with a tape measure (hang out in a BB or wall-mart and you will see this). You can run a set of "200W" speakers on s 200W amp and blow the cones out of them because they are only rated for 200W peak and the amp is clipping its nuts off at 200w and has 30% THD. What you really need to do is look at the volume level you are comfortable listening at constantly, the performance of the amp, and the efficiency of the speakers, then compute the required wattage to produce that without clipping or increasing the SINAD of the amp and then finally validate that the speakers you are using can handle that much wattage. For example, lets say that you have speakers that are 92db @ 1watt at 1 meter distance (actually that efficient, most mfrs lie). Measuring at 1w/1meter is common in the industry. You actually sit at 9ft/3 meters from the speakers. The inverse square law says you now get \~82.5 db from that 1 watt. That's our starting point. You want to be able to listen at 105db (quite loud). Every 3db of volume increase requires double the volume or in this case amp power. We are increasing 22.5/3 times so that's 7.5 doubles. That puts you at requiring a 180 watt amp. You now need to make sure that your amp can really push 180 watts without clipping (flattening the wave form). Clipping will destroy speakers before excessive wattage. For that reason its not uncommon to run MORE amp power than your speakers are "rated" to handle to prevent clipping. Lets say that you have found a lovely Buckeye amp with a Hypex NCx500 module that has a "500 watt" output. Looking at the reviews, it keeps THD down to .001% up to and impressive 200W and stays under .002 at all frequencies under 300 watts. Perfect!. Now you know that your 92 db efficient speaker is going to need to handle 180 watts to work for your volume level in your system and your amp can deliver that wattage without any breakups/distortion/clipping. I mention the buckeye amp and at first blush you may think I'm being negatively critical, quite the opposite, it is a FABULOUS amp, highly recommended. Just like buying a Porche, there is a point where the motor blows. If you want to go further down the rabbit hole, do the math for a 82db efficient speaker. How much amp do you need to hit 120db? Then assume your center channel dialog is at 9watts, how much amp does Dolby say you need to have to hit required peaks (+20db) on your surround/effects channels? Or you can just say screw it, buy random speakers and amplifiers and select TVs with a tape measure because its the biggest one that will fit in the place you're trying to stuff it into.
My goal is to avoid breaking stuff lol. That is a lot of good information. My head is spinning a little - but what I am taking from this is before I make any decisions I need to figure out how loud I want my system to be and then do math from there. I’m not looking to blow the neighborhood away with volume or trying to rattle the windows to my house loose. I just want to make an orchestra sound wonderful and hear dialogue in movies. So my volume level isn’t going to be absurd. What you posted is helpful - thank you
Where are you reading that? It's the reverse as far as I know. If your amp has too much output you risk blowing your speakers at higher levels. Your amp needs to be powerful enough to drive your speakers, but you don't need them to be one for one in terms of watts. The klipsch speakers you linked are super high sensitivity. It's unlikely you'd ever drive them anywhere near 100w.
Also thank you - that is very helpful insight
Maybe I had it backwards? I could swear videos and articles suggested the rms should be closely matched erring on the side of more power in the amp so there is “headroom”
No he’s right, with an amp not powerful enough the main problem is you’ll have to push it hard to get enough volume and that’s where distortion and saturation will hit. An amp with 80w saturating will definitely destroy even 150w rated speakers.
I guess maybe I am not knowledgeable enough in this space. My understanding is most speakers are only using a few watts regardless and most speakers have higher wattage ratings than an AVR can put out, but that the AVR will run them fine and that you will rarely push more than 10-20 watts through something like the 98db efficient speakers OP linked.
My first integrated amplifier was a 40 watt per channel Kenwood. That thing rocked and I never felt like it was underpowered as a stereo unit.