Amp / Speaker mismatch?

[Nitefly]

Hello!

I have a fairly weak amp rated at 45 watts per channel at an 8 Ohm load.

I was interested in some speakers but they are recommended to be paired with a 50 - 100w amp:



I don’t really understand the recommended amplifier requirement here. Is that supposed to be per speaker, or for both? I’m presuming it’s per speaker, in which case that amp will be under powering them.

Would this mismatch could problems? Seems to be a lot of conflicting info on the interwebs.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[MrRockliffe]

Hello!

I have a fairly weak amp rated at 45 watts per channel at an 8 Ohm load.

I was interested in some speakers but they are recommended to be paired with a 50 - 100w amp:



I don’t really understand the recommended amplifier requirement here. Is that supposed to be per speaker, or for both? I’m presuming it’s per speaker, in which case that amp will be under powering them.

Would this mismatch could problems? Seems to be a lot of conflicting info on the interwebs.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

If you have any issues, it’ll be at higher volumes, where the amp can’t provide the power needed to hit certain frequencies at certain dB.

 

[Nitefly]

@MrRockliffe thanks for responding. What I don’t understand is how material this is for standard ‘living room’ use. It’s very unlikely it’ll be at ‘party volume’.

As it is, I currently turn up my amp to perhaps 10’oclock max (up to a possible 5’oclock).

 

[hornetstinger]

You'll be ok at normal levels but I wouldn't push it, and those speakers aren't that efficient either. That's going to need more power to achieve same spl of a efficient speaker.

If possible look at adding a more powerful amplifier

 

[MrRockliffe]

@MrRockliffe thanks for responding. What I don’t understand is how material this is for standard ‘living room’ use. It’s very unlikely it’ll be at ‘party volume’.

As it is, I currently turn up my amp to perhaps 10’oclock max (up to a possible 5’oclock).

You should be absolutely fine, but I wouldn’t push it much past 1 o’clock with your speakers.

 

[lucid]

Your amp is rated per channel, so it's 2 x 45W. The loudspeakers are rated per speaker.

Any figures, along with the idea of matching speakers to amplifiers, is pretty meaningless unless a few more boxes are filled in. Things such as whether the speakers are near a wall or a corner (room boundary effect), and the distance from the speaker to the listener's position (dissipation over distance), will all affect the listener's impression of the sound level generated.

2W playing through these speakers where they're sitting on a desk top a couple of feet from the listener with their backs hard up against a wall will sound overwhelming.

The same speakers in large open plan livingroom, where they're away from the walls and 20ft from the listener would sound a bit lost with 20W, and they would need over 400W to create the same effect as on the desk top. You'd fry the speakers before they achieved this.