center channel power ratings? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

PDA

View Full Version : center channel power ratings?



johnhgs
08-28-2007, 11:08 AM
I'm trying to get the biggest center channel speaker my denon 1803 will allow. The manual says its rated at 80 watts for the center channel. I have Yamaha side speakers and like the Yamaha center nsc444 but I'm afraid my system won't power it. Any advice? The nominal power rating on the Nsc444 is 100 watts. Does this mean I need that much to get good sound? Also , can I mix this acoustic suspension center with bass reflex sides? Thanks

kexodusc
08-28-2007, 11:15 AM
I'm trying to get the biggest center channel speaker my denon 1803 will allow. The manual says its rated at 80 watts for the center channel. I have Yamaha side speakers and like the Yamaha center nsc444 but I'm afraid my system won't power it. Any advice? The nominal power rating on the Nsc444 is 100 watts. Does this mean I need that much to get good sound? Also , can I mix this acoustic suspension center with bass reflex sides? Thanks
Don't pay any attention to speaker power ratings. They're all but useless.
Keep it simple. The best advice anyone ever gave me in audio still holds true to this day -

When things start to sound bad, turn it down.
If you're not sure if things are starting to sound bad, turn it down.

There's a lot of technical garble behind why the speaker power ratings are really a bad spec to look at, you can search some old threads on speaker power ratings if you really need to know it.

Your center is fine for that receiver.

And yes, you can mix acoustic suspension with bass reflex speakers. In the receiver, set them to "small" if you have a subwoofer.