Speaker Power

[classicalfreak]

I've been looking to purchase a new pair of speakers, and though I know a bit, I only know enough to get into trouble. I have a Yamaha receiver with 75w per channel...so my question is, how much power do I need to drive the speakers adequately? How do I interpret speaker power ratings? If a speaker is rated for 250w, would they be underpowered with my current equipment? Thank you in advance.

[Resident Loser]

...@75wpc should be more than sufficient to drive most loudspeakers (there ARE exceptions)quite comfortably...unless of course you prefer "threshold of pain" db levels.

In most music(again, there are exceptions), the power used is around 5watts or even less. It's when you run into crescendos, that that those extra watts come in handy. A speaker rated @250w doesn't require an amp rated that high, it only means they can handle that much...even more for very brief periods.

That's not to say power ratings are meaningless. There are units that require a minimum power rating from the amp because of their design. The spec sheets will specify min's and max's...

jimHJJ(...sensitivity and frequency response are other important numbers...)

[chimera128]

My speakers can handle up to 1000 watts (mfr. specs) but I use a receiver rated at 110 watts. Have had no problems... The sensitivity on them is 92db. If your speakers are around 90 db then 75 watt per channel should be more than enough. I think there was an interesting discussion on this site regarding volume doubling vs watts (or just watts in general), you may want to try to find it and read it.