Right power amp for my BW speakers

[sharnyo]

Hi,

I have a BW speakers 602 for front, LCR600 for center and 601 for surrounds. The subwoofer is Velodyne CHT-10. All powered from Onkyo receiver SR600.

Some people suggested getting a bigger watt/channel for these speakers. The speakers are all rated 100W, and the receiver spec. says 145W/channel. In my newbie opinion, this should be adequate.

But I know there are some formula and that it's not a straight comparison. Would appreciate someone could enlighten me on this.


Regards,
- Andi

[N. Abstentia]

Well, what is the problem you are trying to fix with a larger amp? What's wrong with it now?

[sharnyo]

Well, what is the problem you are trying to fix with a larger amp? What's wrong with it now?

Actually, I think the sound quality is fine with me. May be because I've not heard a better sound yet with those speakers. But my wife feels that it's still lacking. So I was wondering whether indeed there are more that I can get out of those fine speakers. And people I talked to mention about getting a bigger watt/ch to 'realize' the full potential of those speakers.

[Wireworm5]

I think you have a fine system also and can only speculate as to what your wife thinks is lacking.( I too own the 601's and the CHT-10). You might have an acoustically dead room, in which case you can try livining it up. And compared to my Paradigms the 601's imaging or presentation isn't as wide. You may be lacking weight in the low frequencies also even though you have a good subwoofer thus an incomplete sound spectrum.

[sharnyo]

I think you have a fine system also and can only speculate as to what your wife thinks is lacking.( I too own the 601's and the CHT-10). You might have an acoustically dead room, in which case you can try livining it up. And compared to my Paradigms the 601's imaging or presentation isn't as wide. You may be lacking weight in the low frequencies also even though you have a good subwoofer thus an incomplete sound spectrum.

The HT is in our master bedroom (5m x 6m) so yes, it's not designed for maximum acoustic. All 3 sides are of concrete wall, with one side the glass window. Flooring is of ceramic tiles. Is it possible to lack low freq weight with a subwoofer ?

Anyway, I took out the manuals to check out the rating of the speakers and the receiver. The BW speakers are at 8 ohm, with power handling range of 25W to 100-120W. The receiver outputs 95W/channel at 8 ohm. Can this be the problem that the receiver is not strong enough to drive the speakers to the fullest ?

[Wireworm5]

Well from what you saying if anything your room is too lively. Your receiver is fine, you can better this if you really what to spend the cash, buts its not for lack of power with these speakers. Typically a sub plays the frequencies below 120 hz depending where you have the crossover set. I'm mainly refering to the frequenies above this level but below mid-range 90 to 300 hz. With my 601's this is where the bass drops off, above this everything is fine. Your 602's which I'm not familiar with probably cover this range but again I'm speculating hasn't got not enough articulate bass weight in this frequency range.
Try setting your sub at 120 crossover and set all your speakers to small on your receiver. Other than that I do not know.
Good Luck

[sharnyo]

Well from what you saying if anything your room is too lively. Your receiver is fine, you can better this if you really what to spend the cash, buts its not for lack of power with these speakers. Typically a sub plays the frequencies below 120 hz depending where you have the crossover set. I'm mainly refering to the frequenies above this level but below mid-range 90 to 300 hz. With my 601's this is where the bass drops off, above this everything is fine. Your 602's which I'm not familiar with probably cover this range but again I'm speculating hasn't got not enough articulate bass weight in this frequency range.
Try setting your sub at 120 crossover and set all your speakers to small on your receiver. Other than that I do not know.
Good Luck

Currently, my receiver is already set for 80Hz crossover to sub with all speakers set to small. But I will try to play around with different crossover per your suggestion. Thanks.

[mtrycraft]

Hi,

I have a BW speakers 602 for front, LCR600 for center and 601 for surrounds. The subwoofer is Velodyne CHT-10. All powered from Onkyo receiver SR600.

Some people suggested getting a bigger watt/channel for these speakers. The speakers are all rated 100W, and the receiver spec. says 145W/channel. In my newbie opinion, this should be adequate.

But I know there are some formula and that it's not a straight comparison. Would appreciate someone could enlighten me on this.


Regards,
- Andi

Good suggestions above. Sound mostly depends on your speakers and your room's acoustics. That is where you need to put your efforts in.
Maybe your wife needs to listein to other speakers, preferably in your room? Some acoustic treatment such as carpets and maybe some wall coverings of some sort?

[sharnyo]

Yesterday, I looked at my subwoofer setting again and here's what I have. BTW, this is Velodyne CHT-10 (powered).

It is connected from the pre-out subwoofer output of the receiver to the sub line-level inputs. And the switch is toggled to Direct as opposed to Internal X-over. Low pass crossover dial is at 80 Hz (I don't know if it's relevant because it was set to Direct, and the receiver crossover is already set at 80Hz).

As for my front speakers BW 602, the frequency range is from 49Hz to 22Khz., the rear BW 601 from 60Hz to 22Khz.

Is this the optimal configuration ? Any suggestions are most welcome.