Speaker / receiver pairing

[travmantoo]

I got a pair of hand-me-down JBL 150w G400 8 Ohms floorstanding speakers from my dad.

I am trying to find a decent receiver, but I don't want to spend more than a couple hundred bucks, so I have been searching craigslist.

The one I saw that I think I like the most is a Yamaha HTR-5950 which is 110wpc.

Would something like this be a good match? What would be a safe range for wpc from a receiver to power these speakers?

Not trying to host a rave or anything, but occasionally like to listen to my music a little loud.

Thanks!

Travis

[JoeE SP9]

Speaker wattage ratings are worthless and useless. They essentially mean nothing. You can safely use amplifiers from 10WPC to 1000WPC with those speakers as long as you use some common sense.

It's really quite simple:
If you don't have enough power, when you turn up the volume the amplifier will sound strained. So turn the volume down.

If you have too much power, when you turn up the volume the speakers will sound strained. So turn the volume down.

Having too much power is always better than not having enough.

The Yamaha in question will work just fine.

[travmantoo]

Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure I know what a strained amplifier sounds like; and are you saying I should also use a separate amplifier, or do you mean the amplifier within the receiver?

[JoeE SP9]

Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure I know what a strained amplifier sounds like; and are you saying I should also use a separate amplifier, or do you mean the amplifier within the receiver?

Any amplifier and/or speaker can be driven to hard. The usual audio term for this is "overdriving".

The result is the same for either internal or external amplifiers. The music ceases to be smooth and sweet and starts to sound harsh and strained as if something is running out of steam. Your system will give the impression that it's working very hard to produce the sound when ideally it should sound effortless. This sense of strain can occur if you're using insufficient power (amplifier pushed to hard) or too much power (speakers pushed too hard).

It may take a little practice to easily notice when this strain is occurring. However, once you've heard and recognized it you'll know exactly what I mean. The next time you are tempted to ask someone to turn down the volume because it doesn't sound quite right you've noticed a system experiencing strain.

Regardless of all this talk, you should just give various combinations of your gear a listen and decide for yourself what you should use with what and where. Your concern with the wattage ratings of your speakers is completely unnecessary as long as you listen and turn the volume down when things start to sound wrong.

You and others should note that high end speaker manufacturers rarely if ever post speaker wattage requirements because they know how irrelevant and worthless said ratings are. In any case, the traditional method (IMO the best) of selecting gear is to choose speakers and then acquire an amplifier that can adequately drive them. Just remember, with amplifier power more is almost always better.

[bfalls]

They may not quote the speaker's wattage, but more often than not provide a recommendation of amplifier range (ex: 10w- 200W).

[Mr Peabody]

I would describe "strain" or when the amp begins to run out of power, the sound becomes less clear, usually called distortion or "clipping". Definitely better to have enough or too much power as you are less likely to have clipping before reaching your desired volume.

That Yamaha is a surround sound receiver if you hadn't noticed, if not needing all those features I'd recommend keep looking and find a stereo receiver. A stereo receiver would be simpler to use. If you do buy a surround receiver be sure you get one with a manual, you will need it. Most surround receiver have a "direct" mode which bypasses the decoding stuff and this really helps Yamaha to sound better for music.

If only wanting stereo you can occasionally find Adcom or Parasound gear cheap and performance wise a great value and easily better sounding than a receiver.

[travmantoo]

Thank you for your thorough description!

[travmantoo]

Great advice on the stereo receiver. I was considering more channels for rigging up some wireless speakers down the road to put on my deck, but maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree to use a surround receiver.

[blackraven]

Take a look here for discounted B stock or refurbished 2 channel receivers. This Yamaha R-S500 is in your budget-

YAMAHA R-S500 Natural Sound Stereo Receiver | Accessories4less

as does this Onkyo-

Onkyo TX-8050 2-Channel Network Stereo Receiver | Accessories4less

Either one would be great and would be better than going with a multi channel receiver.

[travmantoo]

Thanks blackraven! I just purchased the Onkyo from the site. You saved me money over Amazon too. BTW, I am also in St. Paul!

[blackraven]

Glad to help. I live in Woodbury.

[JoeE SP9]

They may not quote the speaker's wattage, but more often than not provide a recommendation of amplifier range (ex: 10w- 200W).

Exactly! Giving a range of recommended amplifier power is very different from saying something like, "12" 3 way 400 Watt speakers". This sort of deceptive advertising tends to make the average consumer think that anything more than 400 Watts will cause a fire and much less won't work very well. All too often we see questions from a "newbie" that asks about matching an amplifier to their "150 Watt 10" 2 way speakers. In actuality just about any amplifier with between 50WPC and 500WPC will work fine. This also causes some to classify speakers as " more powerful" simply because the Wattage rating is higher.

We know that speakers aren't more or less powerful. They use power, they don't make it.