Vintage speakers and Power.....
I was discussing some of my recent vintage amp pickups the other day with someone and we got to talking about WPC ratings. This person's position was that the older amps that only put out 20-25 wpc damage speakers because of their low output. It is my contention that might be true if I were not using them to power older speakers from roughly the same era because those speakers were designed at a time where 20-25 wpc was the norm. He countered that the older speakers may have been more efficient but that drivers are drivers and even vintage speakers benefit from more power. He stated that all things being equal an amp with 50-60 wpc will produce better sound than an amp with 20-25 wpc driving the same speakers assuming that they are both maintain their power levels. Any thoughts??
First off, define "vintage"
I've seen people talking about "vintage" AV receivers so a bit of clarification is needed before any serious discussion can take place, but...
Back in "the day", say late sixties/early seventies and before, a 25 watt per channel amp was big stuff. Even in the early seventies, amps with 70 watts were considered ginormous. It's only in the late seventies when the receiver power wars started that the watts ratings shot up into the three digit range. Of course, the FTC rulings in '74 took a little wind out of their sails, but the trend was already underway.
As for speakers, in the early days, they didn't need to be as robust as todays speakers. Since 25 watts was the max, they really didn't have to be worried about too much more. And, their limitations were determined by the sources of the day.
They weren't expected to have the response of a modern subwoofer and the extended highs of modern tweeter, nor the power handling capacity. Since vinyl and mylar were the main sources of the day, highs were not as extended as in todays recordings, not to mention that synthsizers hadn't been invented yet and an occasionsal organ pedal note be would be as low as it got.
As for speakers. just like modern speakers, most do benefit from a bit more power than they are originally speced for ON OCCASION, but feeding a vintage speaker a steady diet of modern recordings at a high level might (most likely?) result in them suffering a long-overdue death.
Common sense must prevail if these things are expected to remain functioning.
amp power vintage tube or solid state
I read a post by the kid concerning power amps older tube amps compared to newer solid state with a lot more watts per channel and it made me think of an article I read several years ago about the guy that founded Magnavox. The very first PA public address system ever used was in 1909 for a political debate, PA as we know it today was unknown and electrical devices like speakers, and amps were still in the pioneer stage, and unknown to the general public. It was in San Francisco and a crowd of 10,000 was expected. It was set up in a cow pasture and the organizers wanted everyone to be able to hear the speeches. They hired a guy who claimed he could build them an electrical device that would amplify the speech so everyone could hear it, and if it didn't work would refund their money. The Magnavox guy had a 1/2 watt tube amp he built (vacuum tubes, resistors, capacitors etc were all hand made in small one two man labs) and he built some home made speakers and a mic (but I think he ran down to Radio Shack for his cables), but he was not sure any of his gear would even work or not. It was reported in the News paper the next day that people a mile away could hear the speeches clearly. Nobody remembers the speeches but to this day its regarded as an historical day in electronics because it was the very first PA system ever invented, and the people in attendances were amazed at the modern technology. What will they think of next? Man its all about the first watt and the efficiency of the speakers.