Greg: A lot of people get confused by the speaker's "maximum power level", so let's quickly put your mind at ease: using a power amp with a power rating that exceeds that of the speakers is not generally a problem. Infact, you are FAR more likely to damage your speakers by playing them too loudly with an amp that is under-powered. Having an amp with higher power actually gives you some extra "headroom", which is desirable. Amps with low power ratings are much more likely to go into audible distortion when playing the speakers at high sound pressure levels. In this situation, the amplifier's distortion causes the tweeter (and sometimes the other drivers as well) to heat up, and you can destroy the voice coils in the driver(s). All in all, you are much better off to have more amplifier power than you need, rather than too little.
What is amp's watts-per-channel exceeds speaker?
I want to buy an Outlaw Audio 950 pre/pro along with their Model 770 7-channel Amplifier. The amp puts out 200Wpc.
I have YET to buy speakers, and I have only $1,000 above the pre/amp to buy speakers. I planned on using all $1k for a decent pair of fronts, and try to use my existing 5.1 speakers (these were on a Sony receiver) to fill in the other holes in this new 7.1 system.
My proposed speaker setup:
Fronts: Not yet decided
Rears: Celestion Impact 30, 4 ohm, max 150W
2nd Surrounds: Celestion "Little 1", 8 ohm, 10-50W
Center: MB Quart Center, 6 ohm, 125W
Sub: Velodyne self powered 10"
Here's my newbie question: What happens to my existing speakers when I drive them with a 200Wpc amp? Does the amp step down automatically? From the pre/pro, can I tell them amp to step down the wattage?
Thanks, Greg
I have YET to buy speakers, and I have only $1,000 above the pre/amp to buy speakers. I planned on using all $1k for a decent pair of fronts, and try to use my existing 5.1 speakers (these were on a Sony receiver) to fill in the other holes in this new 7.1 system.
My proposed speaker setup:
Fronts: Not yet decided
Rears: Celestion Impact 30, 4 ohm, max 150W
2nd Surrounds: Celestion "Little 1", 8 ohm, 10-50W
Center: MB Quart Center, 6 ohm, 125W
Sub: Velodyne self powered 10"
Here's my newbie question: What happens to my existing speakers when I drive them with a 200Wpc amp? Does the amp step down automatically? From the pre/pro, can I tell them amp to step down the wattage?
Thanks, Greg