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Am I going to blow my Apogees with all this power?

I just got a pair of Apogee Acoustics Centaur Majors to replace my Klipsch RF-7's. I purchased a Carver A760X that puts out 380wpc after hearing the RF-7's liked a lot of power, but the Centaur Majors are only rated for 100w-8ohm/200w-4ohm. Am I going to destroy these things? Should I go back to using my NAD 2400 (100wpc-8ohm) for now and consider trading the Carver for a lower power/higher quality amp?

More info: The Centaurs are nominally 6 ohms, but dip to 4 at times. If the Vu meters on the Carver are accurate I'm putting peaks of 300ish watts out at my preferred listening level (peaks of about 90db). The Apogees are much less sensitive, 83db vs 102db for the Klipsch. I haven't listened to the Apogees for extended periods yet.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
hirschmj

Showing 1 response by ponnie

ponnie
233 posts
 
I have the Centaur Majors too. I'm a tube and vinyl listener first and foremost. I've had several amps on my Apogees since I got them in June 11. Right now I'm using an Anthem Amp 2 hybrid 200 watts per channel 8 ohms and 300 in 4 ohms. I had originally wanted a Moscode 300. But I changed the tubes last night and I was blown away. I finally had wall to wall sound with depth, width and height. I finally put on this cd Art of the Ballad from Mapleshade and I backed up on a couple of cuts because the Sax sounded like it was in the room with me. I finally found an amp that sounds promising. My preamp is a VanAlstine Super Pas 3si modified by Tom Tutay. My interconnects are Straightwire Maestro between the power amp and preamp. My Preamp only has about 9 db of gain and the amp only has about 24 db of gain so I'm listening to mostly CD's around 3 o clock. When I bought this the ad said it had 31 db of gain but it doesn't. I can easily approach 90 db in my 14 x 13 foot room with a 14.5 foot ceiling and my speakers on the long wall.

I have also used a Dynaco ST 70 with my Majors and they sounded very good but the bottom end was not as controlled as the Anthem Amp 2 or any amp I have tried. I've used an Adcom original 535 for a few months while shopping for a suitable amp. Sound wise they sounded good but the Anthem so far does what I expected. Sounds Good! I hope it continues to impress me. Made some tweaks today will listen tonight. Can't wait. A little Pro Gold here a little there helps with getting that silent background and it has been Music to my ears!!
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