First; VU meters do not show peaks; they come and go before the meters can respond. Old time recording engineers were adept at estimating what was really going on from their use but for most of us they are useless. Second; too much power is seldom a problem; too little often is. A 100 watt rated speaker is safer with a 400 watt amp than with a 50 watt amp; clipping is the source of most speaker damage; not overdriving. Who told you that a 102db sensitivity speaker likes a lot of power? Such a speaker would require a fraction of a watt to produce 90db at one meter and would fill the room with a few watts. As Don pointed out watts are not all the same; the ability to drive low impedance loads is not indicated by the power rating at 8 ohms.
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.
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.