Final verdict with amplifier


Hey all,
I recently posted how my Parasound amp wasn't providing much of an improvement on my Klipsch WF-34 speakers, which are rated at 125W RMS, and 300W peak, and my amp being 205W per channel. Most of the responses that I got was that I needed a decent preamp to integrate into my system. Well recently a buddy gave me his old Carver TFM 55 amplifier, rated at 380 Watts per channel 600 Watts mono, so I decided to give it a whirl. I know that I have to be careful cuz that much power could blow the fecal matter out of my speakers. Well I hooked it up BOTH WAYS. It was slightly better on stereo, and mono was a big difference, but even cranked it didn't harm my speakers. why is that? And how is a preamp supposed to help any of that?
kornkat2020

Showing 2 responses by hifihvn

I can't see a Klipsch speaker needing any high power like that, at least the ones I've heard or seen the specs. Bridging any amp never worked for my ears. Don't forget, your doubling basically all of the signal path components. That must be why it always sounds like a downgrade for me. And like mentioned above to little power is a high risk, but both of those amps shouldn't run out of power first, especially the Carver. Any little distortion from the speaker or amp is a warning it's is working past its limits, and something might give. Carver amps that have the tube transfer function usually sound polite, as most are tuned to sound like his well known Silver Seven ~$17k tube amps. That might be why they don't sound as loud.
After further thought, on reading the "it didn't harm my speakers" statement, there is a possibility a little harm could have been done, if you drove them past their design limits. When speakers voice coils get to warm, the varnish insulator breaks down. Also this can damage the copper coil wire itself too. This also could cause a short between the wires, but not easily noticeable, because they may still sound fine, if they're not totally shorted. Also, if done more often, that can further damage the voice coil causing an earlier than normal failure, that may never happen if they're not driven as hard. They can fail in the future with less power do to this. IOW, your taking a risk. Hopefully, no damage was done. Being easier on them should give them a longer life, so can can keep enjoying them.