How much power have you got under the hood?


Hello my fellow audio lovers, I am buying a new amplifier and its down to the NAD C-370 (120 wpc) or the NAD C-350 (60 wpc). I have dual 10" 3 way JBL speakers (ND-310). they can handle 250 wpc and are 91 db@1 watt 1 meter 8 ohms. I like to listen loud but i am not sure if 60 wpc is enough for me or do i need to save up a few more hundred and get the 120 wpc... How much power do you have? How much power do you think i need? I dont want to have to make the amp work real hard to give me the power i need, and i cant audition these amps in my home. So as you can see its not an easy choice. I have a reciever with 130 wpc..or so it says. and its enough power just not very clean and the amp pretty much sucks. So im upgrading. Thank you for looking.
haoleb

Showing 1 response by garfish

It's important to know at least the nominal impedence of your speakers (in ohms). 4 ohm speakers require twice the watts to produce the same volume as 8 ohm speakers. But speakers typically have an impedence "range", ie from 4 to 16 ohms. The power rating of amplifiers are typically based on how many watts they will produce into an 8 ohm load. But when amplifier shopping, I want to know (at least) both the 8 ohm and 4 ohm power output of an amp. Your 130 watt receiver would rated for an 8 ohm load, and it may not put out any more than that into a 4 ohm load.

I use a McCormack DNA-2 Rev. A that is rated at 300 wpc into 8 ohms, 600 into 4 ohms, and 1200 into 2 ohms. My speakers have a noninal impedence of 5-6 ohms. I do not consider this to much power, and I agree with Bob B. above that too little power is worse than too much. NAD amps typically have "stiff" power supplies, but you'd still want the bigger one, especially if you like your music loud. Good Hunting. Craig