Speaker ratings, amps & turntable?


Hello All,
I have a Rega P3-24 running out to B & W 604's which are rated at 200 watts. Since my system only has 110 watts from a Denon receiver I am looking for a noticible imporovement. I thought I would need to double my wattage to hear a significant improvement.

I saw a 360 watt amp(Hafler 600)on ebay. Will this much power damage my speakers even if only run the amp at 50% volume level? Can I run amps at greater than my speaker rating? Can you suggest how much beyond the rating is practical? My last question, any suggestions for amps to consider as an upgrade?
detroit82

Showing 1 response by rar1

The noticeable improvement will come from getting a better amplifier than the one found in most receivers. The Denon 3802 is good for movies, but you can do better than the Denon for 2 channel music. Most HT receivers do not put out their full wattage across all channels across the full frequency range.

Also, it is not always about the wattage ... speakers are more likely to get damaged as the amp goes into clipping (runs out of power) and the power that is produced is "dirty"/more distorted.

With all that said ... what's your budget for this? The NAD C372 comes to mind as a well regarded modest cost integrated amplifier that might work for you. You would most likely need to add a phono preamp to the NAD, which NAD makes for about a $100 more.

Regards, Rich