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Speakers Nominal Power handling/Amplifier

My Canton k9  bookshelf speakers have a nominal power handling of 120/200 watts,  SPL of 87db my Technic integrated amp SU-G700 has 70 watts into 8 ohms,140 into 4 ohms.  As an aside, my source is a Marantzcd6006  CD player.
What does Nominal power mean for me in terms of music reproduction in my system? Specifically Will the speakers perform to there potential with my 70 watt amp? I read that nominal power relates to the power your amp should have to drive these speakers. So what am I missing with only 70 watts per channel besides playing louder? what would an amp with 120 to 200 watts give  the speakers that would improve the music? Am I placing my speakers at risk using less power then what the speakers can handle?
I'm a rookie with zip, zero, nada, listening experience to fall back on that is at all relevant so take this with a grain of salt I freakin love the sound detailed(decay of strings and brushes on symbols, fingers plucking guitar strings etc) soundstage( speakers vanish instruments are here there everywhere but not outside of speaker footprint and not real deep front to back )imaging ( instruments have there own place voices are in the center) not harsh or bright but detailed not warm sounding. How much better could it get with a more powerful amp? I can only imagine what a high-end system must sound like!
An observation no audio stores are within 50 miles, unless I count BestBuy so I sadly I must rely on reviews for the most part and what I read here. Regards Scott
scott22

Showing 1 response by cakyol

cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
When you are playing with maximum limits, here are the rough over engineered rules:

1) Use PEAK power handling value of a speaker and the RMS value of your amplifier.
2) An amplifier should typically be rated at an RMS power value at least about 1.5 times the peak handling capability of your speaker. Otherwise clipping may occur.

The general rule of thumb is that an UNDER powered amplifier is much more likely to damage a speaker than the other way round (especially if the amp does not have any clipping protection).

A 10 watt amplifier will EASILY destroy a 200 watt speaker instantly simply by clipping. The reverse is less likely to happen since you will have a bit more time to react to the sounds coming out of an overloaded speaker and turn it down before it does any damage. Clipping can destroy instantly but overpowering takes a little longer which gives you a bit more more time to react to turn your amplifier down.

The moral of the story is not to push the limits of the equipment you have.

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