   Amp/Speakers question..
  Hey, recently purchased to Cerwin-Vega LS12 speakers for the wonderful price of $175.  Each is listed as being able to handle up to 300 watts power at 8 ohms.  The problem is that I don't know much about amps and speakers:  what do I need to look for in an amp?  I know that an amp that is spec'ed to push 300W @ 8ohms per channel is good but what about less/more?  Will an amp that pushes 370W @ 8ohms destroy my speakers?  Will less sound like crap?   
Quote:Original post by Mage2kHey, recently purchased to Cerwin-Vega LS12 speakers for the wonderful price of $175.  Each is listed as being able to handle up to 300 watts power at 8 ohms.  The problem is that I don't know much about amps and speakers:  what do I need to look for in an amp?  I know that an amp that is spec'ed to push 300W @ 8ohms per channel is good but what about less/more?  Will an amp that pushes 370W @ 8ohms destroy my speakers?  Will less sound like crap?It's always better to overpower rather than underpower speakers. At lower power ratings it's easier to turn an amp up to the point of distorting/clipping in the amplifier; when the powered clipped signal is fed to your speaker you run the risk of having them blow up. With an overpowered amplifier, you just need to listen to your speakers to determine what is safe.If the speakers begin to make "frapping" noises, or sound like they are clipping/distorting, then you need to turn down.   ;Quote:Original post by skjinedmjeetQuote:Original post by Mage2kHey, recently purchased to Cerwin-Vega LS12 speakers for the wonderful price of $175.  Each is listed as being able to handle up to 300 watts power at 8 ohms.  The problem is that I don't know much about amps and speakers:  what do I need to look for in an amp?  I know that an amp that is spec'ed to push 300W @ 8ohms per channel is good but what about less/more?  Will an amp that pushes 370W @ 8ohms destroy my speakers?  Will less sound like crap?It's always better to overpower rather than underpower speakers. At lower power ratings it's easier to turn an amp up to the point of distorting/clipping in the amplifier; when the powered clipped signal is fed to your speaker you run the risk of having them blow up. With an overpowered amplifier, you just need to listen to your speakers to determine what is safe.If the speakers begin to make "frapping" noises, or sound like they are clipping/distorting, then you need to turn down.Awesome!!!  Now, if someone wouldn't mind explaining the difference in impedences, I'll be set.  I.e. what is the difference between pushing 300W @ 4ohms v. 300W @ 8ohms?  Should I stick with the higher impedence since that's what my speakers are rated at?;Quote:Original post by skjinedmjeetQuote:Original post by Mage2kHey, recently purchased to Cerwin-Vega LS12 speakers for the wonderful price of $175.  Each is listed as being able to handle up to 300 watts power at 8 ohms.  The problem is that I don't know much about amps and speakers:  what do I need to look for in an amp?  I know that an amp that is spec'ed to push 300W @ 8ohms per channel is good but what about less/more?  Will an amp that pushes 370W @ 8ohms destroy my speakers?  Will less sound like crap?It's always better to overpower rather than underpower speakers. At lower power ratings it's easier to turn an amp up to the point of distorting/clipping in the amplifier; when the powered clipped signal is fed to your speaker you run the risk of having them blow up. With an overpowered amplifier, you just need to listen to your speakers to determine what is safe.If the speakers begin to make "frapping" noises, or sound like they are clipping/distorting, then you need to turn down.are you talking about guitar amps or something? because as far as i know home theater speakers and recievers/amps its best to underpower your speakers. volume is a completly seperate thing from the amount of wattage going to your speakers. if your speakers can handle up to 300 watts max power then i would get a reciever/amp that puts out around 280 or lower watts per channel. however if you  overpower your speakers with say 320 watts or more being put to the 300 watt speaker it will distort over time despite what volume you use. i know this to be a fact. however volume too can cause damage or distort a speaker too no matter what power is being put to it.[Edited by - Jarrod1937 on June 5, 2006 9:50:55 PM];Quote:Original post by Mage2kQuote:Original post by skjinedmjeetQuote:Original post by Mage2kHey, recently purchased to Cerwin-Vega LS12 speakers for the wonderful price of $175.  Each is listed as being able to handle up to 300 watts power at 8 ohms.  The problem is that I don't know much about amps and speakers:  what do I need to look for in an amp?  I know that an amp that is spec'ed to push 300W @ 8ohms per channel is good but what about less/more?  Will an amp that pushes 370W @ 8ohms destroy my speakers?  Will less sound like crap?It's always better to overpower rather than underpower speakers. At lower power ratings it's easier to turn an amp up to the point of distorting/clipping in the amplifier; when the powered clipped signal is fed to your speaker you run the risk of having them blow up. With an overpowered amplifier, you just need to listen to your speakers to determine what is safe.If the speakers begin to make "frapping" noises, or sound like they are clipping/distorting, then you need to turn down.Awesome!!!  Now, if someone wouldn't mind explaining the difference in impedences, I'll be set.  I.e. what is the difference between pushing 300W @ 4ohms v. 300W @ 8ohms?  Should I stick with the higher impedence since that's what my speakers are rated at?ohh sorry, didn't see your reply.its best to match impedance of speakers and recievers/amps, otherwise you'll be stressing the amp, speakers and possibly harm both. impedance is the resistance of flow with current (just like how ohms is used with resistors), so a 4 ohm rating means it will resist less than 8 ohm rating. i believe cars use 1-4 ohms and home theater speakers use 8-16 ohms. the difference in ohms rating depends on the speakers use, cars can supply less volts than a home theater reciever so cars have a lower ohm rating to allow more volts to be used while home theaters is the opp.   ;Quote:Original post by Jarrod1937are you talking about guitar amps or something? because as far as i know home theater speakers and recievers/amps its best to underpower your speakers. volume is a completly seperate thing from the amount of wattage going to your speakers. if your speakers can handle up to 300 watts max power then i would get a reciever/amp that puts out around 250 or lower watts per channel. however if you  overpower your speakers with say 310 watts or more being put to the 300 watt speaker it will distort over time despite what volume you use. i know this to be a fact. however volume too can cause damage or distort a speaker too no matter what power is being put to it.While a lot of internet forums have come to create a wide variety of misinformation on this topic, there are still enough credible resources that describe the reality of underpowering speakers.Quote:From ArticleQ: How does a speaker's power handling relate to the power output of a receiver or an amplifier?A: Let's limit our discussion to RMS (continuous) power, because whether we're talking about power handling or power rating, the RMS number is always more significant than the peak number.You should pick an amplifier whose power rating is in the upper end of your speaker's power range. For example, if a speaker is rated to handle up to 35 watts of RMS power, it will perform closer to optimum as your power source approaches delivery of 35 watts. It's better to overpower a speaker than to underpower it — the distortion caused when you push a low-powered amp to its limit is much more likely to harm a speaker than too much power. Q: My new component speakers aren't living up to my expectations. What's wrong?A: Here are a few tips and hints to get your component speakers sounding their best:    * Check the crossover setting — many think that a flat setting for the tweeters is the way to go, but you'll often find that you need to attenuate the highs to counteract too much brightness    * Are you feeding them enough power? Running most sets of components off your head unit is just not going to give them enough power to operate properly. Remember, underpowering your speakers is more dangerous than overpowering them.    * Like a good sub, speakers need time to break in.    * Are you getting rattles and vibrations? Check your mounting — you may benefit from baffles and dynamat. Remember, you've created new openings for the tweeters as well.Also look here.Quote:From ArticleWhen an underpowered amp is used to power a speaker, the listener tends to turn the volume up higher in order to get more output of the amplifier. Eventually the amplifier runs into its limit and begins to distort. This distortion can cause the output from the amplifier to become DC for short periods of time and DC signals of even low power can destroy a speaker.As for Mage2ks question about impedence, there's some good information here.Also, it's important to note that it's not just "best" to match the impedance of your speaker to your amp; it's imperative.   ;  i am very confedent on what i said and i know it to be the truth from actual experience, however this may be different with car audio, that i am not sure. however if you do put too much wattage to your speaker than what is rated you WILL cause them to be permenently distorted over time!following my practices has kept my surround sound system distortion free for 6 years now despite me turning it up quite loud (got to feel the music:)and i don't appreciate being rated down for something you believe to be correct. however, as i said it may be different for car audio but what i said is quite true about home theater audio.   ;  If I may ask, since now I'm curious about all of this.  So, it's better to overpower so that you don't send a clipped signal down the line to the speakers, right?  If this is true then I think the general idea should be to use an amp that you don't need to turn all the way up.  Underpowered --> clipping, kills speakers at high volume settings.  Overpowered --> you go deaf at high volume settings.  Personally, my current amp I think is like 150 watts @ 8 ohms, my old one was like 60 watts, and the speakers are in the ~100 watt range.  I never felt the need to go past '2' on my old amp, and I'm usually around -65 dB on my new one.  Maybe I'm strange because I value my ears.   ;Quote:Original post by wendigo23If I may ask, since now I'm curious about all of this.  So, it's better to overpower so that you don't send a clipped signal down the line to the speakers, right?  If this is true then I think the general idea should be to use an amp that you don't need to turn all the way up.  Underpowered --> clipping, kills speakers at high volume settings.  Overpowered --> you go deaf at high volume settings.  Personally, my current amp I think is like 150 amps @ 8 ohms, my old one was like 60 amps, and the speakers are in the ~100 watt range.  I never felt the need to go past '2' on my old amp, and I'm usually around -65 dB on my new one.  Maybe I'm strange because I value my ears.see it goes like this, if you have 100 watt speakers and an amp that puts out 80 watts per channel you'll be fine. if you have 100 watt speakers and an amp that puts out 40 watts per channel then you'll be stressing the reciever. if you have 100 watt speakers and you have a 110 watt receiver it may distort over time but is unlikely. if you have 100 watt speakers and a reciever that puts out 130 watts you'll be stressing your speakers and distorting them over time.now, skjinedmjeet over here is correct... for one part, however he doesn't understand that in general it is best to have a higher rated speaker than your reciever AS LONG as you don't have a veyr large difference that will cause your reciver to be stressed.   ;  Thanks, guys, for all of your input.  Basically, from your advice (though it may be conflicting) and others I've asked I've gleened that the basic idea is to match the amp's impedance to that of the speakers' dead on and to do my damndest to keep the wattage of the amp as close to that of the speakers as possible, preferrably just under.  You can go over, but then you have to be careful never to max out the receiver (plus, trust anybody else who might lay hands on that dial); or you can go under, but you need to make sure that you keep it really close to avoid the clipping => distortion => screwed up speakers issue.   