# Speaker question



## harrym (Jan 30, 2010)

I have been reading all I can about speaker wattage and I'm still not clear. Given a receiver with 100 watts per channel, what would be an ideal wattage for front bookshelf speakers? Would there be a distinct advantage, say, for having 75 watt speakers over 50 watt speakers? What would be the ideal wattage for speakers with a 100 watts per channel receiver?


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## dyohn (Apr 17, 2008)

There is no hard and fast answer to your question, and power ratings have nothing to do with how a speaker will sound. The wattage rating of the speakers is how much input power they can handle, and the power rating of the amplifier is how much power it can output and still meet its specs. These numbers are generally long-term peak power, meaning you will only ever get to them if you crank the system to ear splitting levels for long periods of time. You can use any speaker with any amplifier as long as you know what you're doing and can hear the sounds of a loudspeaker in distress. Use whatever speaker you like the sound if, and if you crank it up and can hear the speaker going into distortion or bottoming out, or if you can hear the amplifier clipping, turn it down.


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## harrym (Jan 30, 2010)

My Klipsch *RSX-4* L/R speakers are rated at 50 watts, while the *RCX-4* center speaker is rated at 75 watts. The *RSX-5* L/R speakers are rated at 75 watts and have a 5.25" woofer [instead of the 4" woofer of the RSX-4s]. Is this enough difference to be noticeable in a 12'x18' room?


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## dyohn (Apr 17, 2008)

The wattage rating on the speakers does not mean anything as far as how they will sound. Zero, zilch nada. It only indicates how much you can SUPPLY them without issues. You will hear no difference at all based on the wattage ratings.


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## harrym (Jan 30, 2010)

Would the slightly larger woofer make a difference in this size room? I don't have a subwoofer yet.


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## dalto (May 24, 2009)

harrym said:


> My Klipsch RSX-4 speakers are rated at 50 watts, while the RCX center speaker is rated at 75 watts. The RSX-5 L/R speakers are rated at 75 watts and have a 5.25" woofer [instead of the 4" woofer]. Is this enough difference to be noticeable in a 12'x18' room?


That just means that the speakers can handle up to 50w of continuous power. It says nothing of loud they will be or they sound.

The RSX-4 has a sensitivity of 90DB and the RSX-5 has a sensitivity of 93DB so in theory given the same amount of power in a perfect situation the RSX-5 will sound a little louder.

This is typically adjusted for in the receiver. What kind of receiver do you have?


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## harrym (Jan 30, 2010)

I have the Sony STR-DN1000 Receiver. It is a 7.1 model rated at 100 wpc.


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## dalto (May 24, 2009)

harrym said:


> I have the Sony STR-DN1000 Receiver. It is a 7.1 model rated at 100 wpc.


It will probably sound fine the way it is but if you need to you can adjust the level down in your receiver.


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## harrym (Jan 30, 2010)

Should the wattage of a subwoofer be compared to the wattage of the amplifier or to the wattage of the other speakers? Or is that even important? With a 100 watt receiver and 75 watt speakers, would a 350 watt subwoofer be too much power? Would a 200 watt subwoofer be a better choice? I see Klipsch originally paired my speakers with a 200 watt 10" downfiring subwoofer, but I have been looking at a 12" front-firing 350 watt sub at a good price if it's not too big.


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## dalto (May 24, 2009)

There is no need to worry about it.

Feel free to get the bigger subwoofer. It will add a lot of oomph to your home theater experience.

Also, there is no need to match the subwoofer to the speakers so feel free to get a different brand of subwoofer.


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