Can a power amp have too much power, risking damage to a speaker?


I have a McIntosh 402, rated 400 watts continuous per channel. If I use it to drive a pair of Klipshorns or LaScala [specified to handle 100 watts continuous] or similar high-efficiency speakers, do I risk damage to such speakers? 

joelepo

Showing 6 responses by joelepo

Thanks! mijostyn! 
I follow some Audiogon discussions, but this is my first time to submit a query.
Impressed that there are folks out there who as OCD perfectionist regarding good audio as I! 
Based on this experience, I'll likely join some other discussions groups. It's a great community! 
 

Thanks much Mike for that info! I'll look for an amp with much lower powered if I get speakers with limited power handling capacity. 

THANK ALL of you for usefully responding to my query.
My overall take-home: an underpowered amp driven to clipping seems more likely to damage a speaker than clean power that controls the linear motor of audio transducers. An amp driven at its upper limit is more likely to clip tops of waves, causing the voice coils to stay in one position just drawing current [may not have said it perfectly]. 
I still have great hearing even after being in a rock band during my 20s [took great care to protect ears during all performances], and we often get out an audiometer to ensure the sound-pressure-level is well under 95dBA for sustained periods. So far, so good! 

Thanks all for contributing to my education.
I play guitar and 5-string bass and have one Fender Pro tube amp with twin 10" speakers and a Fender SS Bassman with four 10" speakers. Guitar amps and speakers differ from high-fidelity amps and speakers. The former are designed to "produce 'music'" -- so as long as they hold together and generate the sound the musician want, all is OK. In contrast, seems to me that "high fidelity" speakers should not contribute any of their own voice to the sound that comes out. I KNOW... achieving that ideal is far more complicated than that. 

waytoomuchstuff: old enough to be familiar w the Bose901power issues. 

To mijostyn and others who warn about TOO LOUD sound: We use an audiometer to monitor our listening room and most of our listening is below 70dB; if we are watching an action movie with lots of special effects, we find transient peaks of 100dB or more. A few minutes a day of over 95dB is unlikely to  cause permanent damage.

BTW, the new Apple Watches have an App that monitors SPL and seems to deliver readings pretty close to what I get from our more sophisticated audiometer.