High power amplifier and small speakers??


As a general rule could one say that sound quality is diminished by using a powerful amplifier (150 w/ch into 8ohms) with small speakers (high sensitivity)? Would detail be lost at lower volumes? I am curios because I am planning on upgrading my amp but have small speakers (may upgrade later)/
volvosound

Showing 1 response by joeylawn36111

A low-powered amp is more likely to damage the tweeters than a high powered one. The reason is Clipping distortion, caused by reaching the maximum positive/negative voltage of the power supply on high volume settings. This causes a waveform high in harmonics, which are then routed to the tweeter, possibly burning it out.

A high power amp can also burn out tweeters, but at that point it would be so loud that you, well, wouldn't listen to it that loud.