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How much power needed to drive 91db speakers?

Sonus Farber lists the sensitivity of my speakers at 91 db SPL@ 1 meter @4 ohms.  They also say I should use  50-450 watts of power. My PS Audio amps pump out 500 watts @4ohms, so the max isn’t a problem, but if I switched to something 15-50 class A watts, would that be more than enough power?  
 

Thanks in advance.

curiousjim

Showing 3 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
7,826 posts
 

Older ones. 
 

Buy your wife a really extravagant, heart felt gift before casually mentioning it. Mention in the afterglow. 

ghdprentice
7,826 posts
 

ARC Ref 80S + Sonus Faber is an excellent match. 

ghdprentice
7,826 posts
 

Sorry about the standard answer... it depends. A very high quality high current design, 50wpc definitely could be fine. Tubes, easily. 30 wpc... tubes probably, maybe solid state... Pass XA30.8 would work. I have had three sets of Sonus Faber. They were all 89db. I am driving mine currently with an Audio Research Ref 160s in triode mode, so 70wpc. 

Solid state amps are much more prone to underpowered a set of speakers. I would not go looking for a solid state amp less than 100 wpc unless I was in love with an amp of less power, then I would try it first.  The Pass XA series is probably and exception. 

I’m not one prone to "get by" with something in high end audio. There are typically compromises before they become obvious and it would take a long time to know... or a comparison to find out. I might play this game in a second system. If I was looking, I would be looking for tubes over 70 wpc and very high quality solid state over 100 wpc. 

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