Speakers Nominal Power handling/Amplifier


My Canton k9  bookshelf speakers have a nominal power handling of 120/200 watts,  SPL of 87db my Technic integrated amp SU-G700 has 70 watts into 8 ohms,140 into 4 ohms.  As an aside, my source is a Marantzcd6006  CD player.
What does Nominal power mean for me in terms of music reproduction in my system? Specifically Will the speakers perform to there potential with my 70 watt amp? I read that nominal power relates to the power your amp should have to drive these speakers. So what am I missing with only 70 watts per channel besides playing louder? what would an amp with 120 to 200 watts give  the speakers that would improve the music? Am I placing my speakers at risk using less power then what the speakers can handle?
I'm a rookie with zip, zero, nada, listening experience to fall back on that is at all relevant so take this with a grain of salt I freakin love the sound detailed(decay of strings and brushes on symbols, fingers plucking guitar strings etc) soundstage( speakers vanish instruments are here there everywhere but not outside of speaker footprint and not real deep front to back )imaging ( instruments have there own place voices are in the center) not harsh or bright but detailed not warm sounding. How much better could it get with a more powerful amp? I can only imagine what a high-end system must sound like!
An observation no audio stores are within 50 miles, unless I count BestBuy so I sadly I must rely on reviews for the most part and what I read here. Regards Scott
scott22

Showing 1 response by tk21

Your speakers' sensitivity rating means that a mere 1 watt of input will produce 87 dB when measured from 1 meter away under test conditions (in an anechoic space). 87 dB is already pretty loud, but every doubling of distance from the loudspeaker under controlled test conditions results in a 6 dB drop in the speaker output. Let's say you sit 4 meters away, which means you've doubled the 1m distance twice with a theoretical drop-off of 12 dB.  You're still getting 75 dB from a single watt, even with those "inefficient" speakers.   

Now, for some people, with some tastes in music and volume preferences, in some rooms, even 75 dB might be loud enough ... IF we assume we don't need extra headroom for transient increases.  But we cannot assume that.  You might need (or want) an extra 15-20 dB headroom to handle those musical peaks.

Every 3dB increase in speaker output requires double the wattage. Those transient peaks (or just cranking up the volume a bit) might call for 6, 7, or 8 doublings. So if your speakers are nominally 8 ohms, then you might want an amp with a little more juice.  But it really depends on many factors. You're already ahead of the game if you like what you hear and don't notice any clipping. More watts, per se, probably won't widen/deepen the soundstage.  For that, I've found that speaker placement has the biggest impact.  The trade-off is that, if you bring them away from the walls (on stands) to deepen/widen the soundstage, then the bass impact will drop off. To compensate, you might want to try a small powered subwoofer.  Meanwhile, if you are sitting closer to the loudspeakers, that should let you get by with a little less volume.