Too much power?

There is really no such thing as too much power, pe se. In fact you can more easily destroy speakers by overdriving underpowered amps. However, just buying an amp with twice is much power sez nothing about whether or not you will get better sound. It is far more difficult to produce a really high powered amp that sounds good and thats why the really good ones cost big bucks. With 94db speakers 200 watts would be more than enuf unless you want to lose your hearing - you can get peaks in excess of 115db with 200. I can drive 86 db speakers with 160 watt amps to great and loud results. If I had 94 db speakers I would be looking for the best 50 watt class A I could afford. enjoy...

You can never have too much 'clean' power, IMHO. As Newbee mentioned, almost all speaker damage occurs from an underpowered amp being driven past it's power ratings into 'clipping'. Go for the 4004 mk II, it's a nice amp.

John

Yep, I'd rather look for quality in this case rather than in quantity. Look for used VTL TT25. These little monsters will rock, roll, jazz and hop at ease. You can even switch between triode and ultralinear operations.

Your first priority in buying an amp should be how it sounds with your room and ancillary equipment. The power rating and all other specs should be secondary or even irrelevant - no need to obsess over impedance matching, max power levels, etc., just focus on how it sounds to you.

Unless, you need to drive inefficient speakers to ear splitting levels in a large room, then the power rating becomes a major factor. You wouldn't rule out a car because of too much extra power for 65 mph, so why short yourself of a good amp that happens to have more power than you'll probably use.

I've been doing a lot of research on what amp to get. The thing is, I want something that will sound good listening to alternative/hardrock. I'm finding out that what most audiophiles consider to be good sounding amps, won't do well with me. On the Klipsch boards I asked what amp with the speakers that I have will sound good with the music i like. There were many responses, but in my price range, %80 of them were Aragon. Some said 4004 others said 8002. I've heard elsewhere that Aragon sounds really good on Klpispchs because they are strong on the bottom. Therefore the efficient horns aren't too loud. That's what I've based my decision on. Thanks.

Great Match!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
The aragon will soften out the klipsch just enough.

I agree w/ Newbee and Jmc in that you can never have too much power although w/ super powerful amps you do have to be a little careful. To put it into perspective, the 200 wpc Aragon 4004 will only play 3 dB louder than the 100 wpc 2004 at maximum volume-- and that's not much.

I also agree w/Newbee in that w/94 dB efficient speakers you really don't need much power, and a good 50 to 200 wpc amp would be enough to blow you out of the room-- could be a lot less expensive also. Good Luck and Cheers. Craig

Higher quality and less power gets my vote!
Something around 100 watts will do just fine!
Happy Listening

You can never have too much power. Prudence with the ole volume control is all that's needed, here....

The issue of power is all too often confused with current
and especially current reserves. Of course, along with this
is whether the thing sounds good. I agree with
a previous reply that quality is much more important than
quantity. There are SET amps on the market that are under
10 watts that are sonically awesome with high efficiency
speakers.

I agree with Brauser's comments i.e. "The issue of power is all too often confused with current and especially current reserves." That is why i have previously stated that one should look at how much power an amp generates at clipping into various impedances. This spec is a true test of how "powerful" an amp really is.

I also agree with Brauser here: "Of course, along with this
is whether the thing sounds good". With that point in mind, one can have all the power in the world, but if it wasn't a good match for your specific speakers and / or your listening taste, it would be a total waste.

As such, i would recommend buying something that:

1) sounds good to you at normal listening levels

2) stays "clean" at any volume that you desire to listen at

Having said that, i would not consider 94 dB speakers to be "super efficient". If you want to rock and roll an do so at high volume, you'll still need quite a bit of power to get the job done and do so cleanly. With a pair of Klipsch Heresy's that are rated at 96 dB's, i found that i was running out of steam with an SS amp that was rated for 120 wpc @ 8 ohms and another that was rated at 150 wpc @ 8 ohms. As such, i would look for an amp that was rated for at least that much power and probably a bit more. Hopefully, you'll be able to find an amp that will give you what you want in terms of sonics and spl's while staying within your budget. Sean
>

Well, I went with the 2004(100 wpc). I'm in a fairly small room(18x12) so hopefully it'll be loud enough. Also, the best I've ever really heard were those speakers with an Adcom gfa-5400(125 wpc). That was plenty loud enough(in a different room though) but it lacked in the low end. Either that or the horns were too loud. I have question about ohm load. How do drop the ohm load on an amp without changing the speaker? Can't you wire the amp to speaker 1 and wire speaker 1 to speaker 2. Like in a series? Or is there another way? Thanks.

To reduce impedance, you wire two speakers in parallel. That means that each speaker has its' own set of wires running to it and each speaker will operate independently of each other. To increase impedance, one would wire the speakers in series. That means that the positive terminal of the amp feeds speaker 1 and the negative terminal of the amp feeds speaker 2. You then run a wire from the negative terminal of speaker 1 to speaker 2. If you disconnect one speaker, the other one will not work any longer.

Other than this, one can use high powered resistors to simulate the second speaker in either situation. There would really be no benefit to doing such, so don't waste your time. Sean
>

Do you take the + from channel 1 of the amp to the positive of speaker 1. Then take the - from channel 2 of the amp to the negative of speaker 2. Then connect the two open terminals on the speakers together(which would be the - of speaker 1 and the + from speaker 2)? Is that how you do it? Thanks

NO, do not do that. You are in effect cross-connecting the two channels of the amp. Some amps may respond in various manner, but i don't see any of them really liking such a connection.

If you are asking about bridging an amp, that is different from altering the load impedance by connecting speakers in a different manner. What i mentioned above was done using only one channel of the amp with two speakers.

Out of curiosity, what are you attempting to achieve ? Sean
>

I just bought an Aragon, it's in shipping right now. I had planned on getting the 4004(200 wpc) but I wound up buying a 2002(100 wpc). I'm just hoping it's going to be loud enough. But I've never heard an amp of that caliber. I was just wondering about how people drop to 4ohm so that the amp puts out more juice. Thanks.

They either run low impedance speakers or run two pairs of 8 ohm speakers. If you are worried about the power, i would not be too concerned. While you pick up twice the current at half the impedance, your voltage is what makes the biggest difference in terms of "cleanliness" and that doesn't doesn't change when shifting impedances. The drawback to lowering the impedance of the speaker load is that you cut your damping factor in half, which can result in the amplifier having less control over the speakers and / or allowing the speakers to more easily influence the overall performance of the amp. Stick with what you have and optimize your system for the amp that you just bought. It should work fine so long as you don't want rock concert levels in your listening room. Sean
>

Thanks

1-your speakers are efficient enough that you won't need the extra power.
2-The extra wattage will only get you a 3db increase (10db to double the sound pressure/perceived volume).
3-Usually the speakers efficiency will drop with impedance and distortion may grow. Many 4 ohm speakers are rated at only 84 to 86db, while your klipsch are rated at over 90db. Therefore, even if you rewired your klipsch for 4 ohms, the efficiency will drop enough that it isn't worth the gain.
IE... your amp may put out 100 watts at 8 ohms, 200 watts at 4 ohms. 100 watts at 92db will be louder than 200 watts at 87 db.