Too much power?

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
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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
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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
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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
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