New receiver with older underpowered speakers

[LuckyMF]

I have a new receiver - Pioneer Elite 84TX. It is described as minimum of 130 watt continuous power output. I'm planning to connect it to older Mirage MBS Bi-polar speakers and Mirage mi90 surround. The MBS recommends an amplifier between 20-100 watts and lists the maximum wattage as 100. It doesn't specify whether this is 100 peak or 100 RMS. The surround speakers are 80 watts max.

I am planning to use the channel levels to decrease the wattage out to the speakers. Would anyone advise against this?

[Sdiver2489]

I have a new receiver - Pioneer Elite 84TX. It is described as minimum of 130 watt continuous power output. I'm planning to connect it to older Mirage MBS Bi-polar speakers and Mirage mi90 surround. The MBS recommends an amplifier between 20-100 watts and lists the maximum wattage as 100. It doesn't specify whether this is 100 peak or 100 RMS. The surround speakers are 80 watts max.

I am planning to use the channel levels to decrease the wattage out to the speakers. Would anyone advise against this?

There is no need to "use the channel levels to decrease the wattage"

Channel levels do not directly limit the max power out of the receiver. It is a function of volume and impedance of the speaker itself. Frankly, you will never likely be using the 100 watts of power from your receiver. Provided you don't turn your receiver up to ear deafening volume, you will never hurt your speakers.

[John Holmes]

There is no need to "use the channel levels to decrease the wattage"

Channel levels do not directly limit the max power out of the receiver. It is a function of volume and impedance of the speaker itself. Frankly, you will never likely be using the 100 watts of power from your receiver. Provided you don't turn your receiver up to ear deafening volume, you will never hurt your speakers.

Welcome to the Guide LuckyMF,

As stated above, you'll be fine. Just follow the instructions that came with the Elite for setup and enjoy.

[LuckyMF]

There is no need to "use the channel levels to decrease the wattage"

Channel levels do not directly limit the max power out of the receiver. It is a function of volume and impedance of the speaker itself. Frankly, you will never likely be using the 100 watts of power from your receiver. Provided you don't turn your receiver up to ear deafening volume, you will never hurt your speakers.

Thanks. Why do speakers have maximum power ratings then?

[Stoopalini]

The way I understand it, the speaker acts like a resisor to the amplifier and places a load on the channel. This is what determines the output of the amp's channel.

Believe it or not, most speaker damage happens when people place a speaker which requires more wattage than the amplifier can provide. Distortion ruins speakers, and if your speaker is demanding a higher wattage from the amp than the amp can provide, the sound becomes distorted and causes damage to the speaker. Just be sure to turn the volume down if you hear distortion, and you'll be fine.

It's always best to have too much amp than not enough

Thomas.

[Kevin P]

You should be fine. Too much clean power won't damage speakers as much as too little power/clipping.

Usually too much clean power just causes the speaker to distort, as it reaches maximum excursion limits. Too little power with clipping causes the voice coils to overheat and warp or burn out.

Unless you crank the volume up to ear-splitting levels, you should have no troubles at all.

[LuckyMF]

You should be fine. Too much clean power won't damage speakers as much as too little power/clipping.

Yes, I understand this. But I think attaching a 1000-watt amp to 100 watt speakers would probably cause some problems with overpowering that would be too late once detected. 8O And from my research it seems that having the receiver 2X as powerful as the speaker rating is ok. So somewhere between the two is the line you don't want to cross. Anyone know where that line is?

[Stoopalini]

I currently have an 80wX4 PPI amp in my old truck hooked up to some 3.5" 5w rated radioshack paper cone speakers and they haven't blown up yet. They've been in there for about 3 years now. I had the dash apart for others reasons, and the drivers were just sitting around, so I threw them in.

The 1000w amp will not blow up 100w rated speakers unless you turn the source up enough where the speakers start distorting.

Thomas.

[wkhanna]

HTG Rule #1:

There is no such thing as TOO much power.

HTG Rule #2:

See rule #1

[Chris D]

Isn't that a man law?

[whoaru99]

Yes, I understand this. But I think attaching a 1000-watt amp to 100 watt speakers would probably cause some problems with overpowering that would be too late once detected. 8O And from my research it seems that having the receiver 2X as powerful as the speaker rating is ok. So somewhere between the two is the line you don't want to cross. Anyone know where that line is?

The point of too much is when strange noises not present in the music start coming from the speakers. There is no magic number. Most probably, the evidence is a nasty clunking/popping noise as the woofer bottoms out on the bass notes.

There may be some long-term thermal overload issues to consider if one has amps much higher rated than the speakers and plays the system at very high levels for a long time. However, I think that situation would be a relatively rare occurrence in a non-commercial setting such as a home theater or home stereo system.