What is the minimum watts to run a tower speaker that has a 180 watt max?

Question

My Onkyo TX-SR507 5.1-Channel puts out 80 watts per channel. Im looking to get a pair of black tower speakers at a low price to replace my old fronts. I saw a pair of Sony SS-F6000 for $140. But they are 180 watt max. Will my receiver be powerful enough to push them and sound good. They received great reviews and I really liked the price since I don't want to go over $200. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

The max power rating of the speakers have nothing to do with how much power they need, the speaker sensitivity rating is the determining factor on how much power is needed.



Your 80 watts/ch should be plenty. You don't really get much louder by increasing power just a little, you have to double power to get a 3 dB increase in SPL and you need a 10 dB increase to seem as if it has doubled. So even if you had 180 watt amplifier it would only sound slightly louder than the 80 watt amplifier. Having a lot of power is really only for better dynamics so that sudden short term loud burst are not suppressed or compressed. I think you'll be perfectly fine with 80 watts/ch.



mk

Answer 2

Your Onkyo receiver has 80 watts RMS, so the max could be as high as 160 watts. With that said, your receiver has plenty of power to drive these speakers. A 20 wpc RMS amplifier most like could drive these speakers fine. Some speaker manufacturers even give you a recommended amplifier power range to make things even more simple.



For $140, that is a pretty good deal for floor speakers, but that's probably the threshing floor for a new pair of floor speakers for anything half way decent if not satisfactory. Things get significantly better as you move up in price just a little. For example, I've seen a 15" 3-way speaker system for $196/pr., or a 2-way, tower speaker system with 2 drivers and 2 passive radiators for under $220/pr.



They are readily found on the internet. Try Parts Express, Amazon, or eBay, or just do a search for the BIC America RTR and DV65 models.



Happy listening!

Answer 3

Maniac is right even doubling your current amplifier rating is not going to provide you much difference. First do yourself a big favor and don't buy "any" Sony loudspeakers. Find a speaker that is ether made by the US, British, or Canada.



The other option to if your wanting louder sound pressure levels, is instead of buying more power, buy more efficient speakers, that will provide you with higher sound pressure levels you desire and most likely a better sounding speaker then anything Sony will make. EEEK Sony.



Kevin

40 years high end audio video specialist