Best Home Hifi Amp to Power 1500watt Setup?

Question

i have a great set of speakers here. and im trying to find the best or close to amp that will be able to power them without any problems. iv got

2x 600watt front set 1
2x 150watt front set 2
2x 50watt surrounds
1x 90watt subwoofer
1x 120watt subwoofer 2

at the moment my current amp is a denon avr, and even though i have gained 16ohms by wiring them in series rather than single channels, my amp seems to still be struggling to power them, even just the 2 600watt the speakers start crackling when turned up to volume level 30 from 80.

is there a good avr that has all the power without worrying if its gonna blow up on me??

Answer 1

"i have gained 16ohms by wiring them in series "? I don't know what ohms the amp is rated at but it is more likely to be 6 or 8 ohms, so by using 16 ohms you are reducing the power by 50% or more.

If more ohms meant more power they would just sell speakers with high ohms.

If you want louder, buy better quality speakers with a higher dB rating, this is an indication of how efficient they are and a good quality speaker of, say 95db or more will be noticeably louder than a poor quality one of the same impedance.

Wattage ratings are not always reliable, they often give you ratings which are "maximum" or "peak" and are pure fantasy, not a good indication of the speaker's performance.

One speaker per channel will be louder than 2 in series.

Answer 2

I'm Sorry NEO but like the others have stated you really don't know what your doing. Wattage ratings on speakers is meaningless, it has nothing to do with anything. So throw that whole idea out the window.



We could better help you if we knew the brand and model numbers of the speakers so we could research how much and the quality of power you will need.



Ultimately like Maniac stated you must look at the speakers efficiency, and impedance this will determine the amount of power you will need and the quality of power you will need to driver the speakers optimally. For every 3db over the speakers rated efficency you must double your amplifier power until you exceed the maximum sound pressure levels you hope to achieve. The size and acoustics of the room also play a big factor in maximum SPL as well as the design of the speaker. There is no way of really knowing or specifications that will tell you what the maximum loudness you the speaker is comfortable reproducing, you simply need to play the speakers and see. It will depend on the program material and the dynamic range of the program material.



My guess is your running two main speakers and another set for stereo center channel speakers. If your running two pairs which is what it sounds like in series that is a HUGE mistake, not only does not help produce louder volumes it puts more of a load on the amplifier so your trying to do something that not only makes no sense it will not help you achieve the results you think it will provide for you.



Receivers are limited in output and dynamic power, so if you really need high output you will need either separates which is the best option or use a receiver with audio outputs for all channels and use separate power amplifiers for paired channels. Forget about receivers look into separate power amplifiers, and brand of higher end quality which can be purchased at a smaller high end audio store.



In fact your simply better off going and discovering one of these high end audio video stores, and simply have them design and install a system for you. They have years of experience and sorry to say, you don't have the knowledge to design and install a high quality system.



Kevin

40 years high end audio video specialist

Answer 3

Ok, first of all; ditto on everything Maniac said.



However, I'm confused. This is a 5.2 setup without the center channel. What happened to the center channel?



Another thing:

You are doubling up your front speakers. Why? This creates problems acoustically as well as electrically - like comb filtering. I know it looks impressive to have speakers stacked on top of each other but in reality it doesn't sound all that great. Were I you, I'd put one of those speakers in a closet, use it as a spare and use the remaining one as a center channel. Your amp will like it better and this may well solve your problems.



You seem to like it loud. I dunno, I may be way out of line but I have a friend like you with a "man cave." He has PA style speakers and amps - All Peavey except the "bass bins" which are Community. The Peavey power amps are hooked up to the surround preamp outputs of a Pioneer receiver. The speaker outputs of the receiver are hooked up to patio speakers but that is pretty much irrelevant. He got all this stuff on eBay and Craig's list. I doubt he paid more than $1,000 for it. Garage bands break up all the time and sell their gear.



I have to say, he can get it uncomfortably loud in there. The power amps do not even get warm. It sounds harsh and not exactly "high fidelity" to my ears but there is no sign of the system even straining and he loves it. Thinks it is great. I don't know what his neighbors think. But, this might be something for you to consider. Sell your piles of speakers and buy PA style stuff - Peavey SP 15 speakers, (or something similar with a 15" and a horn) a pair of Community bins with dual 15"'s and a couple of power amps. Hook them up to your receiver and blast away. Just a thought.

Answer 4

The speaker power ratings don't have much to do with anything, you need to put those out of your thinking process.



If you want to know how much power a speaker needs you look at its sensitivity rating, not its power rating.



By putting them in series you cut the power available to them to 25% each. Example an amplifier capable of 100 watts in 8 ohms needs 28.3 volts RMS. If you put 28.3 volts RMS across 16 ohms you get 50 watts. If that 16 ohms is two 8 ohm speakers in series then each gets just 25 watts. So by putting them in series you have cut your power capability a bit. Don't put them in parallel either because this will load down the amplifier. In theory it would double vs an 8 ohm speaker but only very expensive amplifiers can double their power into half impedance. (by expensive I mean several thousand US dollars or more).



One more thing you should know about power is that in order to seem twice as loud you need to increase power by 10x. If your Denon is 100 watts, you need 1000 watts to seem twice as loud. This ignores compression caused by non linearity in the drivers. Compression makes it seem louder than it is. If you really want louder, the best way is more efficient speakers, not more power.



Another thing you should know about power is that receivers typically don't have very much of it regardless of their power rating. They are usually rated based on single channel driven. Stand alone amplifiers are usually rated based on all channels driven. If you want real power consider a stand alone amplifier for your left/right/center speakers. This is a good quality inexpensive 3-ch amplifier... http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/xpa3 Keep in mind your AVR will need to have preamp outputs to utilize an external amplifier.



mk

Answer 5

Without knowing which speakers you are using, this cannot be properly answered.



What such a power rating for a speaker means is that is the *maximum* power that should go into them, NOT the minimum power.



I am also very leery of your using a series wiring. I suspect that that may be what is straining your amp.