receiver wattage for tower speakers? newbie question

[FTracy3]

I recently purchased a couple of PSB tower speakers I'm using as part of a home
theater system. I'm running the system off an 80 watt per ch receiver.

What, if any, would be the advantage of upgading the receiver to higher wattage
(100 or 110 per ch). I can get the system plenty loud as is. But would
upgrading the wattage have any imact on the "fullness" of the sound quality at
lower volumes?

The PSB tower speakers are rated at recommended10-175 watts recommended and
they also say "program 125 watts" in the specs, whatever tha means.

Also, they can be "bi-wired" if that has any impact on the answer. Thanks for
any responses.

[Todd H.]

(FTracy3) writes:

> I recently purchased a couple of PSB tower speakers I'm using as part of a home
> theater system. I'm running the system off an 80 watt per ch receiver.
>
> What, if any, would be the advantage of upgading the receiver to higher wattage
> (100 or 110 per ch). I can get the system plenty loud as is. But would
> upgrading the wattage have any imact on the "fullness" of the sound quality at
> lower volumes?

Not necessarily. And probably not at all.

> The PSB tower speakers are rated at recommended10-175 watts recommended and
> they also say "program 125 watts" in the specs, whatever tha means.
>
> Also, they can be "bi-wired" if that has any impact on the answer. Thanks for
> any responses.

It's all specsmanship. The proof is in the hearing on these. Another
receiver with your speakers will surely sound different. Whether
that's better or not is nearly impossible to predict as the sound of a
given receiver escapes the spec sheet, and there's no knowing what
your ears' preferences will be. Different receiver designs bias
transistors differently, different designs have different frequency
and transient response characterists, and they all sound different.

If you have a specific problem with your current setup that you wish
to address, then go shopping an dbe sure to be able to demo your new
receiver at home with your speakers in your living space to make
decisions with your ears and source material you're very familiar
with. A good return policy is golden here.

There's no reason to go up in power capability if, at the volumes you
need for your typical listening, you hear everything you want clearly,
without distortion, and with the clarity you desire.

A more power-capable receiver will not only have the capability of
being louder, but more importantly, it could have more instantaneous
reserve power for producing peaks and othe rnuances without
"straining" if you will. And finally, it'll also be less prone to
"clipping" when run near its peak output capability. Clipping can
blow speakers in a hurry--so actually, an underpowered amplifier that
is driven too hard into a speaker can blow that speaker regardless of
the speaker's spec'd power handling.

On your separate question about program power handling that 125W is
probably just 2x whatever those speakers rated for continuous RMS
power handling. Marketeers love "progam power" specs because it
allows them to print a bigger number, really, because in music, seldom
do we listen to continuous sine waves.

But, the notion of matching power amplifier ratings to speaker power
handling ratings is mostly a red herring. You do need enough receiver
to hit the SPL levels you want without having to drive that receiver
into clipping. However, if your listening levels never get anywhere
close to outrunning your current receiver's power, there's not need to
upgrade based on power capability alone.

Best Regards,
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Todd H
\ / | http://www.toddh.net/
X Promoting good netiquette | http://triplethreatband.com/
/ \ http://www.toddh.net/netiquette/ | "4 lines suffice."

[N]

(FTracy3) wrote in message >...
> I recently purchased a couple of PSB tower speakers I'm using as part of a home
> theater system. I'm running the system off an 80 watt per ch receiver.
>
> What, if any, would be the advantage of upgading the receiver to higher wattage
> (100 or 110 per ch). I can get the system plenty loud as is. But would
> upgrading the wattage have any imact on the "fullness" of the sound quality at
> lower volumes?

Nope. BTW, in practice the difference between 80 watts and 100 or 110
watts is almost nothing and should have no noticeable effect on the
sound.

Most amps most of the time only run at a few watts, BTW. I can't
imagine any circumstance in which going from 80 watts to 100 or 110
watts would make any audible difference.

> The PSB tower speakers are rated at recommended10-175 watts recommended and
> they also say "program 125 watts" in the specs, whatever tha means.
>
> Also, they can be "bi-wired" if that has any impact on the answer. Thanks for
> any responses.

I think you're doing fine with the 80-watt amp. Bi-wiring is also
unnecssary.