amp wattage

[Jim]

Looking for an amp for Arendal THX Monitors. Found a brand I like that offers a model with 250 watts per channel at 4 ohms and a 500 watt per channel at 4 ohms. The monitors are rated at 400 watts per channel. Should I get the 500 watt for more head room or is that over kill, I also do not want to take a chance damaging the speaker. Should I play it safe and go with the 250 watts ( cheaper also), and is that enough for the monitor to reach its full potential ?

Thanks for your time, Jim

[Brandon]

What is the model number on the AVR Frank? I can give you some real-world numbers

 

 

[Hans Erik Sæbø]

I just got the Emotiva XPA-DR3 that will deliver 600w into 4 ohms for all three LCR’s all channels driven. Might be overkill, but I like the idea of overkill🙈🙈

[Keith Luken]

I keep reading mixed comments on the 1723, I will have 200w for 3 fronts, then 100w/ch for the surrounds and front heights. I suspect that will be enough I will have 1723 towers/center and then 1961 heights for surrounds and elevation.

[Raffaele Spataro]

Keith and All,  there is no limit on how much wattage can be used on a speaker. Its what you want in your system, If you like watching movies and listening to music without blowing up your eardrums then go with a comfortable amount of volume and amount of power to your system. The 1723 THX series can handle up to 500 Watts of power which is very impressive. The more power you have means you have more stored energy and reserve power for your speakers to use when you turn the volume up to reference level “sooner” when watching a movie and listening to music. 200Watts of power is a substantial and very good amount of power to use in a system and it is the most “wanted” use of power to any speaker system. The more power you have will increase amplitude and better frequency response to the speaker. I personally have 900Watts to my Front three speakers “the 1723 THX” and they are louder than my 200Watt amp I used to use. I had to lower the signal and volume level to match the rest of my system and thats the Key to any system is to get the rest of the system to match all speaker levels. Thanks guys for listening to my rant hope it helps.

[neil-h]

My NAD puts out 120 watts per channel but 340 watts as far a headroom goes. I listen to it at lower/medium volumes in a 2 .1 channel setup. Even going loud, it has never gone into clipping. As mentioned by others, you can’t go wrong with more power BUT, you also don’t want power at the expense of amplifier quality. Distortion is what mostly kills the drivers in the speakers and usually the tweeters will fail first. I would rather have a great 150 watt amplifier, PER CHANNEL than a cheap amplifier with falsely inflated wattage numbers. Do your research carefully. Some manufacturers will even say 500 watt amplifer but it is divided over the amount of channels if you read the fine print.

 

[Raffaele Spataro]

I agree Neil and that’s the Key word here is Quality. Do your due diligence and research before you buy something.

[roman-tissera]

Are you strictly doing a 2 channel system?

[roman-tissera]

Have you looked at a Sunfire TGA-7401?