Say I was looking for an amp to power a pair of 1723 S Monitors to their maximum potential (moreso for dynamic range than maximum SPL in case that matters). The specs say these speakers can handle “up to 300W RMS @ 4 Ohms”. Should I be looking for an amp that delivers MORE than 300W per channel @ 4 Ohms (all channels driven) for headroom? If so, how much more?
Hello Chris,
300W at 4 Ohms would already give you a lot of headroom. You could get ~105 dB, 100 dB being a nightclub, and the WHO recommends no more than 8 minutes a week at 105 dB. So that would be very loud.
It doesn’t mean you can get more (I am using class-d amps, 400 watts at 4 Ohms), but pushing the speakers at ear bleeding level will eventually damage them.
Have a nice one
Chris, I have the entire system except the Atmos amplified with ATI 200w 8ohms in class AB, they handle the 1723 towers perfectly, so with those stages you will not have problems with your monitors, quality electronics are better than many W. To me I like to turn up the volume a lot and my room supports it, you can’t imagine the control that those stages have.
Think of the RMS rating as a maximum power throughput that can be handled for a sustained period without distortion, or perhaps damage. Like a speed limit sign, or a tachometer on a vehicle engine. Its there to tell you where the line is before you cross it damage, or at the very least problems will began to occur.
Getting the most out of your speakers, these or any really is more about more than just raw power, and in most cases raw power is the last consideration. Think of it like going car shopping with your only criteria being that the vehicle be able to achieve 200mph. It’s a real metric, but not a practical one for most people.
For a speaker rated at 300 watts RMS, I’d recomend looking at the lowest noise, class A/B amplifier within your price range with a minimum of 150 watts RMS per channel driven and a maximum of 300 watts RMS, or something close. 325 – 350 ish. Look for low harmonic distortion, the smaller the numbers the better say 0.1% or better. That’ll drive those speakers well beyond what anyone without hearing protection should be listening to, and provide a great dynamic range and low noise floor.
Some well suited models from Emotiva will perform well and fit the above specs and are available at reasonable, to less reasonable prices.
If money is no object then check out Benchmark’s ABH2 amp. Cool thing about these is you can bridge them for 500 + – watts into 4 ohms while retaining the amazing low distortion and noise floor these amps provide.
If you just want LOUD and noise floor hiss, hum or static isn’t an issue then pretty much anything with the watt rating of 300 + – watts will do… tons of choices out there from Crown, Parasound, and many others… Amazon is full of cheap, noisy, but effective amps.
Also there are lots of choices that would fit the watt ratings range in integrated amps if you’re looking for something simple and straight forward.
Having said all that… what was your intended use for the speakers? Home theater? Hi-Fi 2-channel? Garage?
Thanks for the feedback! My use case would be living room home theater and upmixed / Atmos-native music listening at about 10-12ft distance. No crazy volumes, 70dB at most for base level not including peaks, but I want those peaks to have all the juice they require to produce full dynamic range. Maybe it’s psychosomatic but I’ve heard many people say that when they moved their speakers from their AVR amp to a dedicated amp the sound was more “full” or “dynamic” to them with more noticeable “channel separation”. I was looking for metrics or guidance on how to achieve that assuming it’s a real phenomenon.
I’ve done exactly that in both stereo and home theater setups.In both cases the external amp or integrated stereo amp sounded better than either AVR I used.
My Stereo thoughts are here in the Arendal Community:
It’s a real thing. External amps provide more, clearer, more dynamic sound than a stock AVR alone.
I’m using a Stereo Emotiva BasX A300 (latest version is the BasX A2) and Emotiva BasX A1 monoblock to power a pair of Polk S60 towers and an SVS Ultra Center.
An Arendal upgrade equivalent speaker trio would be the 1723 Tower S and the 1723 Center S.
These both outperform my current setup and being 4 ohm will benifit even more than my 8ohm speakers with the external amps vs internal AVR.
Happy Listening! – Hal
