Amplifier and Speaker Question

[tarasha]

Hi, I am totally newbie with this audio amplifier thing and wondering any expert here could brighter my understanding further more....


I' was told I had a 187 W amplifier and can only afford to have speaker below 185 W strength or it won't sound good... and my question is if I had 4 speaker (BMB, 250 W) sitting at the corner ready to be plug into my amplifier will it affect the quality of the outcome? should I go for higher W amplifier? or the not?

[guns1inger]

187 Watts means nothing. Is that combined, or per channel ?

if it is per channel then they will work, you just won't push them really hard. If it is total output then you might not have enough power to drive them at all.

[tarasha]

I totally have no idea if you ask me if it combined or per channel? since at the centre of the back saying 187W and on the right corner saying 300 W and 200 W? plus it all written in Japanese... but what I know is it using 100V power input and has 4 channel (speakers).

[SingSing]

Sounds like we have a 187w surround system.

The big part of the sound is the room, so only wired it up and listen to them will give you the answer. Loud does not means good quality sound. The give away is whether you can get distortion free voice and tight sounding bass.

Most surround amplifier reference to its peak power output. Small/Inexpansive speakers also use peak power. They should match to about 10~20%.

Mid and high end speakers use RMS in power handling, which can handle about 2~3 times what peak power is about.

[BogieV]

Wat-age means little as SingSing said.

You should worry more if the impedance of the speaker matches those of the amp.
Most of the newer amps are 6 Ohm. If let's say your speakers are 4 Ohm you can't use them with this amp. If they are 6 or 8 Ohm you can use them. The power output level will be slightly lower if you use 8 Ohm speakers on 6 Ohm amp but you should be able to drive them without problem.
And again one more thing in the equation is the speaker's sensitivity - if you have not very sensitive 6 Ohm speakers (say 85dB 1W/1m) you might get louder output from 8 Ohm speakers that are specked at 90dB (1W/1m).

But again all this is only theory and yo go and check what Ohm is written back on the speakers and on the amp. If speaker's Ohm-age is equal or greater use them and see how it sounds. Most important is you to be happy. You wouldn't know if it sounds good if you don't compare to various systems and that asking for too much from a newbie...