XPA-3 and Speaker Capability

[JohnBarleycorn]

After the responses from my whats next post I have set my sights on the XPA-3 to power my front towers and center channel. Will I be overpowering them when they are rated 100 rms 400 peak and 75 -300 respectively and the amps output is 200 per channel? Id like to think they could handle it but want to be sure, I dont want to see smoke and sparks when I have my AC/DC Live at Donnington turned up to 11!!

[Drew664]

I asked a very similar question not to long ago.

Could someone explain where the "safe zone" is for speakers and their listed max wattage?

There is no such thing. You can use a 1,000 watt amplifier on speakers that are rated 10 watt min to 50 watt max. Just keep the volume at a reasonable level. Most of the time, even at a very high volume, you are using a small percentage of the amplifier's power. Before you damage any speaker, you are more likely to damage your hearing.

The other end of the spectrum is that people tend to damage speakers by under powering them, thus driving their amps to clipping and burning out the fine wiring in the speaker.

Hope that helps. Maybe some of the senior members can confirm this as the first quote came from Big Daddy.

[JohnBarleycorn]

Drew thank you for your response and clarification. I read the exact thread and even your post but I guess I somehow missed the answer to your/our question.

Sorry for starting a new thread.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by JohnBarleycorn

After the responses from my whats next post I have set my sights on the XPA-3 to power my front towers and center channel. Will I be overpowering them when they are rated 100 rms 400 peak and 75 -300 respectively and the amps output is 200 per channel? Id like to think they could handle it but want to be sure, I dont want to see smoke and sparks when I have my AC/DC Live at Donnington turned up to 11!!

You can overdrive a speaker's drivers but it is rare. It is not a problem as long as you do not turn up the volume to 11 as you said. Loud volumes are fine, earth-shattering volumes might lead to driver burnout.

[JohnBarleycorn]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

as long as you do not turn up the volume to 11 as you said. Loud volumes are fine, earth-shattering volumes might lead to driver burnout.

Im not planning on going Spinal Tap but I would like to be able to crank some rock on a Saturday afternoon. Given the specs I mentioned what is the likelihood of encountering driver burnout with my proposed set-up?

[Intamin]

Originally Posted by JohnBarleycorn

Im not planning on going Spinal Tap but I would like to be able to crank some rock on a Saturday afternoon. Given the specs I mentioned what is the likelihood of encountering driver burnout with my proposed set-up?

Your speakers will be fine. If you damage them from giving them too much power, then your ears can withstand a serious beating or you're deaf already

[JohnBarleycorn]

Originally Posted by Intamin

Your speakers will be fine. If you damage them from giving them too much power, then your ears can withstand a serious beating or you're deaf already

I think I might qualify for that last part! I plugged my ipod in and played my warm up mix to get ready for my soccer game last night. I had the pioneer turned up to -03, my head was ringing the entire time. There is nothing like a little Ted Nugent Stranglehold followed up by some Audioslave to get the adrenalin flowing!

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by JohnBarleycorn

Im not planning on going Spinal Tap but I would like to be able to crank some rock on a Saturday afternoon. Given the specs I mentioned what is the likelihood of encountering driver burnout with my proposed set-up?

You will be fine as long as you do not start hearing regular clipping or distortion in the sound or you see smoke coming from the drivers.