Need advice on Floor Speakers

[progression101]

Hi

i'm new to this website

I have a question for you guys. Need some advice on picking the right floor speakers and a subwoofer.

I have the Sony 5400 ES receiver. 120 x 7..some pics here. i have a ps3 for blu-ray.



Oh ...my theater room is 22 x 20

I was looking at the klipsch floor speakers.

My question is that, when buying floor speakers what should the wattage be on them? One model has 125W RMS and other one has 150W RMS. Since my amp can only supply 120W should i buy the 125 only?

These are the models i was looking at
RF-62 125W RMS


RF-82 150W RMS


or should i go with a diff brand ?
THanks.

[StimpsonJCat]

You only need to worry about wattage on speakers if you are using an amp rated higher than the speaker. Your only concern should be if you go with 4 (or 6) Ohm speakers instead of 8 Ohm. Then you might want to see if you AVR can handle driving them.

As far as what towers to get I'd recommend going to stores and listening to different brands. Klipsch use horn tweeters and most consider them to be bright. IMHO they are great with rock music, but for the most part they are too bright for me. Most love or hate the Klipsch sound so it really boils down to if you like their sound or not.

Several brands to check out:

Polk Audio
Energy
Boston Acoustics
Monitor Audio
Paradigm
PSB
Definitive Technology

[progression101]

Originally Posted by StimpsonJCat

You only need to worry about wattage on speakers if you are using an amp rated higher than the speaker. Your only concern should be if you go with 4 (or 6) Ohm speakers instead of 8 Ohm. Then you might want to see if you AVR can handle driving them.

As far as what towers to get I'd recommend going to stores and listening to different brands. Klipsch use horn tweeters and most consider them to be bright. IMHO they are great with rock music, but for the most part they are too bright for me. Most love or hate the Klipsch sound so it really boils down to if you like their sound or not.

Several brands to check out:

Polk Audio
Energy
Boston Acoustics
Monitor Audio
Paradigm
PSB
Definitive Technology

I have Klipsch surround speakers currently. In general i like softer silkier hi's not that penetrating rock like metallica hi's. They hurt my ears. So maybe klipsch is not the right brand for me. I'll have to visit the hifi store and listen.

It says Speaker Impedance: 4-ohm or 8-ohm, that means it should handle 4-ohm right?

[Fors*]

Since you seem to really like the sound of the Klipsch speakers, which I too, like StimpsonJCat believe them to be a bit bright, then you should take a read of the klipsch speaker thread for additinal info......here is the link....

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=65891

[StimpsonJCat]

Originally Posted by progression101

I have Klipsch surround speakers currently. In general i like softer silkier hi's not that penetrating rock like metallica hi's. They hurt my ears. So maybe klipsch is not the right brand for me. I'll have to visit the hifi store and listen.

It says Speaker Impedance: 4-ohm or 8-ohm, that means it should handle 4-ohm right?

It all depends on the impedance along with the speaker sensitivity. My E70s have a sensitivity of 90 db and are 8 Ohm. They are very easy to drive. A 4 Ohm speaker with a low sensitivty will be harder to drive (It will put more strain on the Amp).

You should read Big Daddy's thread on the subject:

It is very doubtful you will get speakers that will cause any problems for your AVR. Most speakers that are hard to drive also come with a hard to afford price tag.

[talstarone]

Thats quite a receiver you have there.
The Sony ES line is Sony's Higher End Line and along with having some extra features not seen on the normal receivers,they also use higher end parts in the amplifier section.
This allows them to have the ability to drive 4/6/8 ohm speakers without providing as Great of a Strain on the Receiver's Power Supply.

The measure of the speakers wattage is based on how much power the speaker can handle without damaging the drivers or crossover(s) in the speaker.
So any speaker that has a wattage rating lower then the wattage rating of your receiver you may wish to avoid.

You can still use those but you will have to be careful of how hard you push the volume on these speakers to avoid damaging them.
Like the others that have suggested going somewhere to audition several diiferent brands and types of speakers,I recommend the same.

Everyones ears are different and each receiver seems to blend with a particular brand of speakers better then others.
So,listen to as many speakers as possible then choose what seems to sound the best to you.

[bigred7078]

Originally Posted by StimpsonJCat

You only need to worry about wattage on speakers if you are using an amp rated higher than the speaker.

Actually this is not true. The rating on the speaker is its continuous wattage rating. Amplifiers put out variable power, meaning it varies according to the demand of the load.

There is no problem in having a 300 watt amp with say 150-200watt rated speaker because in reality you will never hit those peaks with continuos wattage.

Not calling you out, im just clearing up a common misconception

-Steve

[callas01]

Originally Posted by progression101

I have Klipsch surround speakers currently. In general i like softer silkier hi's not that penetrating rock like metallica hi's. They hurt my ears. So maybe klipsch is not the right brand for me. I'll have to visit the hifi store and listen.

It says Speaker Impedance: 4-ohm or 8-ohm, that means it should handle 4-ohm right?

Welcome to the site,

With a Sony amp, it is prolly best to just stick with 6-8 ohm speakers. They can push 4 ohm speakers but they don't do a good job at it. If you prefer the softer hi's, then you will prolly prefer a warmer sounding speaker so I suggest you check out Monitor Audio RS6s ($1000/pr) or BR5's (650/pr) these Energy RC-50s 700/pr, if you want PSBs then try these Image 55 (1000/pr) or for a slightly brighter sound without getting as bright and hi as the Klipschs do then you can look into Paradigm Monitor 7s.

As an alternative these bi-polar speakers are excellent from Def Tech, or Mirage make nice stuff too, and for $300 a pair, that is a really good deal, one week only though. And KEF is always a personal Fav.

But I would suggest auditioning as many as you can. We can all tell you what we like, but it is prolly best you decide for yourself.

Where are you located, perhaps we could locate you a few dealers.

[StimpsonJCat]

Originally Posted by bigred7078

Actually this is not true. The rating on the speaker is its continuous wattage rating. Amplifiers put out variable power, meaning it varies according to the demand of the load.

There is no problem in having a 300 watt amp with say 150-200watt rated speaker because in reality you will never hit those peaks with continuos wattage.

Not calling you out, im just clearing up a common misconception

-Steve

Thanks for the clarification. I should have been more specific. But I meant to say if your amp is rated lower than the speaker you don't have to worry about it, but it is true that you have to really be pushing it to worry even if it is higher. I think you have to worry about damage from distortion caused from underpowering speakers much more than overpowering them...this should be extremely rare.