Underpowering speakers?

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Slec

An earlier thread led me to the decision to purchase new Fronts and Center for my Home Theater. I've done a ton of work with car stereos but I don't want that to make me make a bad decision.

I have an Onkyo 605 (90 watts RMS)
I'm looking at buying either Klipsch F3's or Polk RTi10's. The Klipsch's are rated at 150 watts rms but have a high sensitivity (98db). The Polks handle up to 200 watts rms, but at 98 db. Significantly underpowering speakers can lead to distortion which will blow the horns. Should I be worried about that with the above speaker sets?

Thanks, and opinions are also welcome on the speaker choices

The Onkyo can handle either set. It's a bit different with 8 ohm speakers, than the 4 ohm standard you see in car stereo, or higher end home speakers that are running at 4 ohm.

If you were looking at the higher end stuff (I presume you're looking at Best Buy for speakers - don't know if anybody else is carrying the F-3's at a storefront) slide over to Magnolia and see what's up with Vienna Acoustics, Monitor Audio, and some of the other high end brands. Most are 4 ohm - Definitive Technologies are the only brand running 8 ohms as a standard. You're very right - not having enough power will cause distortion in sound, and problems with the amp.

Either set, the Polk RT10 or the Klipsch, will sound nice being pumped by the Onkyo. The think is, the Polks won't come alive until you really crank them. The Klipsch will sound better at lower volume - appreciably better, to my ears - but it depends on how you listen to them, or watch films.

Some folks think Klipsch is overly bright at high volume, but their complaints are usually with the higher end speakers. Give them a listen at volume, and have the guy feed them with a modest amp on the rack, not one of the powerhouses they use to impress folks. Anything pushing 80-100 watts is a fair test.

Side note: Power ratings for both the amps, and the speaker capacity, are not all that reliable. When you do your sound checks, take a look at the volume knob when you're hearing what you want to hear - if it's anywhere above 6 on a 10 scale, you're not in a good place to be.