Audio 101 - Can your speaker be too big for your amp???

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dnavid

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Hi All

I have a couple of questions which might seem silly or obvious to most of you, but still please do answer if you can. I have been speaking to a couple of people (mostly sales men) but no one can really answer my questions with a solid reason or explanation. Mostly they come up with some very very very vague reason, so I don't think they really know....

(1.) Can your speakers be too big for your amp?

(2.) If so, why? and (3.) how do you determine what power amp you need for the speakers?

I recognise that if you have huge mother ass speakers with a low efficiency (<85db) you will struggle to get anything out of it with a small amp and will probably run into clipping issues.

Consider the following hypothetical example. Imagine there are 2 different sets of floor standing speakers. Both have an efficiency of 90db, 1x tweeter and 1x mid range. The first set has 1 woofer and the second say 5 woofers. All other things are equal. (4.) Do you really require a bigger amp for the second set? Even if their efficiency are the same

Any help will be appreciated ???


 
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