Can someone explain home audio?

Question

I am trying to get an explanation on what watts of power have to do with buying a receiver and speakers... also what are ohms? I just want a simple explanation or maybe a helpful link to help me understand what is going on. Would some speakers be too much for a receiver for handle?... how would i knwo this? These are the questions i am trying to figure out. Thanks!

Answer 1

First of all, too LITTLE power destroys speakers.  You get into trouble when you have to turn the volume on your receiver up past TWO-THIRDS to get sound you want.  If it's not loud enough, get a bigger receiver.

"Ohms" refer to the "resistance".  The LOWER the ohm-rating on a SPEAKER, the MORE power you'll get out of your receiver.  The problem is, receiver's are NOT smart enough to know how much power to give a speaker.

If your speakers say "4 ohm" and demand the power level of a 4-ohm speaker from your receiver, and your receiver can only handle an "8-ohm load", then your receiver will give the extra power anyway and DESTROY itself.

The opposite is not true.  8-ohm speakers on a 4-ohm receiver won't hurt a thing.  The receiver will just not give up as much power as it's designed to do.  The lesson here, is "Try to match you ohm load (speaker/receiver)".

Answer 2

Watts=power.  More watts the louder.  Make sure your speakers have a higher watt rating than your receiver.  Ie.. if you have a 100 watt per channel receiver make sure your speakers are at least 100 watts RMS. (rms means continuous watts) Your speakers will say something like 100 watts rms 120 watts max. Meaning they can handle 100 watts continually and short bursts of 120 watts. However, you have to DOUBLE the watts to for a detectable increase in sound. So as far as speakers go sensitivity is a more important number.  This number means how much power is needed for a certain amount of sound.  For example:  if you have a 100 watt receiver and one speaker that has a sensitivity of 90db.  and one with a sensitivity of 86 db.  the 90db speaker will be TWICE as loud.  I wouldn't buy a speaker with a sensitivity under 90db.  They cost more but as far as sound goes your speaker is the most important part of your system. A good speaker will sound pretty good on a cheap receiver.  But a bad speaker will not sound good on a good receiver.

Ohms aren't important in terms of sound but your receiver must be able to handle the ohms of your speaker.  Most home theater speakers are 8 ohms as are most receivers. Ohms refer to how much resistance your speakers put up.  So a 4 ohm speaker requires much more work out of your receiver.  Stick with 8 ohm on both.

So basically if you want a good fairly loud system spend a little more and get good speakers with a sensitivity of at least 90db. (higher number the better) if you do you won't need as powerfull a receiver.  Just make sure your speakers can handle as many watts as your receiver puts out if not it can damage your speakers.

Answer 3

If you start fresh - start RIGHT!

Go to your local hi-fi retailer (NOT BESTBUY or other MEGA store), and listen to a system in your price range.  Once you hear wait you like - BUY IT!

Technical info does not mean anything.

Answer 4

First: plan on getting a AV receiver from a well known company like Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo.  Some Sony receivers are good (the "ES" line) and the Pioneer Elite series is good.

You want something in the 80-100 watt per channel range. More is better, but not required for Home Theater. (You are not filling a concert hall with music, but surrounding 1-3 chairs with an array of speakers. Lots of power/volume is not needed.)

These can all handle almost all well known brands of speakers. Dont worry about trying to "match" the speaker with the receiver.  There is only a few cases where you have to worry about this.

SPEAKERS:

Shop for 5 tone-matched "monitor style" speakers, and a self-powered subwoofer.  These are actually less expensive and work better.  The low-frequency sounds (that take a lot of power to produce) are handle by the subwoofer.  This is why we have self powered subwoofers.

POWER

This is actually a complex topic. Stick with name brand receivers and you wont go wrong.  DO NOT buy some off-brand receiver just because it claims "1500 WATTS OF POWER".  There are several ways to measure power and cheap systems use every trick to make their systems seem more powerful.  They are not.

Companies like Yamaha, Sony, Pioneer, Denon - all give honest power numbers.

I have given a link below to a FAQ that people find helpful.