Customizing home theatre?

Question

Srry, my friend isn't here to answer this but maybe you can. I want to customize. Lets say if I get a 1000WATT subwoofer and some heavy duty speakers. How much of an amplifier will I need? I know you can't get amplifiers for a house so you have to get a receiver as your amplifier. Does the wattage of the amp in the receiver have to meet the TOTAL wattage of the sub and speaker combine to max out everything? 1000WATT sub+(2) 150WATT speakers=a 1,300WATT amplifier or over? What receiver will do that much?

Answer 1

Hold it.  Power is a bit of a complex topic.  Add the fact that some speaker companies print "POWERFULL 800 watt" on the box to fool the young-and-dumb, and it's even more confusing.

Let me give you some info so you dont get ripped off:

- A good home-theater system feeds an average of 8-15 watts to each speaker at any given moment.

- To increase the volume on a speaker by 1 db, the power must double.

This is why receivers/amps are designed to output 70-120 watts per channel - to handle volume swings from the movie.

(There is a lot more - but let me summarize)

SHORT ANSWER:

A honest receiver from Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo, Sony, Pioneer will produce these power numbers:

Modest receiver to $800 : 60-90 watts per channel

Mid-range receiver to $1,500 : 90-120 watts

High End receiver $1,500+ : 120+ watts

Less reputable companies measure power differently and put "1,500 watts of power" on the box, but using the same techniques as Yamaha/Denon - these units only produce 20-40 watts per channel.  RUN FROM THESE.

Stick with brand-name receivers and you wont be ripped off.

SUBWOOFER:

Buy a self-powered subwoofer.  This way your receiver does not have to provide power.  These are a lot easier to use/adjust.

If you are on a budget - consider a 'kit' subwoofer that you assemble. Check out the Dayton units from www.partsexpress.com (a speaker building site).

Answer 2

You need to do a lot more research.  Yes you can get stand alone amplifiers for homes.  Check out Anthem amps for a start.  Basically you get a pre-out unit and add amplifiers to it.  Your subwoofer for home stereo will most likely have it's own amplifier.