Help with new speakers for stereo!!?

Question

The power of my stereo amp is 60W and 6 ohms.

I'm think of getting

Speakers:

75W/280 peak (125W amp recommended)

8 ohms

Sub:

Self-powered (built in amp 300w)150W/250 peak

Do i need an amplifier? I realize I have more room to power up the signal, but i'd rather wait to buy the amp as long as i can power the speakers for now without damaging them. I assume i don't need one right now...

Answer 1

your sub  only powers your sub.. any hook=up speaker or line level only limits what your sub has to handle.. your amp drives your speakers, it is recommended that you have more power than your speakers can handle to keep distortion and heat at a minimum. a 150 watt amp with 1.5 db is called for in your setup.. 19 years audiophile! and repair!

Answer 2

Your stereo amp is 60W @ 6ohm. You do not need an amp. Just buy speakers with wattage around 60W. You should hook up powered sub to your stereo sub-out,  line level signal ( low level signal, not speaker-out terminal).

note: your calc is not correct

1. If the powered sub is rated at 300W, it is 300W max.

2. If the amp is rated 100W, it is usually meant 100W per channel

3. If the speaker rated 75W, it is able to cope with a max of 75W of juice from the amp

Answer 3

I'm no expert but I did read up on the free info from Crutchfield for building custom systems as a hobby several years ago when configuring (2) 10" 2ohm sealed subs wired in series to a 200watt Alpine amp with a two way crossover setup in a car stereo system I was building.

Crutchfield emphasized crossover networks as being far more important over wattage ratings in getting a good sound and efficient use of power especially when it has anything to do with configuring components with mixed impedance which can affect crossover roll off. The torque of a punchy bass that can create that thonky clipped pop sound on a 6" midrange is more controlled by the crossover capacitor applied rather than the wattage.

I saw this first hand and you can try it yourself by connecting an 8 ohm capacitor meant for cutting mid to bass frequencies on tweater components to a full range 4 ohm car speaker and compare it to connecting to a full range 8 ohm home stereo speaker. Big difference in sound and the wattage never changed.

Now the crossover sound diffrence may not be as pronounced mixing 8ohm speakers with an amp expecting a 6ohm impedance as in your situation, but I only posted this as an example to show you wattage should not be your primary concern.

You need to apply a capacitor-(bass blockers) to your full range stereo speakers and a coil to your powered sub unless it already comes built-in depending on how loud you want to play them.

Stereo amps play full range. Surround sound amps already come with a built-in crossover network that can't be turned off which is why I have a dedicated stereo amp for playing music to two speakers each with a 10" bass component and 1" mylar tweater which offer a natural bass block starting at 30hz if I don't play louder than 70 db's(vaccum cleaner volume) in a 12x12 room. I can't use a sub in an apartment for obvious reasons.

I also spoke to a licensed electrician on this wattage stuff for home electronics and he confirmed all this.