Is 500 watts enough?

Question

For a home theater system in a 10x10ft room?

Total watts with a woofer and 4 speakers.

Answer 1

should be, yes as there are only 4? speakers and a sub, especially for a 10by10 room. But have you ever heard of 5.1 surround sound, or isit a typo? If it not get a fith speaker.

Answer 2

Depends on what you would define as 'enough'.

That's plenty for the average person.

Some people - not enough.

Answer 3

That is plenty of power as long as it is an honest measurement of the power of the amp.

This means:

- 500 watts with all channels driven

- Power is RMS and not peak

- into a 8 ohm, resistive/non-inductive load

- Harmonic Distortion below 0.05%

Remember that unlike a stereo system where people want concert-hall volume, a Home Theater system surrounds a few chairs with a circle of speakers.  You do not need or want huge amounts of power.

Having a self-powered subwoofer helps reduce the load on your recevier as well.

Answer 4

Probably --- but there are all sorts of factors to consider.

- What type of sound levels do you consider enough?

If you want "threshhold of pain" levels you may need 10-20 times the power of "very loud".

- What efficiency speakers?

A speaker rated at 94 dB requires 1/4 the power to generate the same loudness level as a speaker rated at 88 dB.

- What type of watts?

Many systems are rated for "music" or dynamic" power, which is usually 2-4 times RMS power (The real reference power).

Power may be rated into a 4 ohm load, in which case it is typically 30-60% higher than into a "normal" 8 ohm load.

Power may be rated for one channel driven -- which gives a much higher rating than all channels driven.

The power rating should be quoted at a realistic distortion level. It isn't difficult to get a 50% higher rating by quoting power at an unrealistic distortion level.

- While less important, even the type of music calls for different power levels.

Rock, piano and organ require more power than chamber music, or acoustic folk music ... not just because of the nature of the music, but the loudness levels that they normally are played at.

- What type of acoustic characteristics does the room have?

If it's "live" less power will appear louder than in a dull room.

Take into acount that loudness isn't linear with poer. A 3dB change in loudness is barely perceptible, yet takes twice the power to produce. A 10dB change requires 10X the power. So, if it takes 100 watts to generate a 100 dB sound (very loud) it takes 50 watts for a 97 dB sound, and 25 watts for 94 dB.

See why worrying about a few watts one way or another is pointless?

So, unless you intend to drive out the neighbours two doors down, 500 watts -- no matter how measured -- is probably loud enough. And if it isn't, you would probably need 2-3000 watts measured the same way to give you the loudness you want -- and few of us could afford that type of amplifier.

Hope this helps.