Pro Audio - Is my amp too powerful?

Question

I have 2 Yamaha S115V Club V 500w Speakers, and would like to power them with a Crown XLS 202 amp. It is rated to 600w @ 8 ohms bridged (as I have it), or 300w @ 4ohms stereo. Will running 500w speakers on 600w from an amp damage them?

Answer 1

You should be able to use this Crown amplifier to drive your Yamaha Club speakers. I looked at the Yamaha website and the S115 program or RMS capacity is 500 watts while the peak power handling is 1000watts. To ensure that your Crown does not go all the way to 600w nominal or program power, turn the k**b down in front of your crown to make sure you are not putting out the maximum of 600w RMS or program power.

http://www.crownaudio.com/pdf/amps/13943...

Here is the Yamaha site:

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/Document...

Yamaha S115V Club Series V Speaker Specifications:

Bi Amp or Full Range Full Range

Cabinet Dimensions in Inches 19 x 28 x 15

Casters No

Covering Type Carpet

Crossover Frequency 1.6kHz

Enclosure Ported

Enclosure Materials Medium Density Fiberboard - MDF

Frequency Response 55Hz-16kHz

Horn Throat In 1"

Magnetic Shielding No

Power Rating Handling 500 and up  

Unpowered

Sensitivity SPL@1W/1M dB 99

Speaker Configuration 2-way

Speaker Type Mains, Tops

Stand Mount Yes

Tweeter Size 2"

Tweeter Type titanium

Weight lbs 50-99

Woofer Cone Material Paper

Woofer Size In 15"

Answer 2

I agree with Skepticb, I believe you'll be fine as long as you turn the amp down a bit so you don't peak the speakers all the time (even though you may not have them loud at all they may still crackle and this in fact damages them). I doubt they would be peaking at all anyway; 100 watts on top of 500 for those speakers wouldn't be a big deal. Normally though I like to have speakers which have higher wattage ratings (if not the same) than whatever amplifier is being used..you can always turn the volume up ;)