Will these speakers work with my reciever?

Question

I have a kenwood vr615 reciever. It is rated at 100 wattsx6 (50x2 rms at .05% distortion). I'm thinking about getting some sony floor speakers that have two 8" woofers per speaker. I think the sony's are rated around 250 watts. Do I have enough power to benefit from replacing the small kenwood front speakers with these?

Answer 1

The speaker wattage ratings don't mean a thing as far as loudness or quality.  More depends on the design of the speaker and enclosure.  It is not clear whether you have 100W per speaker or 50 W per speaker.  If the speakers are of the low-sensitivity type (fully sealed enclosure) you may not have enough power.  If they are in a ported enclosure, you will be ok.  Unfortunately, without seeing the speaker specs I can't be more specific.

Answer 2

Those speakers will work just fine, speakers do not cause problems with receivers when they have a higher power rating, it just means they can handle more.  The rating of your reciever being 100 watts, but 50 at .05% distortion just means that when it peaks at 100 watts, you have a higher distortion level.  Pay attention to the distortion, because if you turn the receiver beyond the point of distortion, you can blow the speakers, then in turn burn out your amplifier.  Distortion is easy to hear, as it will be very uncomfortable on your ears and will sound harsh.

Answer 3

I'm not sure that would work well.

That "...50x2 rms" has me worried.

How can that receiver be rated at 100 watts x 6 speakers, and 50 watts x 2 speakers?

The other problem is you ruin the soundstage by mixing different speakers.  Your 5 small Kenwood speakers will actually give you a superior movie experience than if you added 2 higher end towers.

If you were going to only hook the 2 Sony speakers to that recevier for a music system -- that might work. But not if you try to just swap out the L/R's.  

Your first upgrade should be a better self-powered sub.  1 speaker change but a huge change in impression.