Okay, so I recently blew out my power amp ( due to my own stupidity ) and am in search of a new one. This is pretty straight forward if you have all the information. Unfortunately, I don't. I have no idea what OHMS or WATTS my speakers are!!! So what i've decided to do is get an amp with similar specifications of my last amp. These specifications are 250 watts being pushed at 2 OHMS. I'm having a ton of trouble finding a good quality amp with these specifications (I want to buy crown or qsc ). I DO have my eyes set on Crowns XTi 1000, but it's watts are so high. Is that okay? My last amp was 250 watts and his one is 700. Would that pop my speakers? Suggestions?
If I remember correctly from a previous article, it is actually less powered amps that cause speakers to blow, as you have to push them more... Don't quote me on this, but remember reading this somewhere.
When looking at power ratings of amplifiers, they are giving maximum power with particular levels of distortion (as the power goes up beyond the maximum RMS ratings, distortion levels tend to rise rapidly). The amplifier is NOT putting out that power always whenever you turn it on; the amount of power it is putting out at any moment is dependent on the input level (which, being music, is somewhat variable) and the position of the volume control. So an amplifier rated for 1000 watts may be putting out less than 1 watt, depending on the input level and the volume control setting. So you can use a powerful amplifier with speakers that cannot handle the total power that the amplifier is capable of putting out. Basically, whenever the sound starts to become audibly distorted, you should turn down the sound. That, however, will not tell you whether the distortion is due to the amplifier reaching its limits, or the speaker reaching its limits, or both.
ps a good rule of thumb is to use the 1.5x rule. if your speakers are rated at 250w each a 375w per ch amp is recommended. more than likely you have 8ohm speakers but i would google the model number on them and find out the rated watts on them. There is pretty much NO SUCH THING as over powering speakers (there IS such a thing, but it is highly unlikely in normal use). In general, clean power will NOT fry speakers, not to mention you aren't going to use 100% of the amps power all the time to drive them at typical listening levels. that power is needed to handle dynamic peaks when things get heavy, so power is a good thing to have in reserve. In other words, as long as you have sufficient power to drive your speakers to the level that you want without distortion, you will be fine.
