derrickcook19941 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 so...i recently have acquired a pair of MTX AAL2230s and i already have a pair of polk monitor 60s. my question is, in the vintage receiver world, how many watts per channel would i need to safely powere these guys? ive been looking at a technics sa-500 receiver to power these, which puts out 55 wpc. i know the MTX's take up a buttload of power. HELP. trying to find the right wattage is a headache. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenh Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Always try and get the RMS output of the amp as close to the RMS rating of the speakers. So if their power rating is accurate you will need a pretty big amp to drive them properly, I don't know them but know their type and how difficult this sort of thing can be to drive well. I have seen 600w ratings bandied about, is this a Maximum figure or an RMS figure? If it's Maximum I would expect your Technics will be fine but if it's RMS then it will not be very happy and will get hot and bothered trying to drive them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnelltech Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 The specs I'm seeing for those speakers show a pretty high 93db sensitivity, so they should be easily driven to pretty good volume levels by most amps. However, they also look to be 4 Ohm so make sure that whatever you get can handle that impedance. The technics unit you mentioned is rated at 60 watts/ch (20-20k) @ 4 Ohms so it should work just fine. I wouldn't be overly worried about trying to get an amp that can match the speakers wattage specs... I'm guessing that, regardless of the rating, those speakers wouldn't fair very well if they ever saw the 300 watts RMS that they're rated at. Also, you would likely do all sorts of bad things to your hearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickcook19941 Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 The specs I'm seeing for those speakers show a pretty high 93db sensitivity, so they should be easily driven to pretty good volume levels by most amps. However, they also look to be 4 Ohm so make sure that whatever you get can handle that impedance. The technics unit you mentioned is rated at 60 watts/ch (20-20k) @ 4 Ohms so it should work just fine. I wouldn't be overly worried about trying to get an amp that can match the speakers wattage specs... I'm guessing that, regardless of the rating, those speakers wouldn't fair very well if they ever saw the 300 watts RMS that they're rated at. Also, you would likely do all sorts of bad things to your hearing. Always try and get the RMS output of the amp as close to the RMS rating of the speakers. So if their power rating is accurate you will need a pretty big amp to drive them properly, I don't know them but know their type and how difficult this sort of thing can be to drive well. I have seen 600w ratings bandied about, is this a Maximum figure or an RMS figure? If it's Maximum I would expect your Technics will be fine but if it's RMS then it will not be very happy and will get hot and bothered trying to drive them. thanks for the help guys, i actually just picked up a sony 70 watt rms receiver at goodwill today for 20 bucks and it works pretty good. its at 8 ohms though, will that damage the speakers? im not really so much worried about damaging the receiver as the speakers. and im aware that going anywhere past about the 6 or 7 mark on the volume on any receiver can damage both the speakers and receiver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickcook19941 Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 from what i'm seeing im guessing it wouldnt be a good idea to use the 70 watt rms 8 ohm sony with the mtx's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnelltech Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 What's the model # on that Sony receiver? If its not able to deal well with the load it'll likely damage the amp before any issues with the speakers occur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickcook19941 Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 What's the model # on that Sony receiver? If its not able to deal well with the load it'll likely damage the amp before any issues with the speakers occur. STR-AV570 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickcook19941 Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 so yeah ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenh Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 The specs I'm seeing for those speakers show a pretty high 93db sensitivity, so they should be easily driven to pretty good volume levels by most amps. However, they also look to be 4 Ohm so make sure that whatever you get can handle that impedance. The technics unit you mentioned is rated at 60 watts/ch (20-20k) @ 4 Ohms so it should work just fine. I wouldn't be overly worried about trying to get an amp that can match the speakers wattage specs... I'm guessing that, regardless of the rating, those speakers wouldn't fair very well if they ever saw the 300 watts RMS that they're rated at. Also, you would likely do all sorts of bad things to your hearing. Ok if those figures are what the maker quotes then that makes sense, I was expecting with the 600w rating I was seeing with a quick google search that they would have a very low sensitivity and would be difficult to drive but 93db as donnelltech says is pretty high and yes the 300w rms rating is quite probably quite hopeful for any length of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickcook19941 Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Ok if those figures are what the maker quotes then that makes sense, I was expecting with the 600w rating I was seeing with a quick google search that they would have a very low sensitivity and would be difficult to drive but 93db as donnelltech says is pretty high and yes the 300w rms rating is quite probably quite hopeful for any length of time. my question now is if this new sony receiver can handle these guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allenh Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Your Sony should produce more power into 4ohms than it does into 8ohms. Sony quote 80w a side into 4ohms, I would have hoped for more than that with 70w a side into 8ohms but it will still do the job. I found the instructions on the Sony website and it's got a built in phono amp so that's a plus as well. You can find the instructions at the link below https://docs.sony.com/release/STRAV570.PDF I have to say though the Technics is way better looking and probably sounds better, I found a site quoting 70w a side into 4ohms for that so now you can see which sounds better into those speakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxmartinxx Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 With 93 dB sensitivity, you could power those with an 8 watt per channel SET tube amp. Don't worry about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickcook19941 Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 the dude sold the aal2230s out from under me before i had a chance to pick them up. im pissed. but ive been on craigslist and theres some hitachi hs d100s on there and they look pretty comparable, anyone know if the receiver will be able to push these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnelltech Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 The Hitachi speakers are 8 ohm so no worries about impedance. They are rated at 100 watts max, but I typically don't pay much attention to power ratings, regardless. I couldn't find a sensitivity rating, but I'm guessing in the high 80s would be about right. They don't have the horn tweeter that was likely a huge factor in the high sensitivity rating on the MTXs. Still these should sound decent and be driven fine by that Sony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickcook19941 Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 The Hitachi speakers are 8 ohm so no worries about impedance. They are rated at 100 watts max, but I typically don't pay much attention to power ratings, regardless. I couldn't find a sensitivity rating, but I'm guessing in the high 80s would be about right. They don't have the horn tweeter that was likely a huge factor in the high sensitivity rating on the MTXs. Still these should sound decent and be driven fine by that Sony. really appreciate the help with all this. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnelltech Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 You're welcome, man. I hope you enjoy your new stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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