can i connect 50watt per channel AMP AVR 1600 to 100 watt JBL cinema 300 speakers

No such thing as underpowering a speaker as long you do not get excessive clipping from your AVR, if you think about if underpowering speaker would damage speaker as soon as you turn your volume down on your AVR you would blow you speakers.

Thing to watch is minimum impedance of AVR can opperate vs speaker impedance. If you cannot get appropriate sound level get a more powerful amp at that point.

You might have issues, depending on how loud you want to listen and how big your room is.

The only thing you have to worry about is damaging your speakers by clipping them at high volume that might require your speakers to draw more power from the amp than the amp can send.

This can cause distortion and damage your speakers.

Those speakers say 89db sensitivity, so as long as your room isn't too big, you should be fine.

Please realize that 50w x7 isn't 50w x7 all channels driven - that's 50w x2 channels driven. So with all 7 speakers going at the same time. From the owners manual - 50 Watts x 7, two channels driven at full power at 8 ohms,
20Hz – 20kHz, <0.07% THD, 350 watts total. 65W idle, 540W maximum.

The unit weighs 20lbs. It's probable that you'll be fine.

If you do happen to damage your speakers in the future, you can always use it as an excuse to upgrade.

You can most definitely underpower a speaker - but you'd have to be at a high volume level. His speakers are 89db sensitivity, so he can do lots of sound with a little power. As long as his room isn't too big, or he doesn't like listening really loud, he should be fine. That amp isn't rated at 7 channels driven, it's 2 channels driven - so he can definitely clip and damage his speakers, since my guess is that at 7 channels driven he's going to be in the 10-15w range.


I have no idea what this means, but it's probably wrong.


He told us what he's using - both are 8ohm rated so he's fine.

I still stand correct no such thing as under-powering a speaker i haven't blown my Cerwin Verga D9(200 watts RMS recommended 400 watts amplifier) with my QSC 1050 ( 35 watts a side) yet, the problem is not enough rig for the gig syndrome this is when you start having problem . Overpowering a speaker is a real danger for those who doesn't know what they are doing

The key is making sure you can have the desired SPL in the room without significant clipping for the amp and you are safe.

I think the whole concept of underpowering a speaker is misleading.

I think perhaps it's clearer to say that speaker damage can occur if your amplifier runs out of power due to clipping. More power may avoid clipping your amp. The reason that clipping can damage speakers is that the average power level becomes higher than the speaker can handle (thus, it's too MUCH power than damages speakers.)

Speaker power ratings are often not of much importance. If you plan on pushing reference level SPL, you should look for speakers that can do that. For reasonable levels, some people are getting by with sat speakers that may only handle 50 watts or something.

Nothing wrong with speakers that have 200 watts channel of power handling even if you only play talk radio at lower than conversational levels, for example. Something that may need 1/10 of watt of average power - as I am sure you can logically see, the speakers don't blow up because you do that (or when they are unplugged and sitting in your attic.)

Don't turn the volume too high I would say...

The AVR1600's amplifier is rated up to 280W (according to the transformer rating), so keeping that in mind the maximum possible power output is below the stated 50 x 7.

You are probably looking at closer to 25 x 7.

It will work fine. If you hear distortion, turn it down.

H/K's 50x7 rating is probably very close to a real output of 50 into 5 channels, which is plenty for a sub/sat system like the 300. Those sats have 3" drivers coupled with decent tweeters... but they don't need more than 50wpc.

Low frequencies are what takes most of the power, and in a speaker system like that you are going to be sending only 80-100Hz and higher to your satellites, everything else is handled by your sub.

At volumes most people would consider loud, you are going to be using less than 10 watts to your satellites. Normal listening is usually 1 watt or less. Seriously.

Note that even if your average power is less than 1 watt, peaks can still be quite a bit higher than that due the the dynamics of movies and music. I wanted to clarify that point, but it does not change the situation - your speakers will work.