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Can A 40 Watt Amp Drive A Pair of Dual 8" Tower?

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post #1 of 4

10/4/12 at 8:33am

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65 Posts. Joined 7/2008
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I own a Cambridge Audio Azur 340a amp. I intend to buy 2 BIC Venturi DV84 towers to pair it. I read an interesting article about watts on amps are not SPL. For eg. a single watt can produce 92db at 1 meter. For every doubling of watts there's only an increment of 3db. Read Watts does not equal SPL Those wattages are inflated for marketing purpose.

If that's the case can I safely assume my amp rated at 40 watts per channel be able to drive these 2 huge BIC Venturi DV84 (sensitivity:90db) playing no more than 107db (if 32 watt of amp is used). If not what else am I missing?

post #2 of 4

10/4/12 at 8:57am

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Based on what you posted, your understanding is correct.

The main thing that I see missing are the speaker ratings as the speakers, real world vs anechoic chamber measurements are more like 76dB at four meters vs the stated 1w/1m, 90dB sensitivity rating. What this takes into consideration are your real world listening conditions. This means you'll get ~76dB with the first watt of output and then, with a doubling of power, the 3dB audio increase goes from there. So I would guesstimate, the 90dB speakers of choice, would get you up to about 91dB in real world listening conditions.

You'll get plenty loud but you're not going be doing close to THX, reference listening standards which is the SPL standard movie soundtracks are mixed and expected to meet.

post #3 of 4

10/5/12 at 3:06am

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Ok just stumbled across the BIC site. That confirms the recommendation of 10-250 watts per channel. I'll be using the speakers mainly for TV so I probably won't be needing more than 90db
That's a lot of info you've provided, BeeMan458. Thanks.

post #4 of 4

10/5/12 at 7:48am