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Is the Keces S300 power amp a good match with Dynaudio Audience 42 speakers?

Rantenti

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Hello, I have a Keces S300 amp as well as an old pair of Dynaudio Audience 42 speakers. The amp specs seem quite powerful, I don't know if their specs pair up OK. I don't want to damage my speakers. Here are their specs:

Keces S300:
225 watts x2 @ 4 ohm continuous output power / Maximum output power 300 watts x2 @ 4 ohm

Dynaudio Audience 42
Sensitivity 86 dB
Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms
Power Handling: 150 watts (long term power handling)

Thanks!
 
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garbulky

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Rantenti - you are more likely to damage a speaker with an underpowered amp than an overpowered amp. I would use common sense and don't crank it to unreasonable levels and stop if you hear signs of distress from the speaker. Other than that, I think you'll be just fine. I've used a 500 watt @ 8 ohms amp into a variety of speakers of differing power handling levels with no issue.
 
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Rantenti

Rantenti

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Thanks! I'm feeling safe in connecting them now
Cheers
 
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Rantenti

Rantenti

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One thing I dont understand about amp pairing is that some amps/ tube amps seems to have a much smaller power output yet they are said to drive some power hungry speakers well. The screenshot shows an integrated amp with 25 watts into 8 ohms but could drive a hungry KEF Reference 3 with excellent control.

Appreciate it if some light could be shed on this.
 

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HarmonicTHD

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This helps you to calculate the power required based on your speakers sensitivity, listening distance and personal loudness preferences. Many people find 80dB SPL plenty of loud, but of course your personal preferences might differ.


For your speakers already 0.5W average get you 80dB at 8ft listening distance. Modern Music seldom has a dynamic range of 20dB, but let’s assume you want peaks at 100dB, then you would need 50W peak. If you have 4ohm speakers you need 100W peak.

The KEF Ref 3 are well engineered and excellently measuring speakers, with about the same sensitivity as your speakers and there is nothing in the impedance or phase behavior which should pose any problem to a modern, half way decently engineered amp (tube amps are old technology and yes they might or might not have problems). What makes you think they are power hungry? See above, only your loudness requirements are the main driver of what power you need.
 
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Rantenti

Rantenti

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For your speakers already 0.5W average get you 80dB at 8ft listening distance. Modern Music seldom has a dynamic range of 20dB, but let’s assume you want peaks at 100dB, then you would need 50W peak. If you have 4ohm speakers you need 100W peak.

This helps you to calculate the power required based on your speakers sensitivity, listening distance and personal loudness preferences. Many people find 80dB SPL plenty of loud, but of course your personal preferences might differ.

My Dynaudio has a sensitivity of 86 dB/w/m. Inputting "86 dB' and "80 watts" at distance of "10 feet" gives me 98.4 dB SPL at listening position.

However, my speakers are 4 ohms and the amplifier power entry in SPL calculator seems to mean watts into 8 ohms speakers (if my understanding is correct), so I need to double the watts for my speakers, i.e. 160 watts into 4 ohms to get the same SPL. Is this correct?

If this is correct, the values do correlate with Dynaudio's power recommendation of 150W into 4 ohms for these speakers to be driving it loud enough for most living rooms.

Thanks.
 

HarmonicTHD

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My Dynaudio has a sensitivity of 86 dB/w/m. Inputting "86 dB' and "80 watts" at distance of "10 feet" gives me 98.4 dB SPL at listening position.

However, my speakers are 4 ohms and the amplifier power entry in SPL calculator seems to mean watts into 8 ohms speakers (if my understanding is correct), so I need to double the watts for my speakers, i.e. 160 watts into 4 ohms to get the same SPL. Is this correct?

If this is correct, the values do correlate with Dynaudio's power recommendation of 150W into 4 ohms for these speakers to be driving it loud enough for most living rooms.

Thanks.
Correct.
 
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