On power

[Julf]

With my inefficient electrostats noise has never been audible.

Indeed.

 

[Willem]

It only was - but only just - in the old days of somewhat more efficient ELS 57s and a noisier MM source.

 

[solderdude]

I hope this thread is okay to start. Having recently bought (but not yet received) a Benchmark AHB2 I was wondering about the question, how much power do speakers generally need. Say from low volume (evening) to normal/loud (sunday chores around the house) but not room shaking levels.

Say for a pair of 3-way, bass reflex JBL L112 speakers:

maximum recommended power: 300, nominal impedance: 8 ohm, sensitivity: 89dB​

or say JM Reynaud Offrande speakers,

peak power: 260W, 4 ohm, 89dB​

or say Source Technologies 1.7 Excel (2-way monitor grade bookshelf flare vented - 3rd order) monitors
power min/max: 30W/300W, 8 ohm, 87dB

Ray Dunzl's reply (the first one you got) is correct.

Try it with one AHB2 and if you don't have enough power to your liking with the L112 or 1.7 Excel then you can buy another amp and bridge it and gain 6dB.
I reckon that is not needed though.

 

[Cbdb2]

"We are getting nowhere because you refuse to see things my way, and I refuse to understand your point".

Compression is a lowering of gain with increased signal, ( which also happens in speakers when overheated) clipping is a brick wall limit to the signal, the rails. It's more akin to limiting than compression but a peak limiter creates much less distortion than clipping. Also, compression does create distortion. If you look into Fourier any signal that is AM modulated ( changing the gain ) creates other frequencies, thus THD. One of the reasons an analog audio compressor was one of the most variable ( they all had there own sound ) pieces of studio gear. Also one of the most difficult to design ( there's at least 5 different ways to design the variable gain stage, diode bridges, diode feedback, LDRs, opto occupiers, VCAs and others. And the great ones were very coveted and expensive. So now that we know the differences, let's call clipping clipping, limiting limiting and compression well you know.

 

[Julf]

So now that we know the differences, let's call clipping clipping, limiting limiting and compression well you know.

Ramen!