Vintage JBL 44 Lancer with a Consonance A100II solid state amp

[EVDavis]

I just got these speakers yesterday. They have been re-foamed by the guy I bought them from, good job too. Today I have been going through different amps to see which I like the best. Single ended and PP tube amps and one solid state amp, the Consonance a100II Super. I also use the Elekit preamp to give it some tubiness but I think I don't really need it. Anyway, I prefer the Consonance amp for these speakers over the tube amps, which seems weird to me but they seem to match. My question is since these speakers are quite vintage and the speaker manual states that a 20 watt amp is enough to power the speakers am I taking a chance in using this amp? I don't want to blow or damage these speakers. I don't blast music but it still makes me worry if I turn it up too loud. The amp is 80 watts X 2.
I used the amp and speakers together today for at least 4 hours. It seems to have caused no issues but I just want to ask what others might think.

 

[staticV3]

If you're worried that you may accidentally knock the Amp's volume knob out of position, then you could put an additional preamp between your sound source and the Amp.

Set the Consonance to full volume, the preamp to min volume, then start playing and slowly turn up the pre until it's as loud as you'll ever need.
Then leave the preamp where it is (maybe put some hot glue on the knob so that it can't move), and put it somewhere out of sight never to be touched again.

That way, even if you accidentally set the Consonance to full volume, it'll be loud but not destructively so.

 

[EVDavis]

I'm glad I joined this forum.

 

[AwesomeSauce2015]

Also, you can run any speaker off any amp without damaging it, so long as you don't turn it up too loud.
For most residential cases, your amp is probably only doing 1-10w average output.

We can actually calculate this. Right now, I'm using a pair of KEF Q100s on my desk, listening to some music at about 2 feet distance and 60db.
Based off the measurements on this forum, they have around 85db of sensitivity in the midrange.
Putting the figures into an amplifier calculator (The math ain't that hard, but I don't want to do it...): https://support.biamp.com/Design_Tools/Amplifier_Power_Calculator
We get 0 watts. Basically, so little power is being used that it rounds to 0. So, despite me having a 2x60w amp, the speakers are barely seeing a watt (RMS).

Now, if I listen in my 2nd listening position, about 6.5 ft away, at 80db, the calculator says I would need 1.2w continuous.

So you might ask, why do I have a 2x60w amp (and 2 300w subs)? There are 2 reasons: EQ, and dynamic headroom. My EQ involves correcting the Q100s bass dip (+6db @ 60hz) and the subs' bass drop (+9db @ 20hz). This greatly increases my power requirements. Then I want dynamic headroom. If we use the calculator, with 6.5 ft distance, 85db sensitivity, 80db cont, and 20db peak headroom, it says we need over 120w for peak power.

In conclusion, my main point is that you can (and I often recommend to) use an amp with about 2x the speaker rating. The headroom offered by the more powerful amplifier will help avoid clipping which is usually more dangerous than over-powering your speakers.
You just need to be careful to not turn up the volume to where it would damage the speakers. Realistically, if you accidentally bump the volume knob, you'll either pause it, mute it, or turn it down quickly enough to avoid damage.

 

[EVDavis]

Also, you can run any speaker off any amp without damaging it, so long as you don't turn it up too loud.
For most residential cases, your amp is probably only doing 1-10w average output.

We can actually calculate this. Right now, I'm using a pair of KEF Q100s on my desk, listening to some music at about 2 feet distance and 60db.
Based off the measurements on this forum, they have around 85db of sensitivity in the midrange.
Putting the figures into an amplifier calculator (The math ain't that hard, but I don't want to do it...): https://support.biamp.com/Design_Tools/Amplifier_Power_Calculator
We get 0 watts. Basically, so little power is being used that it rounds to 0. So, despite me having a 2x60w amp, the speakers are barely seeing a watt (RMS).

Now, if I listen in my 2nd listening position, about 6.5 ft away, at 80db, the calculator says I would need 1.2w continuous.

So you might ask, why do I have a 2x60w amp (and 2 300w subs)? There are 2 reasons: EQ, and dynamic headroom. My EQ involves correcting the Q100s bass dip (+6db @ 60hz) and the subs' bass drop (+9db @ 20hz). This greatly increases my power requirements. Then I want dynamic headroom. If we use the calculator, with 6.5 ft distance, 85db sensitivity, 80db cont, and 20db peak headroom, it says we need over 120w for peak power.

In conclusion, my main point is that you can (and I often recommend to) use an amp with about 2x the speaker rating. The headroom offered by the more powerful amplifier will help avoid clipping which is usually more dangerous than over-powering your speakers.
You just need to be careful to not turn up the volume to where it would damage the speakers. Realistically, if you accidentally bump the volume knob, you'll either pause it, mute it, or turn it down quickly enough to avoid damage.

The main reason I asked was because the speakers are vintage and I really like their sound so I didn't want to risk damaging them with something that might overpower them. I don't think I would "bump" my volume. That sounds like I'm a bit challenged.

My reply to StaticV3 was sarcasm due to his sarcasm. If the glue comment wasn't sarcasm then forgive me. "Glue"? Really?! haha

 

[Doodski]

If you hear snap crackling from the speakers then you are hitting the stops and it's time to turn down the power to the speakers. It's that simple.

 

[gene_stl]

You won't hurt those speakers. Very good speakers.

 

[EVDavis]

You won't hurt those speakers. Very good speakers.

So far I love them. They have some water damage on the corners but they are really nice. My JBL l55's go deeper but the 44's are fun.