Which specs are valuable in determining if an integrated amp will drive speakers well?

[Blake Klondike]

I have a pair of Monitor Audio Sliver RS6 floor standers that I am driving with a Cambridge Audio AM-10. Turns out the amp is 35 WPC into 8 ohms and the recommended power for the Silvers is 40 - 120 W. Am I correct in thinking that this is not enough amp to do the speakers justice? What specs should I be looking at for speakers/amp to ensure I have enough power to drive them? Thanks!

 

[RayDunzl]

The speakers claim 91dB@1W@1m.

My guess is you're OK until you turn the volume knob too far clockwise.

Moderately loud listening, 80dB average, 100dB peaks, you should be good.

The amp spec says

• 35 watts x 2 channels into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz), 0.15% THD at 80% of rated power
• signal-to-noise ratio: 82 dB

Listen and decide for yourself...

I over-power.

700W available for my 20‒500 watts per channel rated speakers.

 

[GrimSurfer]

I agree with Ray's approach wrt over-powered amps. It's safer.

An underpowered amp will clip when driven hard. Clipping is bad for speakers. Really bad. And it can occur atlow levels in an amp that is unable to keep up.

 

[Daverz]

The RS6 do go down to 4 Ohm in the bass frequencies. (Monitor specfices 6 Ohms "nominal").

https://www.stereophile.com/content/monitor-audio-silver-rs6-loudspeaker-measurements

So look for an amp that nearly doubles its output going from 8 to 4 Ohms.

The Cambridge doesn't give a 4 Ohm spec, so I suspect it might not be ideal for this speaker.