Amplifier Watt Question....noob question

[hasher22]

Hey guys....arrg im shopping for a new 4-chan amp to run through my 4 speakers.

This is what i have;
4 x Pioneer TS-E1695 Speakers
3-Way Configuration
220 Watts Max. Power Handling
60 Watts Nominal Rating

1 x Pioneer GM-6200F 600W 4-Channel Bridgeable Amplifier

My question is;
Amps with more watts (such as 1000W), will this make the speakers perform much more better? or..........??

[Kaotic Lazagna]

i don't know the complete details, but it's better get an amp that has more power than what your speakers can handle. the speakers will just not use the extra power. it will make them perform their best (i think).

it is worse to have an underpowered amp since it will make your speakers work harder (which is why i want to get another amp for my sub, but i'm too lazy to get one, rewire everything, etc).

[-m-]

Two approaches:

Budget minded: You have 100W speakers you get a 75-100W (RMS) amplifier to run them. They get clean power and sound great. Amp works to its full output and as long as it doesn't start clipping (distortion) all should be fine and dandy.


More fanaticaly minded: You have 100W speakers you get a 200-300W amp and run the gains down on it so that it doesn't blow your speakers. Speaker gets its full rated power and sounds great. Amplifier never strains itself because its gains are down to lower its output power to match the speaker. Amp runs cooler and you gain 3db (or more) headroom and theoreticaly reduce distortion further.


Realisticaly: End result is the speakers sound a lot better. If you aren't the type of person who can pick out the most minute of differences (which could arguably be more a placebo effect than anything) in your sound system go with the smaller and cheaper amp. Realize your in a car that hasn't had 200lbs of sound deadening to make the interior quiet as a mouse so that you can actualy hear those differences,if any, while doing 80 on the highway. If on the other hand you feel that more watts/headroom is money well spent then go with a bigger amp.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

i kinda regret getting the amp i got, so i suggest getting an amp that exceeds (not by much) the RMS rating on the speakers. i don't care too much for peak power since the majority of the time the speakers are working, they will be (if power is available) at their RMS rating. that's just me tho...

[07typeS]

Yea your best bet if you have 60 watt rms speakers, is to get a 4 channel amplifier that puts out maybe 80-100 watts rms to each channel and just tone the gain down like -m- says, amplifier runs cooler, you arent trying to force too much out of it, better SQ, and you leave a little headroom for turning up the gain if you ever decide to....