Loudspeakers - Yamaha Speakers

[FunnyFellow]

The Yamaha A12 Speaker says it is compatible with their P series amps. Which amp am I looking at to run 2 of these speakers?

Thanks In Advance.

[museav]

To run two speakers as stereo, one per channel? For what application? The A12 is rated at 150W "Noise", 300W Program and 600W peak and is a nominal 8 Ohms. If you are thinking one speaker per amp channel, then a P2500S (250W/channel @ 8 Ohms) or P3500S (350W/channel @ 8 Ohms) probably makes sense. A P5000S (500W/channel @ 8 Ohms) would work but you might have to be a bit careful about driving it to hard for too long.

Based solely on the power ratings, the P3500S would provide about 1.5dB greater output then the P2500S and the P5000S about another 1.5dB, so the P2500S might make the most economic sense. Nothing against the Yamaha P-S series amps and they would work fine, but there is also nothing that I am aware of that specifically makes those particular amplifiers more compatible with those speakers than other amplifiers.

[FunnyFellow]

I would have thought of using more power for a 600 watt max speaker (around 525 watts) rather than 350 watts.

[museav]

Originally Posted by FunnyFellow

I would have thought of using more power for a 600 watt max speaker (around 525 watts) rather than 350 watts.

Why? What is the reason for providing more power? Do you need the additional output and/or headroom? Compare the 500W/channel of the P5000S to the 350W/channel output of the P3500S and that is about 1.5dB difference, something many people would not even notice. So you have to consider what you actually need.

So why would you provide less than the rated 'peak' power? First, that is generally not a real number, typically only the continuous or "RMS" power is actually measured and the 'peak' power is simply calculated as 6dB higher based on the 6dB crest factor of the test signal commonly used. Second, failure from too much instantaneous power, which typically results in overexcursion, is not the only form of speaker failure. In fact thermal failures caused by excessive long term levels are probably more common.

The simple issue is that a 500W/channel amp on those speakers should not be a problem as far as the peak level but it could be a problem as far as the level over longer periods of time unless you are cognizant of that and watch the average levels. Unless you actually need the output or headroom of the larger amp, a smaller amp limits the potential for thermal failures due to the long term average levels. In many cases it is a matter of balancing these two factors.

[3dB]

Originally Posted by FunnyFellow

The Yamaha A12 Speaker says it is compatible with their P series amps.

Ahhh, those crafty advertising types - masters at being misleading without actually lying! A car manufacturer could just as well advertise that their cars are compatible with humans ... in hopes of causing the naive few to believe that maybe - just maybe - other car maker's autos are not ...

That said, I think you'd be plenty happy with their P3500S amp (or other proven manufacturer's equivalent).

Regards,
Mark

[FunnyFellow]

Originally Posted by 3dB

Ahhh, those crafty advertising types - masters at being misleading without actually lying! A car manufacturer could just as well advertise that their cars are compatible with humans ... in hopes of causing the naive few to believe that maybe - just maybe - other car maker's autos are not ...

LOL