Brad,
That is an interesting
point you bring up about the “program”
power rating. I would love to know the source of that. It makes sense from the other stuff I found, only one mentioned “program”. After our other posts I did some more research and found the following about amp to
speaker matching.
EAW recommends an amp that is double the
power handling
rating.
EAW: Application Support Group
JBL says to use a amp that is capable of doubling the continuous
power rating of the
speaker. It also points out that if your amp is quality enough match you should match the continuous
power.
Frequently Asked Questions
JBL also publishes a paper explaining how under powering a
speaker can be a problem.
Danger: Low
Power
JBL :: Technical Library
Because the speakers we are talking about are
Peavey I looked them up as well.
Peavey’s paper says both match to program or continuous. And
Peavey makes a big deal about you cannot under
power a
speaker.
How Much
Power for My Speakers?
Peavey.com :: Tech Notes
Your school of thought about choosing amps that match application makes sense to me and seems very logical. My concern with it comes when someone comes in and tries to use it for a different application but some of that would be planned for in a well designed set up like you described. With the application at
hand being a multi-purpose facility with unsupervised users I would choose amps like you described for a touring or rental rig. Thanking for a good discussion.
Jared555,
Your original question does the
current configuration of your
system increase the risk of damage. I do not believe there is enough information provide for anyone to definitively say NO. There are too many unanswered questions. I have the same concern as what others seem to have. How is the
system crossed over? Or is it? I believe that is your biggest thing to check and prevents a definitive answer. I bring up the amp to
speaker power matching because in your facility I would bet someone will come in and try to drive the
system like a rock concert, if they have not already. And the under
power of the speakers could cause a problem of amps
clipping and sending a
square wave down the
line. As
Brad pointed out the under powering itself is not an issue if you do not need to or no one tries to push the speakers beyond what the amp can provide. Of course, my school of thought is not without its problems. While
clipping should not be a problem one can
send too much
power and blow the
speaker that way. I think the solution is to find a happy medium.
There is also a school of thought that no sound
system is free from the risk of damage. The only real way to insure the survival of a sound
system is to either never turn it on or have a qualified and trained engineer over see it and maintain the
system. There is equipment
compressor, limiters that will help but the best way to save your
system is to have someone over see its operation. Hopefully you can help the money people see that.
G