Newbie que on "recommended amplifier" rating


I currently have 4 Vienna Acoustics Bachs which, on Vienna's website, have an amplification recommendation of 30-200w. I am currently looking for an amp/pre to replace my very sad Onkyo receiver. I listen to 95%music and 5%home theater, but I really enjoy multichannel SACD and DVD-audio so I am looking for 5 channel amps like theta, simaudio and EAD. I like the pm 2000 for the money but it is rated at 400w into 8ohms and my Bach's are 6ohms so they would be seeing even more than that. In fact, even the theta and sim audio, which are 200w @8ohms would be above the recommended amplification into 6ohms. I want an amp that I can "grow into" (i.e. works with my next set of speakers) as well, not one tailored to Bach's specifically.
My long winded question is: Will these amps damage my speakers and, if not, where do these recommended amplifier ratings come from?
ultraviolet
Most speaker damage occurs from using a under-powered amp than too much power. An amp 'clips' when it is driven past it's rated power, that's what damages voice coils. I believe you can never have 'clean' power. Those amps should be fine.

Regards,
John
"I believe you can never have 'clean' power."

I think John meant to say " I believe you can never have TOO MUCH "clean" power." If that is the case, i agree wholeheartedly : )

Honestly though, you are more likely to damage a speaker from "underdriving it" ( clipping ) rather than "overdriving it" ( too much power ) unless you are simply CRANKING the volume for a good period of time. Speakers will take a helluva lot of abuse in terms of big power so long as it is not long term i.e. short term "bursts" don't build up a lot of heat whereas long term "cranking" continually cook the drivers.

As such, i would not be afraid to go with a more potent amp than what the manufacturer recommends so long as you use reasonable judgment with the volume control. Besides that, i think that all of the Vienna Acoustics speakers are slightly tougher loads ( from what i recall ), so more power would only be a good thing. Sean
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The speaker max power handling is basically determined by how much juice the drivers can physically take. One reason for this rating is to warn you in case you decide to, for example, fill an auditorium-size room with very high SPL levels which requires a lot of power. The power level required to reproduce what you want may be in excess of what the speaker can handle. It's your room and the sound levels you want to produce therein that determines how much power you'll need.

For most home listening room environments, about a tenth of a typical SS amp's power can produce more than enough sound levels for most types of listening. Rarely will you need to crank up the volume to the point of 100% of amplifier potential. Even though your speakers may be rated for 200W maximum, a 400W amp can be attenuated down to a fraction of its rating, so it will not harm your speakers. The only time this could be a problem is if the volume knob is unknowingly pegged full when you start a CD. This type of damage is, I think, very rare.

As far as your speakers being 6 ohm and not 8, this can be a little misleading. It's just an "average" impedance. The actual impedance will most likely vary at different frequencies. Better for an amp to see a flat impedance at 6 ohms instead of one of "8 ohms" that fluctuates all over the place between 1 and 8 ohms. Personally, I would not consider it a factor that an amp has a greater power rating than the speakers can handle - I'd never use it.
I agree. You can never have too much "clean" power. 1 watt of distortion will do more damage than 200 clean watts. 1 thing you haven't looked at: Even though your speakers are 6 ohm which would increase the amp power (except with tube gear) to probably 1.25 or 1.5 to 1, what about efficiency......
A 94 db speaker will be louder at 45 watts than an 87 db speaker with 200 watts driving it! Here's the math:
3db gain by doubling the power
10db gain gives percieved doubling of volume
ie... 1 watt at 87 db = 2 watts to give you 90db, 4 watts are needed for 93db, 8 watts for 96db, 16 for 99, 32 for 102, 64 for 105, 128 for 108, 256 for 111db-THX requires 110db capability if I'm correct.