How much Power do speakers really use ???????


I have a debate going with a friend . How much power do the average speakers really use (not maggies etc) . He scoffs at high end amps that are rated at 100 -150 watts solid state and tubes as underpowered. I say that most of the time you are using less than 5 watts or so. And what do massvie power supplies and capacitors etc really do technically. What do you guys think? Thank You
128x128weiserb
Ok, I've got a question. I've got a pair of B&W 803's in a 12x20ft room. Moderately furnished. I play classical, jazz and hard rock almost about evenly. I like my music at concert levels some of the time and others loud enough so I have to say "what" when someone interrupts me. I rarely listen to music below that, but on occasion.

I am interested in buy a CJ MW60 or Premier 11a. Enough power? How about a Rogue 120 Magnum?
Busaganashi:
To double check my facts,I looked up the B&W Nautalis 803s on their web site;they are rated 90db into 8 ohms.
So 90db would require 1 watt,93db-2 watts,96db-4 watts,99db-8 watts,102db-16 watts,105db-32 watts,108db-64 watts,and 111 db-128 watts.
Sounds to me as if 110-120 Clean watts would fill the bill-with headroom to spare.
So it sounds like the Rogue 120's or perhaps a CJ Premier 12 or 8 is what I need then. Thanks.
I would beg to differ with the conclusion that Pragmatist came up with regarding the B&W's. The figures that he quotes are for a listening distance of one meter from the speakers AND do not take into account speaker compression. I don't know of a speaker made that is linear in terms of input vs output, especially when one starts hitting them with some juice. This has to do with thermal losses in the drivers and crossover components and is pretty much unavoidable to one extent or another.

As such, one should not expect to hear anywhere near the spl's quoted at their seated listening position unless one sits very near their speakers and has a very small room. To achieve the figures quoted at a typical listening distance, i would count on needing at least twice the power ( and more realistically four times that amount ) in order to keep the amp from getting nasty due to being pushed too hard. This is especially true if running a typical SS design.

My experience with speakers rated at 96 dB's and an amplifier rated at 120 wpc in a similarly sized room supports the above statements that i made. I kept popping tweeter diaphragms from driving the amp into hard clipping. Given that these speakers are four times as sensitive as the B&W's in question, i would not count on having enough muscle and doing it cleanly unless you had quite a bit of power. Sean
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So it sounds like tubes are not the best for these speakers then? Sounds like a tube preamp and something like the Bryston 14BST is the better choice? I was thinking about getting the Theta Dreadnaught II as well, but that is only 250w. I don't plan on getting rid of these speakers. In fact, I think I'd buy the 802's to replace them.

My speakers are about 7 feet apart and I'm about 8 to 9 feet back.