Speaker wattage question

Why do speaker manufacturers put it in the specs when you can possibly drive anything with 1000wt of clean power?

If the speakers are rated to be able to handle 200 watt/ch continuously and I am using 1000 watt/ch amp, how do I know where those 200 watts are, speaking of volume? 

@inna

The SPL at a listening location is a function of the speaker sensitivity, room acoustics and distance from the source.

You could measure the SPL at 2.83 volts (1w/8 ohms) with the mic at the listening location and then do math from there if you really wanted to. :)

Divide your maximum RMS voltage by 2.83 and convert to dB. Add this to the SPL measured at the listening location and voila, you have your maximum SPL.

inna
2,183 posts
08-11-2016 10:46pm
If the speakers are rated to be able to handle 200 watt/ch continuously and I am using 1000 watt/ch amp, how do I know where those 200 watts are, speaking of volume?

what erik_squires wrote is correct. 
Another method to do the calculation is as follows (you'll find this in several other of my posts in other Audiogon threads):

Say, your speaker is 90dB SPL at 1W, 1m & your speaker is 8 Ohms.
Since it's 8 ohms we are sure that 2.83Vrms into 8 ohms produces 1W of input power.
The SPL with drop by square of the distance from the speaker.
So, if you are listening at 3m (~10' away), the resulting SPL = 81dB.
There is approx 3db loss due to furniture, curtains, carpet, walls absorption.
There is a 3dB increase due to listening in stereo. So, the absorption & stereo effects essentially cancel out. 
You have 81dB SPL at 3m using 1W.
you have 91dB SPL at 3m using 10W.
you have 101dB SPL at 3m using 100W.
you have 104dB SPL at 3m using 200W.
you have 111dB SPL at 3m using 1000W.

using the metric above & your RadioShack SPL meter you can gauge when you have reached the 200W mark approximately (pretty decent approximation). Does this make sense?