2. speakers
  3. 1118190740

Is a Denon 5803 too much for B&W CDM 1NT's?

I have just recently really taken up getting into my system. Over the last few months I have been through a whole bunch of different equiptment some of which I really have liked and others I haven't. My question is, I now am running B&W CDM-1NT's as my mains along with a M&K subwoofer. I have been using a Denon 4802R for the last two years with no problems what-so-ever. I recently purchased a Denon 5803 to give it a shot. I figued that it has some of the features that the 4802 doesn't have, which I might enjoy....But is this too much power for the cdm's? They have a raiting of 120 watts, while the denon 5803 puts out a whole 170 watts. Is this just going to give me more headroom, or should I really worry about damaging the speakers.

Thanks for any assistance you can give. I will appreciate anything you can offer. I have been looking for information regarding this topic on the forum, but have not found anything that really addresses this specific question.

Ben
bearotti
joeylawn36111
574 posts
 
Audiobugged, you answered my question also. I am getting a Monster 2250 power amp, and was thinking about B&W's. Thanks
gonglee3
289 posts
 
It's not a problem. In fact, you can damage speakers with too little power - because of distortion.

There is not too much of a noticeable difference until power is doubled - in the future, you might want to try a different brand of amp to really upgrade the sound. For music, going separate pre and power amp will give you a better performance. For movies, the denon is ok. Music sounds pretty good too, but for the next upgrade, I would add a dedicated music system, if you should desire a better sounding music setup.
bearotti OP
160 posts
 
Currently I use my system for about 50/50 music/movies, but I want it to sound the best whatever I do. I would be curious about any thoughts as to the addition of a preamp that has ht pass through as well as seperates for amplification. Would this be a good route to take if I even kept the 4802? I enjoy the DACs in the 5803 for movies, it is a definate improvement above the 4802...But when I am alone, all I use this system for is music. I have enjoyed the additional power of the 5803. It enables a larger soundstage. What other amps or preamps would you recomend, and would you stick with the 5803, or move on?
Thanks
chadnliz's avatar
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
Alot of folks use pre-amps with HT bypass, mostly tube pre-amps seem to be desired (best of both worlds)
joeylawn36111
574 posts
 
Gonglee is right. When low power amps go into 'clipping' - this happens when the output signal voltage is equal to the power supply voltage - this produces many high frequency harmonics which are routed to the Tweeter by the speakers' crossover, burning it out. It's a lot harder to clip a big amp - higher power supply voltages, etc. Your personal set of transducers would probably burn out first (time to turn down the volume once the bleeding starts) :>0 ;)
More to discover