How much power can I safely put to my Rainbows?

[kingsxman 10+ year member]

I have a pair of Rainbow CS 230's (pro series...few years old) for my front stage. I'm currently running them off a Profile AP1040 4 channel. I'm running 2 channels which is 80 w to them. I'm going to try to bridge the amp so I can put more clean power to them...but its 255 watts.

I will adjust my gains...but my question is how much clean power can the Rainbows handle before I have to worry about blowing them? Should I just stick with running it as is and giving them 80w?

FWIW, I'll have to double check...but I believe the RMS rating on the speakers is 80 w.

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[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

Severe Clipping (square wave): It always amazes me when I hear some idiot driving down the road and the audio is clearly distorted (is that possible . Many people drive their amplifiers into what could be called a square wave output (white line below). When an amplifier is pushed that hard, it is actually possible to drive the speaker with twice as much power as the amplifier can cleanly produce into the speaker.

Reference: www.bcae1.com #29 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Amplifiers and Speakers: Many people ask the question... Can my speakers handle this amplifier or will this amplifier blow my speakers. Well, the truth is that any speaker can be driven by any amplifier. The only time that there will be a problem is when the person operating the system becomes abusive. Most people (and I do mean most) drive their amplifiers well into clipping. I know what your thinking... I never drive my amp into clipping. Well, you must be one of the very few. Generally speaking, if you have friends who are impressed by high volume, you drive your system into clipping.

Bottom Line: No one can tell you if you will blow your speakers with a given amplifier. They may be able to tell you whether or not a pair of speakers will be able to handle a given amount of continuous RMS power. But... since they don't know your listening habits or your ability to hear (or even be concerned about) distortion, they (in my opinion) cannot actually tell you if a given amplifier (with you at the volume control) will blow your speakers.

Reference: www.bcae1.com #56 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

just because your amp does 250 watts doesn't mean you have to feed them 250 watts.

 

[alphakenny1 10+ year member]

just because your amp does 250 watts doesn't mean you have to feed them 250 watts.

this is correct. watch the gains and settings on your HU you should be fine.

 

[kingsxman 10+ year member]

well, I hooked them up last night. They sound pretty good. I'm getting extra "thump" out of them for sure ....which with a pair of 5 1/4's might not be that good. I have alot of deadening to do so they dont sound like they're gonna blow up! I set the gains using the formula..then backed them off a tad. I think I'm gonna have to back them off even farther because the fronts now overpower the sub a bit at times. (I need to be able to bring the volume on the deck up farther to get better bass...)