Truth about head room?

[GreyGTI 10+ year member]

So as my boston acoustic pro60s are on their way I thought I would come to a conclusion about what amp to pair with them but now I'm getting confused.

From all that I have read on this board it's clear these speakers are power hungry and everyone is saying feed them about 200-300 rms. I went to a couple of car audio places around town and heard the same thing from one guy but then another guy (who by the way talked my ear off about specs, engineering etc) told me that would just be a waste on a 150 rms speaker. Now I don't know what to do?

The original plan was to go with a Zed Deuce which does about 400 wX2 at 2ohm. I'm thinking it will do around 300 wX2 at 3 ohm which the pro60's run at. Will that just be a huge waste on the pros? I really need to start to make some decisions or I will be stuck with a set of speakers and no amp.

I guess what I need to know is what do I gain with 150 watts of head room off an amp?

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

In this case I'm not so sure it's about headroom as it is Boston's pretty conservative ratings - if you know what you're doing, the speaker will tolerate more unclipped power. Think of it as a built in "idiot factor".

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

less efficiency.

you'll use the power, tho

it's not for loudness, it's for dynamic range.

oh ya, and loudness too //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Blados 10+ year member]

I had a set running off of about 150 watts each. While they could have taken more, in my opinion, they didn't need more. They sounded excellent with that power. Give them their rms or a little more and you'll be very pleased.

 

[PhatTonyDeMarco 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif What exactly do you think 'headroom' is? Headroom is not sending 300w to a 150w rated speaker. Headroom would be sending 150w to that speaker with an extra 150w to spare...

It sounds like you are asking if those speakers need 300w to run optimumly..?

 

[GreyGTI 10+ year member]

Hmmm see even on the board people are kind of split. The thing is also if I choose to power them with only a bit over 150 watts rms then I can't go with Zed as he doesn't make anything that does that power.

 

[PhatTonyDeMarco 5,000+ posts]

Hmmm see even on the board people are kind of split. The thing is also if I choose to power them with only a bit over 150 watts rms then I can't go with Zed as he doesn't make anything that does that power.

You are not getting split answers here, everyone has told you the same thing...

If you do not want to give them the full potential of the amp, then turn the gain down.....//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/blackeye.gif.66a1670f5aaf7f406e783a63e3387dc5.gif

 

[Blados 10+ year member]

Hmmm see even on the board people are kind of split. The thing is also if I choose to power them with only a bit over 150 watts rms then I can't go with Zed as he doesn't make anything that does that power.

You can always turn your gains down

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Not like you're forced to run that amp with full power all the time anyway...could always set it so maximum unclipped output is 150, or 100 watts, or however many you'd like under 300.

Edit - Blados said the exact same thing in about a third of the space //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[GreyGTI 10+ year member]

I'm a noob so maybe I need you to spell it out for me.

Let's consider two amps.

First amp is the Zed rated at 300 rms. I turn the gains down.

Second amp is a xy amp rated at 150 rms.

Do I gain anything by going the zed route assuming everything but power is the same on both amps?

 

[Blados 10+ year member]

I'm a noob so maybe I need you to spell it out for me.
Let's consider two amps.

First amp is the Zed rated at 300 rms. I turn the gains down.

Second amp is a xy amp rated at 150 rms.

Do I gain anything by going the zed route assuming everything but power is the same on both amps?

Yes, you'll have some headroom. LOL

 

[GreyGTI 10+ year member]

What good is head room?

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

.... you wont have to buy a new amp if you want to run 300w speaks, or 8 ohm 150w speaks.....

plus, you'll have WAY more eq flexibility....

 

[Blados 10+ year member]

If you don't like the performance of the speakers off of 150 watts, you'll have the abililty to give them more, if you get the zed amp. However, if 150 watts is good for you, which I would think it should be, you won't NEED to give them more than that and the xy amp is fine.

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

not to mention, 4 channel power is cheap.

get a 4 channel and bridge it.