Selecting speakers

Lenaxia

I actually have two questions:

The first is how to select power ratings on speakers. This is my first audio system and I picked up one of Onkyo's new HT-RC160. I would've done the 607 but the 160 had a pretty steep discount from newegg and I'm not looking to blow out my windows. It's rated for 80W/ch x 7 channels.

Now when selecting speakers to go with it, and I see a power rating should I get one that matches the range more? Specifically I'm looking at a pair of Polk Monitor 50's or Monitor 60's.

The 50's are rated 20-150W and the 60's are rated 20-200W. If I were to get the 60's would the volume suffer if my reciever can't put out enough power? Or would I actually get more? Or does it not even matter?

As a continuation of the previous question, what about choosing a sub. The RC160 has a dynamic power rating of 100W at 8ohms. This means that if I get a 200W continous power sub, I'm wasting 100W even at the peak. But if I were to get a 50W continous power sub (Polk's PSW10), would I risk damage to the sub due to the extra power going to it? Or am I interpreting all these numbers wrong?

My second question is more specific. So right now pretty much only my computer is hooked up to my reciever as I have an HTPC. It serves as my music player, DVD player, Bluray player, etc. However I noticed something interesting. When no sound is being outputted, the reciever turns off the sound channels, and if for instance there's a very quick sound that occurs on the computer, it gets dropped because the reciever can't respond fast enough to turn on the channels and play the sound. Is there anywya to disable this? Not really asking specifically for the RC160 (since not too many people probably have one), but do other Onkyo recievers have a feature as described? I wasnt able to find one.

Loves2Watch

Speaker wattage ratings are nothing more than a guide for maximum power input. As long as the speaker is rated for more than the receiver can output all will be fine. As for volume you want to look at the speakers sensitivity (also known as efficiency). The higher the number, the more sound (volume) it will produce. I recommend that people with lower powered receivers (you are in this group) look for speakers that have a sensitivity rating of 90db and above, higher being better (more efficient which requires less power to get a higher volume level).

As for powered subwoofers, they have their own power amplifiers so the power they are rated at is actually what they produce.

Did that help?

How exactly do you have the computer connected to the receiver? I have not heard of or experienced anything like this and use a receiver with computer for audio in several systems (all Onkyo equipment). More details will help us to troubleshoot this situation.

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Theater 1 - Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.
Friends don't let friends buy Korean brand TV's.

Lenaxia

Thanks for the feedback L2W!

As for the other problem...

The three components in my setup are:

- 47" Philips 47PFL7422D/37B TV
- Onkyo HT-RC160
- Custom built Shuttle with a SAPPHIRE 100252HDMI Radeon HD 4550 512MB graphics card (HDCP compatible)

Previously I had my computer directly hooked to my TV through HDMI with no issues. Could also play Bluray using PowerDVD.

Currently, the Shuttle is passed to one of the HDMI inputs of the Onkyo receiver (in thise case the DVD/BD port). From there the receiver is passed to the TV through another HDMI cable. It's a pretty basic setup.

I currently have my receiver set to "TV Audio ON" since I don't have my speakers yet.

A more detailed manifestation of this can be given in two examples: The first is the startup tone for Windows. When I log in, or log off for that matter, only about the last half second of sound is played when it goes through the receiver, whereas if it goes straight to the TV the entire tone is played.

The other manifestation is when I play music after not having done much for a while. If my computer is sitting idle of not doing anything that produces sound (like web browsing) then I start playing music, I lose about 2-4 seconds of sound at the beginning of the first song I play.

One thing I did notice is that occasionally, when I watch videos, as soon as I launch my player (in this case Media Player Classic), I hear a power relay switch from the receiver and the display goes from "TV sp ON" to "TV sp OFF" and then back to "TV sp ON". Other times it just sits with the display reading "TV sp ON". All the while, it does not pass these small sounds to the TV.

These are minor annoyances but I'd rather it be passing all sounds in the event that some situation in the future requires that I be able to hear such tones.

Let me know if you need anymore information.


[Edit] I forgot to mention, I run Windows XP MCE 2005.

PFC5

The efficiency/sensitivity of speakers are fairly important when making a decision about what to buy for your existing equipment or new equipment.

As a frame of reference, every 3db drop in this rating doubles the amount of power needed to produce the same volume output as a speaker that is rated 3db higher. In other words, a speaker that is rates at 87db requires twice the power compared to a speaker rated at 90db to achieve the same volume level.

Another thing to remember is that power usually is not what blows speakers (as long as the speaker is rated for that power rating), but it is distortion that kills speaker more often. Distortion increases as you push the receiver closer to the maximum power rating by turning the volume up to closer to maximum on the dial. This is why L2W stated a higher efficiency/sensitivity rating for speakers are desired when you have a lower power receiver.

A good rule of thumb is to never turn the volume over about half what the dial will allow as this is where the distortion will start to get to higher levels that can damage the speaker. If it does not get loud enough, then you either need more efficient speakers with a higher db rating, or a more powerful receiver or amp with the current speakers to protect killing the speakers.

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Loves2Watch

If you don't have any speakers, why are you using the Onkyo receiver?

__________________
Theater 1 - Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.
Friends don't let friends buy Korean brand TV's.

Lenaxia

I have ordered my speakers but they haven't arrived yet. And so I got the system setup without them for now. They're supposed to arrive next week.

Loves2Watch

Having your computer connected to the receiver first and then the TV is creating the lag time. It will be much better once you get some speakers and eliminate the audio connection to the TV.

__________________
Theater 1 - Panasonic TH-85PF12U Plasma TV, 6 Conrad Johnson LP275M Amps, Anthem Statement D-2 Pre/Pro, 6 Thiel SCS4 Speakers, 2 REL T-1 Subs, Infinity Interlude 120S Sub, Simaudio MOON Orbiter Universal Disc Player, ELP Laser Turntable, 2 Dish Network ViP 622 DVR's, Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player, Onkyo DV-HD805 HD DVD Player.
Friends don't let friends buy Korean brand TV's.