[Geoff_715]

I currently have the above A/V receiver. I’ve had it since released. It’s been great. I just recently acquired a setup of klipsch RF3, RS3ii, and an RC3. I believe those are the correct ones. I’m looking to possibly bi-amp the fronts in the future. I’d like something a little more powerful to push these speakers. The speakers are 8 OHM and I believe my receiver puts out 90 watts per channel.

While I’ve adjusted settings in the 465. When I watch a good action or of the sort movie I want loud like I’m in a theater. So usually I’ll turn the receiver up to -20 and it’s good but seems like at that volume it should be too loud. I haven’t hooked up the new to me klipsch speakers yet. My current setup is a pair of klipsch Rm51 and a infinity center (It came with a 5.1 speaker setup).
Should I wait and see how I like the new setup first before looking for another receiver? I’m not looking to spend $$$ but if there’s a good older av receiver that’s got a little more power then my 465 I’m all ears what to look for.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

By all means, check out the new speakers before you look into buying a new AVR.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[fokakis1]

Klipsch are typically very efficient. 90 watts should get you to a high spl, especially if you can cross over to a powered sub.

 

[Da Wiz]

90 "receiver watts" is like maybe 25 watts in a full-range standalone amplifier. You should not be listening that loudly without knowing exactly how loud it is using an SPL (sound pressure level) meter as a guide. 85 dB for 8 hours a day causes hearing loss every day, but 85 dB for 2 hours is not problematic. 85 dB is loud, but not "theater loud" to go from 85 dB to 95 dB you need to double the power you send to the speakers by about 3.5 times more watts. If you are using 10 watts per speaker for 85 dB SPL, you will need 60 watts per speaker for 95 dB. If you have 5 speakers, you will need 50 watts if they all produce 85 dB at the same time, but if you go up to 95 dB for all 5 speakers (in this example) you would need 300 watts for the receiver to produce 95 dB from all channels at the same time. This is a simplification, but it represents one of the main issues of power and volume (SPL) and how they are related. If you can play the speakers 90 dB before you detect distortion (harshness and hardness to the sound). If you decide you need 93 dB to reach a satisfying listening level, 93 dB requires twice as many watts of amplifier power. So if you can achieve 90 dB with decent sound and you have a 100 watt per channel AVR, raising the SPL just 3 dB to 93 dB will mean you need 200 watts per channel. A 1 dB difference is a tiny difference but one most people can hear without trouble. 3 dB is easy to detect, but no where near "twice as loud"... most people say 10 dB is "twice as loud". Also, peaks over about 103 dB damage your hearing right now, not later. Most hearing damage is "cumulative" meaning, no one exposure to loud noise causes a loss of hearing, but each time you are exposed to something loud, a little more damage to hearing occurs. One of the fastest ways to lose hearing is to drive a car 100s of thousands of miles with the driver's window down. Truck drivers who do that report losing up to half their hearing in their left ear in about 10 years of a lot of driving with the window down. The wind causes HUGE excursions of the ear drum and that causes HUGE mechanical exercise of the ear bones and nerve system. You don't really hear much but that buffeting sound, but your ear(s) are being pummeled by the wind. You don't want to damage your hearing by prolonged exposure to excessively loud sound and I classify most movie theaters as having sound up to twice as loud as it should be, Use caution when trying to use high/loud listening levels with an AVR... unless you are going to get a 5-figure AVR with serious amplification channels inside.