Guilherme
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Last seen: 9 years 9 months ago
Joined: Jun 6 2014 - 11:46am
First system 2.0 - 2.5USD
commsysman
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Joined: Apr 4 2006 - 11:33am

That business about underpowering speakers is total nonsense.

True, there are some very power-hungry speakers, that will not perform well dynamically if you don't have plenty of power, but concerns about damage are simply a fantasy; no truth to that. In any case, the speakers you are considering are easy to drive, and almost any amplifier will drive them very well.

If an amplifier actually CLIPS, the distortion will be so bad you will quickly turn down the volume and prevent damage. Underpowering is sometimes an issue with 5-channel or 7-channel home theatre systems, because the cheaply-designed receivers that many people buy do not have adequate power supply capacity to play that many speakers really loud, and people foolishly expect a $400 receiver to play like a $1000 one. Ridiculous power claims for these receivers help to confuse people.

The Focal 807V speakers are very good, and that is a heavily discounted price. Their sensitivity is 92 db per watt, which means it only takes 10 watts to produce 102 db at 1 meter in front of the speaker. That is VERY loud! Based on that, I would say any amplifier with 40 watts or more would be quite adequate to drive them. The W, by the way, means the speakers have the "wenge" wood finish; others are available also (rosewood, cherry). Wenge, by the way, is also called African Rosewood, and is endangered and illegal to import, so I am sure the finish is simuulted and not real wood.

I would suggest the NAD C326BEE amplifier, or the Music Hall 15.3 amplifier. Those would be a good match for the Focal speakers.

I suggest that you get a separate DAC, not one included in an amplifier. Putting the DAC in the amplifier chassis is a bad design compromise IMO. the Audioengine D1 is one I would recommend.

Guilherme
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Last seen: 9 years 9 months ago
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Hi commsysman,

Thanks a lot for the explanations. I'm going to follow your recommendations.

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