Help!!!!

[METZCOOL]

Ok you wireing pros, I need some help!!

I have 4 polk 501's at 4-45 watts rms and 135 watt rms peak power and would like to hook them up to a Kenwood KAC5201 2 channel amp rated at 40 watts rms at 2 ohms and 60 watss rms at 4 ohms.
The amp was free so I would like to use it.
Will this work?

[Doug Hess]

Hi, Metz. Well, the simple answer is yes, it'll work. But (you knew there would be a but), those ratings, though not particularly meaningful, are there as a guideline to tell you what you need to get the most from your speakers.

If your amp can go 40 watts into two channels, it's doing 20 watts into four.

The danger here is that you'll exceed the capabilities of your amp, causing it to "clip," or go into distortion. That can kill your tweeters pretty fast. But if you never approach that limit, you'll be okay.

The good news here is that you've got the specs of the amp backwards, as it produces 40 watts at 4 ohms, not 2 ohms.

The bottom line is that if you plan to play music at higher volumes, I would strongly recommend that you upgrade your amp to match your excellent speakers.

-Doug