RT/FX Power Handling

[mwencil]

I recently purchased a new Sony ES home theater receiver, and it's rated at 100 watts X 5. I am wondering if there will be any issues with the RT/FX handling that power rating. I remember seeing something about these speakers having trouble and wanted to double check. Any info would be appreciated.

[jcaut]

As long as you don't crank it up to the point of hearing distortion, you should be okay. Generally it's not excessive power that damages speakers, but overdriving an amp beyond it's power capability. Power-handling ratings for speakers aren't necessarily meant to be taken as absolutes, since the amount of power that might damage a speaker depends on many factors.

Generally if a speaker is rated to handle, say 100 watts, that means that the speaker should be okay when used with an amp rated up to 100 watts, provided that the amp is not being driven to excessive clipping, the source material is "normal" music-type material cosisiting of a broad range of frequencies at different amplitudes, and that the speaker isn't being fed frequencies that are significantly beyond the range that it is designed to reproduce.

That last one may be especially important with those speakers. I seem to recall a bulletin or note from Polk saying that these speakers shouldn't be set to "large", that they aren't happy trying to produce deep bass. You could call Polk (1-800-377-7655) to get the whole story on that. At any rate, as long as you're not getting distortion, you should be okay.

Jason