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I appreciate all the help! Justa_TXguy, I had to google clipping, that does indeed sound very bad! I'll definitely be going with a 100w or greater receiver.
I really like the marantz style, its clean and looks smooth. I'm thinking of bumping up to the SR5010 7.2 receiver. Just curious though, if I only use 5 channels, will the utilized channels receive the surplus wattage, or is each channel limited to the stated output? I don't plan on doing a full 7 speaker setup.
And thanks for those links jbooker82!
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Each channel is limited by the circuit and the ratings of the transistors used. But the weak spot is usually the power supply. That Marantz receiver is rated at "100 watts per channel into 8 ohms (20-20,000 Hz) at 0.08% THD, with 2 channels driven" (directly from the documentation). If you run it in 5 channel mode, then the power supply can't provide enough current to allow all 5 channels to produce 100w. You may only get 80w per channel. If you run all 7 channels you may only get 70w per channel.
While that sounds bad, the ratings were taken by using pink noise (a sound that covers 20hz to 20,000hz with each frequency at the same level) as a signal instead of a movie or music. Pink noise is the most difficult signal to reproduce. Music has highs and lows. Movies really only require 2 to 3 watts of power for average listening. That is until someone shoots a gun. That is a peak and will require 100 times the power for a split second.
Why did I explain all of this difficult to understand wattage crap? To let you know that wattage is the least important aspect of a receiver or any system. Marketing departments and uninformed users get hung up on that rating. Does the receiver have all the inputs you need? Does it have the sound formats you want? Dolby Digital? DTS? Dolby Atmos? DTS-X? Does it have auto calibration (extremely important)? If that is the case then get it and ignore the wattage.
What do you want to look at? Speaker efficiency. A speaker that is rated at 82db @ 1 watt @ 1 meter is not very efficient. If you sit 4 meters from the speaker, it will take approximately 40watts of power to hit 90db at your listening position. And if you have a 100db peak like an explosion then you will need 400w to reach that sound level. If you get a speaker rated at 92db, then you need 2 watts of power to hit 90 at your listening position and only 200w to reach a 100db peak.
What I did - I built the
Dayton III speaker from these plans. They are not very efficient but they sound great. My Pioneer receiver is an older model with the Pioneer Elite power output stage. Even though it doesn't state that it will drive a 4 ohm load, others used it with 4 ohm speakers without issue. With the DIII's being both 4 ohm and not very efficient, when there were loud peaks like gunshots the output section would draw too much current from the power supply which would drop the voltage and go into protection mode (shut off). I resolved it by using external amps to power my front 3 speakers. I bought a pair of
Crown XLS 1000 amps. Yes, they are pro amps. But they work great with home gear. They put out a max of 375w into 4 ohms. One amp runs the left and right speaker. The other amp uses 1 channel to run the center channel. The receiver powers my surround speakers.