How much power?

How much power?

Posted by emsquare (A) on November 27, 2008 at 15:16:04

Hey folks, and happy Thanksgiving to all,

I'm seeking some advice, here, to overcome my lack of engineering knowledge. This is about implementing an electronic crossover for a pair of Magnepan 2.6's. I wanted to write out my thinking process to avoid any costly mistakes. So here goes...

The premise; selecting an amplifier for the ribbons. Now, how to start narrowing down the choices for this. I've acquired a pair of Paul Speltz autoformers and an electronic crossover. Now for an amplifier I can be completely content with. Here is the limited information I have to start with. The ribbon impedance is 1.45 ohms. The protective fuse is 3 amps. The stated crossover point is 1000 Hz. And that's about all I know. So let me start doing a little Ohm's law. If power equals current squared time resistance then I'm going to use the following figures. (I'll choose to assume the ribbon is a 4 amp device)

4 x 4 x 1.45 = 23.2 watts RMS

I will also ignore that the power bandwidth below 1000 Hz. and treat this like a full range device. I wouldn't know how to do that to begin with and will count the unused bandwidth towards things like insertion loss and reliability. And if I double that 23 watts to an even 50 watts then I should have enough amplifier to get all of the sound out of these ribbons that's there to be had. And stay well away from any clipping threshold.

So, have I made any mistakes, here, by deciding on 50 watts as a reference point in the decision process? A couple of amplifiers that could fit the bill might be a Quicksilver M60. Or an ARC VT50.

Thanks offered in advance for any wisdom that can be shared.
In search of musical bliss...

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Topic - How much power? - emsquare 15:16:04 11/27/08 (27)

RE: How much power? - Davey 09:22:35 11/29/08 (1)

RE: How much power? - emsquare 09:11:10 11/30/08 (0)

RE: How much power? More is Better! - Dad 04:23:47 11/28/08 (12)

RE: How much power? More is Better! - emsquare 08:07:24 11/29/08 (11)

Neighbor! - Dad 03:42:40 11/30/08 (10)

RE: Neighbor! - emsquare 08:29:56 11/30/08 (9)

That's a bummer ... :-(( - andyr 16:34:02 11/30/08 (5)

RE: That's a bummer ... :-(( - rljammer@yahoo.com 20:41:41 12/5/08 (0)

RE: That's a bummer ... :-(( - emsquare 17:22:10 11/30/08 (3)

Does that mean I'm in the club, now? ... - andyr 22:53:41 12/2/08 (2)

RE: Does that mean I'm in the club, now? ... - emsquare 14:49:06 12/5/08 (1)

Excellent - enjoy! :-)) nt - andyr 15:00:55 12/5/08 (0)

RE: Neighbor! - Dad 10:17:56 11/30/08 (2)

RE: Neighbor! - emsquare 17:41:51 11/30/08 (1)

RE: Neighbor! - Dad 05:35:34 12/1/08 (0)

RE: How much power? - andyr 00:07:44 11/28/08 (11)

RE: How much power? - emsquare 08:18:49 11/28/08 (10)

Couple of things ... - andyr 13:17:14 11/28/08 (4)

RE: Couple of things ... - emsquare 17:13:53 11/28/08 (3)

PS: ... - andyr 17:42:21 11/28/08 (2)

RE: PS: ... - emsquare 19:18:51 11/28/08 (1)

Hehe ... yes, it's a weird ribbon HP alright! :-)) ... - andyr 20:20:50 11/28/08 (0)

RE: How much power? - Jallen 08:56:51 11/28/08 (4)

RE: How much power? - emsquare 09:38:48 11/28/08 (3)

RE: How much power? - Jallen 22:15:57 11/28/08 (2)

RE: How much power? - emsquare 07:38:24 11/29/08 (1)

RE: How much power? - Jallen 18:53:02 12/4/08 (0)

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