How many watts is to much for an apartment?

Question

do you think that 400w is to much for a big apartment building?
i am getting an XBOX 360 and i want to have a good sound when i play games.

400w sound system

i don't know how much bass it puts out but it is alot.

Answer 1

I don't think that the speaker(s) being too loud is determined by you. I used to live in apartments and hated it when neighbors were too loud at inconvenient times in my schedule. I also had a nice system and didn’t want to upset them when I wanted to enjoy my music or a movie at the appropriate levels that it needs to be. So my advice is if you plan on moving out to a house soon get as big as your system will allow. You might need to keep it down for a little bit, but you would regret it if you bought a smaller one when you moved out and could crank it up. If you are living in an apartment for the foreseeable future then a smaller one might be more economical because why pay for what you can’t enjoy.

Answer 2

If you have 400 watts RMS into 8 ohms, say 200w RMS x2 channels,
That's way too much to turn it up more than a couple of notches.
If your speakers put out any bass.
I have Cerwin Vega VS-15's in my apartment that aren't even hooked up right now, because the bass output from 10 watts will seriously bug the neighbors.
I have my 200watt RMS Parasound HCA-1200 amp hooked up to a pair of 3-way 10 inch boxes, and I really don't turn it up past 2 or 3 notches. Past that the woofers cant really produce much more bass, its at max excursion.
Dont believe for a second that those 300 dollar "shelf systems"
by Sony or Panasonic are really giving you 400 watts.
It seems the average home theater in a box overstates its power as well.
A mid range 100x5 home theater receiver with a sub should be plenty, if not too much. Just try to buy decent speakers.

Answer 3

One thing not specified is the type of power... is that peak, peak to peak, or RMS for the 400 watts? Is that per channel, or bridged/mono? What are the sensitivities of the drivers? I'm also in agreement, it's not the amount of power, but how you use it... this is more a clarifying post...

Amplifiers shouldn't be related directly to loudness. All an amplifier does is multiply voltage to create signal gain by changing the amplitude of the signal. How loud a system get's is ultimately determined by the efficiency of the speakers, and the cabinets in conjunction with the amplifiers ability to provide signal at high enough gains to fully drive the speaker.

For instance... if I have a 7000 RMS Watt Speaker system, and the speaker I am using can handle 7000 RMS Watts of power with a dB/SPL rating @1 w/1 m of 85 dB, everyone would instantly assume that system will be deafening...

If it takes a doubling of power to create a doubling of volume, for arguments sake, let's call it +3 db (+10 equivalent) then to get to 88 db, we would need 2 watts of power, 91 dB 4 watts of power, 94 db 8 watts, etc. So... going through the steps... 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048,4096,8192 we find we're only able to make an increase of slightly less than 13 steps. So if we take 13*3 = 39 dB from amplifier gain, and we add it to the initial sensitivity of the 85 dB provided initially by the speaker, we find that the 7000 Watt amplifier, coupled with the 7000 Watt speaker is capable of producing 85+39=123 dB (we don't have a full step, so take 70% of 3, yields 2 dB instead of full doubling for the last jump at full power output).

Where if we take a 30 RMS watt amplifier coupled with a 30 RMS driver with a base sensitivity of 107 dB @1 w/1m... 2,4,8,16,32... so 5 * 3 = 15 + 107 = 122 dB. In this instance we find that the power of the amplifier means nothing in relation to the overall loudness of the system unless we know the sentivity of the driver. Hence, 30 RMS Watts here, is more than capable of giving the 7000 RMS watt system a run for it's money. By being nearly as loud, you'd certainly save theoretically on your electric bill.

Also, overpowering drivers does not fry them, this is cludgy and a myth. Speaker motors are more likely going to be cooked from underpowering them, or by driving heavily distorted source signals from a clipping amplifier. It is correct that there is no such thing as too large of a power amplifer. Technically, when searching for an amp, you should make sure it has twice the RMS Watt output capability of the system to allow for dynamic headroom, so you avoid clipping. Clipping is very bad for speakers, and also not so good for your ears.

Distortion is generally measured at power ratings. For instance...

FTC (20Hz - 20kHz @ 0.1% Distortion, both channels driven)
8 Ohms - 200 Watts
4 Ohms - 300 Watts
EIC (1 kHz @ 1% Distortion, both channels driven)
2 Ohms - 500 Watts

What you're looking at is the distortion levels used in regards to the rated output levels of the amplifier at a given impedance load. Manufacturers of cheap amps can be as high as 7-10% Distortion. This is what will bake your speakers faster than anything, a cheap amplifier, amplifying signals poorly, than driving too much power through them. Sure, you're probably lighting up the voice coil windings like a lightbulb filament... but... to each there own.

Answer 4

The power output of the amp does not determine how loud it is, but the maximum loudness it will put out. Even if you had a 1000W amp, when playing normally you are using only a few watts. So in fact there is no such thing as too much power for an amp, but if you have a high-powered amp, and you accidently play it at max power, you could blow your speakers.

Large power outputs occur primarily in low bass notes played at high volume. A 20Hz tone played at 100W will not sound as loud as a 1KHz tone at 10W; it takes a lot of power to move air at low frequencies.

Answer 5

High power is not a factor, but how you use that power.
If it's too loud, it's too loud. That being said, a 400 watt
system is fine as long as you don't have it so loud that
the neighbors start complaining. ;-)

In your case, I would consider quality over quantity. . . .

H a p p y
G a m i n g !

Answer 6

Look in your fuse box or breaker panel for the amperage of the circuit and don't push it beyond that.

Answer 7

you can never have too much. just cos you got it it doesn't mean you have to use it.