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Sonos Amp to speaker compatibility

  • 18 July 2023
  • 8 replies
  • 495 views
I

I am considering purchasing a Sonos amp to use as the amplifier for my turntable. The main reason I have chosen the Sonos Amp is because I want to be able to use my existing passive speakers in my record room, and also be able to send the turntable output to all of my other Sonos products throughout the house.

 

My existing passive speakers are 8om 150/600W. The Sonos Amp is rated at 125W. Will there be an issue using the 125 W amp with my 150/600W speakers?

 

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Best answer by Stanley_4 18 July 2023, 21:24

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8 replies

K

There will be no issues.

I

Thanks Kumar.  I am assuming the speakers just won’t play as powerfully as they were designed to do?

K

They will. Sonos Amp is close to one of the most powerful amps out there. What is the power spec of your amp at present?

K

The only thing is that many modern amps go close to max undistorted sound at just 50% on their volume control knob to give the impression of power. Sonos does not do that, it is more linear. So you may have to set the sound level on the Sonos Amp to a higher place, but at 100% levels, both will go just as loud. indeed, said modern amp may distort at 100%.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Since you didn’t tell us what amp or speakers you have all I can give is a generic answer.

If your current amp is in the same power range as the Sonos Amp I’d bet the Sonos will sound a bit better.

If your old amp is the 600 watt one your speakers could use then you might notice a bit less transient response, particularly at the lower frequencies but it would likely be difficult to detect by ear. Maximum volume would be lower too but do you even use that?

There are many speaker versus amplifier power calculators available that let you compare how different amplifiers will drive different speakers, plug in your numbers and see.

nice https://geoffthegreygeek.com/calculator-amp-speaker-spl/

simple https://mehlau.net/audio/spl/

I

They will. Sonos Amp is close to one of the most powerful amps out there. What is the power spec of your amp at present?

260W

K

That doesn’t tell enough! Is that rms watts per channel - that is a amp of rare power, what’s the make/model?

Sonos is 125 watts rms per channel and unless your speakers are far away, I doubt you will ever need to play it at more than 90% of the volume level.

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Going with 90 dB SPL at 1 Watt as a rough guess, 260 watts gives 97  dB at 10 feet, 125 gives 94, 3 dB.

https://jlaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/217201737-Doubling-Power-vs-Doubling-Output

A change of 3 dB is accepted as the smallest difference in level that is easily heard by most listeners listening to speech or music. It is a slight increase or decrease in volume. 

To produce an increase of +3 dB you simply need to double power (watts). 

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