Oh my 'lust list' eh? Ok, well I was just fine with my VP150 until Steve came along! (Waves fist in air while closing one eye & squinting with the other one)... So now I want to audition the VP180, expecially if the reports are true that I can get around $350 bucks for my VP150 in the trade-up program!
Besides that I'm looking to get two more QS8's for the back surrounds, and possibly another two for the front height channels... Which brings me to my next lust item, either a new reciever or a pre/pro. I've always loved Denon recievers for their ablity to split up the rear surround channels into 4 separate speakers so that combined with the side surrounds you can have a total of 6 surround speakers. But now I'm also interested in the front height channels, and I would like all of this in a fairly affordable reciever (read - $700 or less) because I'm more interested in the processing capabilities than the built in power amp. I would like to get a second Emotiva XPA-3, and run my QS8's with it and get mono-blocks for my M80's & (probably) VP180.
Which brings me to my next question, I've always had a backwards idea of the way speakers used power. I thought that you sent power to a speaker, and it used whatever power you sent to it. Now, thanks to the great minds on tap here on this site (John, Fred, Chris, Dean... just to name a few), I've come to understand electricity a little better (though I'm certainly no pro just yet). The way I understand it now, the speaker is part of a loop in the circut, and it draws power from the amp as needed. So now what I'm wondering is, how much power will an M80 draw during peaks if driven at pretty much full volume? They are rated at 400 watts, so does that mean they won't ever draw more than 400 watts? Or is that just an average?
The reason I ask is because I was talking with a guy about amps and he told me if I really wanted to run them loud, without fear of clipping EVER, then I should be looking at getting at least 1000 watt mono blocks, for each speaker. And that confused me since the 80's are rated at 400 watts. Does this mean that during peaks they could draw as much as 1000 watts, or at least somewhere close to it? And if so, that much power won't damage them, will they?
With my previous understanding of the way speakers worked I always thought if you sent 500 watts to a speaker that was only rated to handle 300, you would 'blow' that speaker. But now as far as my understanding goes, the speaker will only draw as much as it's designed to draw... am I right about that? Or do I still have some stuff to learn?
