I am new to the whole audio world so forgive me for my stupidity. I recently bought some axiom m80's and I hooked them up to a technics sa-424 1981 4ohm 2x50watt RMS receive with 12 gauge wire.

I proceeded to play music of my computer to the receiver at medium levels in my 12x14 room where the speakers are placed about 1 meter apart on each side from me.

I didn't hear any weird popping noises or anything odd coming from the speakers but I'm afraid I may have damaged them after using my old receiver. Is there any way I can test my M80's to make sure I didn't damage them? Hopefully I didn't clip the speakers at the level I was playing them at.

Any insight would be appreciated. And yes I have a 500 watt emotiva coming to replace the receiver.

If you didn't hear anything odd, why do you think you damaged the speakers?

It isn't speakers that "clip", but an amplifier that doesn't have enough power to reproduce the signal at the level being requested. More simply, if you turn the volume up too loud, and the receiver/amp can't deliver what you're asking, then you may experience clipping.

Hard enough clipping for long enough time will end up damaging speakers. But unless you did something like that, there's little to be worried about.

i would have loved to answer that one, but you're too fast, CN. ;-)

What preamp or receiver are you going to use with the Emotiva amp? An amp can't replace a receiver, it gives you the amplification but you will still need a receiver or a preamp.

markmd, you might find this informative:
http://www.peavey.com/support/technotes/

in the "power amplifiers" section, click on this one:
How Much Power For My Speakers? - PDF Format (229KB)

Interesting.

So is 50watts rms per channel enough for sub 90db listening? I mean in my small room I dont think im even touching 80db.

It will be a couple of weeks until i get my denon 2808 with the emotiva. SHould I just unhook the speakers till then to play it safe?

I thought I read that these speakers at 1 watt rms produce 90db at 1 meter.

Hi markmd,

Yes, you should be able to play the M80s quite loud in your small room using the Technics amp without worrying about clipping the amplifier's output. Keep in mind that "quite loud" subjectively is about 85 dB SPL at your listening seat. "Very loud" would be 95 dB SPL. So if your Technics needed to produce 1 to 4 watts to produce 85 dB, then peaks of 95 dB would need ten times the power at 85 dB, so about 10 to 40 watts, which is still within the output capabilities of the vintage Technics. (Power demands are logarithmic in nature, so doubling the amplifier power only produces a "slightly louder" increase of 3 dB. "Twice as loud" subjectively needs 10 times as much amplifier power.

No need to unhook your speakers. Just don't crank up the Technics past the "very loud" level and you'll be fine.

Regards,
Alan

What Alan says, it only takes a few watts to play very loud, the Axioms are very efficient. The 2808 alone would give you more power than you most likely ever use in that room.

Thanks for the help everyone. I did some close listening at each driver and tweeter and I think everything is perfectly fine at my medium listening levels.

I want to find an spl meter so I can get actual DB numbers for reference.

I can't believe how good the m80's sound compared to my old JBL's even with this vintage technics. The bass is very clean and really punches when it needs to.

That's great, Mark.

Enjoy!

But... If it sounds bad, turn it down.

They make pretty decent SPL meter apps for both the iPhone and Android now.