# Power consumption of speakers...



## jancz3rt

Hey guys, 

my speakers are SC-C57 AIWAs which I got back when I lived in Japan. They are great for my needs but I have a question. When "on", how much would you estimate the power usage to be? The sub is 50W RMS and the two sattelites have 10W RMS each. I am wondering because I would like to have them on overnight every day for the PC to wake me up with playing music....cause I have been waking up badly lately.

JAN


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## DCIScouts

The power consumption of the speakers would be next to nothing compared to the computer itself.  Speakers don't really draw power unles they have sound going to them, at least not as much as when sound is going through them...


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## savagenator

i got the logitech z-2300's. They are rated 200-900 watts, dont you think something like that will take a lot of power to power?


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## Motoxrdude

no.... Thats there output values. Speakers dont draw too much power to begin with, but left on, with nothing playing, would be like having clock plugged in.


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## Xycron

Not enough to notice on your bill.


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## DCIScouts

Sorry, I looked at my post earlier, and it's a little muddled.  Speakers use power from the electrical pulses of the amplifier to move the diaphragm of the cone in order to produce sound.  Therefore, having ANY speakers plugged in, unless they have a built-in amp of course, should draw next to no power.  I would check your sub, that's where most of the power draw is going to come from since it probably has a built-in amp.  But like Xycron said, definitely not enough to put you out on the street because you can't pay the electrical bill


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## jancz3rt

*Thanx*

Yeah I thought the same. I know the SUB has an amplifier inside but I guess you are right in saying that it will not use much at all when nothing is playing. 

JAN


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## randruff

Ok, not to change direction but I also have a question. Does this apply to all speaker systems (home theatre, PC, etc)? I just dropped about $1,200 on the Klipsch Quintet III 5.1 speakers, 10" Synergy Sub, and Yamaha reciever. The wattage that this system handles is insane. For example, the sub will continually push 200W while being able to peak at 420w. Does the same rule apply here? If the system is on but an input source is not selected (no sound) is it drawing a lot of wattage?


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## Motoxrdude

it probly would take a little more power then computer speakers since it has all the other built in technologys ect. But i wouldnt worry about it too much. i mean a computer on for a whole month costs about $4 in electricity, so i dont think receiver would draw more power than a computer. I would estimate 1/8 while not in use.


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## diduknowthat

jancz3rt said:
			
		

> Hey guys,
> 
> my speakers are SC-C57 AIWAs which I got back when I lived in Japan. They are great for my needs but I have a question. When "on", how much would you estimate the power usage to be? The sub is 50W RMS and the two sattelites have 10W RMS each. I am wondering because I would like to have them on overnight every day for the PC to wake me up with playing music....cause I have been waking up badly lately.
> 
> JAN



don't worry, I leave my 5.1 system on 24/7, though not the computer, it just sits there. It'll only draw electricity through the amps when music is playing. So when not playing, i guess it'll only need the power to power the little LED's and stuff.

a bit off topic, but you lived in japan before? I lived there for like a year when i was 6. what part did you live in?


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## DCIScouts

randruff said:
			
		

> Ok, not to change direction but I also have a question. Does this apply to all speaker systems (home theatre, PC, etc)? I just dropped about $1,200 on the Klipsch Quintet III 5.1 speakers, 10" Synergy Sub, and Yamaha reciever. The wattage that this system handles is insane. For example, the sub will continually push 200W while being able to peak at 420w. Does the same rule apply here? If the system is on but an input source is not selected (no sound) is it drawing a lot of wattage?



Subs only need power to keep the amplifier in them on standby.  Speakers (just speakers) usually don't have any separate power going to them other than the sound signal over the speaker wire.  The only reason why a sub or some sets of speakers need power is because the bass cones in speakers and subs require more power than what the speaker wire can safely handle.

So, to specifically answer your question, you Klipsch speakers won't take any power unless the receiver is on, and then they are just getting the power sent to them by the receiver.  The Synergy sub should have a separate power supply, so that will be drawing some power for the built-in amp.  However, again the power will probably be less than 1 lamp being on.

BTW, nice system for $1200.  If you want to have some real fun, there's a NAD receiver/bridgable amp that has up to 1GW on one channel.  I don't want to think about what that thing could do unleashed in a house (yes, this was a home receiver).


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