receiver and speakers power advice

Right, parents are redecorating our living room, they have a 42" 1080p tv, ps3 slim and soon to be a skyHD box. They previously had a panasonic all in one home cinema with a dvd player, just the usual all in one guff...no inputs...very few settings etc.

He wants to have surround sound for the ps3 and the skyhd, so i have been on the lookout for cheap AV stuff that will fit his needs. I won him a a second hand Yamaha DSP A595 for cheap, it has optical inputs etc so it should more than fullfil his needs. Only problem is its 105rms x5, and he doesnt really want big floorstanding speakers.

He is looking at smaller systems such as the Jamo A102, which seems a general internet favorite for this sort of thing, only thing that worries me is that they are rated 60rms, if the amp was to be plugged into these and the bass set to 0, with speakers set as small, would this damage them? They come with the Jamo sub 200, which I own one of just as part of the S506 system rather than the A102 so i know this will be more than capable of his bass needs.

They will not be used at exessive volumes, would the speakers survive this amp?

[Viney]

I wouldnt worry about it. The speakers are fine, and the amp will driver the speakers nicely. Most speakers will take at least double what chucked at them. i remember a Cerwin vega! 18" sub that was rated at 1000w rms failing at something like 6.4kwrms!

Having a good amp driving any speakers is always the challenge. Personally though, i have never been a fan of jamo stuff. I would, personaly, get a nice set of book shelf speakers on stands, and a decent 10" sub and a smaller set of speakers for the rear. Anything but Jamo. Even the Richers sounds own brand of Eltex are better than them.

[Bibio]

its plugging large speakers into small amps that do the damage. the system you have will be just right.

anything but jamo?? lol i love mine, would definately buy more of them without hesitation!

but glad to hear there wont be a problem there. Reason for not buying bookshelfs is that he wants something that can be put onto the walls and wont take over alot of space, unlike my room he wants his to be normal and have other plans for the corners lol, mines definately home cinema over bedroom.

[Bibio]

jamos are fine till you hear the real stuff. my ears were spoiled years ago. pink triangle export, AR 90 speakers, Audiolab 8000's yada yada. why do kids love wrecking hifi?

true, i suppose there is always a better speaker. When im not a student i really fancy some klipsch rf83s, again im sure you will say they are pants but i think they would be more than enough for any normal human

[Viney]

Jamo 365's were the only speaker of theirs i liked...15" bass...oh yes.

Get smaller 'bookshelf' speakers and mount them on the wall then. Will be better then the jamo stuff.

Have a peep at a Q-AV speaker set up. Very discrete.

IIRC having an amp that os a lot lower in power than the speakers is more of a problem, as you are more likely to 'clip' the speakers at high volume.

I agree about the jamos 365, they just dont sound great for vocals and midrange, no life to them.