Overpowering a pair of REV10's?

I currently have a pair of REV10's being powered by a single JL HD750/1. It sounds great with plenty of volume. I went with a recommendation that "mono" power would be sufficient especially at wakeboard distances. However, I do seem to miss the "stereo" effect when I sit at the back of the boat with the REV's playing. Would it be overkill to add another JL HD750/1 thus having 750 watts x 2. If keeping volume within reason, any potential to damage the REV's? I know you typically damage speakers by under powering but am I too far "over" on the overpowering slope? Thanks in advance.

Jim,
You have to determine if this more of the placebo effect based on a suggestion or a change that will be of true value.
Look at what 'stereo imaging' is. There are two types.
1) Left to right bias or special & spacial effects that are in the recording. You certainly see less of that today in an era when recordings are mixed on a Mac laptop versus a full studio production. Most music today is engineered for a compressed format where there isn't a lot of that type of information anyway. So how much soundstage information is in your program material. If you want to check this out then temporarily hook up your tower speakers to a two-channel amplifier that is currently running your in-boat speakers. If you have a profound change in what is perceived as stereo you will know in advance if this is real or not.
2) The human auditory system picks out direction of the source of sound by a combination of first arrival time and amplitude differences between the left and right sides. Stereo was designed to trick the auditory system so that it can no longer localize the source as well, thereby creating a sense of depth and spaciousness.

In order to perceive either of these two benefits you must be in the sweet spot meaning a distance removed from the speakers equal to or perhaps as much as double the distance between the two speakers. As you double that distance any stereo impact is all but lost. If you are outside the narrow width of that sweet spot all spacial imaging is gone. If you are at wake range the two speakers that are four feet apart will proportionally appear to be just inches apart.

If the amplifier sums at the input then you get all information off axis. In stereo if there where to be left to right bias of any kind that information would not be heard at all once you are outside of either of the speakers near field. So mono has some real advantages in the context of a tower speaker. Its very different than in the boat where you are always between the two sound sources.

Speakers that are only four feet apart have a hard time revealing stereo under any circumstances unless you are wearing them like headphones. A horizontal tower array with four speakers packed in tight automatically destroys any chance of a stereo image. So you have got to first determine if the missing ingredient is legit, unfounded, proven, unproven, caused by a summed mono source or simply the result of speakers close together on the tower. And, even the very best HLCDs are not exactly known for their imaging.

As for power, how many 10-inch subwoofers would you trust with a true 750 watts per speaker? Just a few. They would have massive voice coils and be heavy speakers....the polar opposite of the sensitivity you are looking for in a tower speaker. 750 watts per each speaker would be mighty rich.

David
Earmark Marine

Originally Posted by jefros

I currently have a pair of REV10's being powered by a single JL HD750/1. It sounds great with plenty of volume. I went with a recommendation that "mono" power would be sufficient especially at wakeboard distances. However, I do seem to miss the "stereo" effect when I sit at the back of the boat with the REV's playing. Would it be overkill to add another JL HD750/1 thus having 750 watts x 2. If keeping volume within reason, any potential to damage the REV's? I know you typically damage speakers by under powering but am I too far "over" on the overpowering slope? Thanks in advance.

I'm running 3 750/1s on my tower Powering 2 pro485s and 4 pro60s. just so you know you would be at 375x2 on that setup not 750x2

i know we're not comparing oranges to apples but my experience has been that the 750/1 has been a great set up for the 4 pro60s but a little more power than the pro485s can handle. we have had continuing problems over powering them to the point the voicecoils are melting which has not been covered under warranty. I think the 750/1 at full power would be a little much for just 2 REV10s but if you didn't play them at full volume for extended amounts of time you would probably be all right.