Amp for inefficient speakers

I plan on making my own 8 ohm speakers using a dayton audio dc160-8 which has a sensitivity of about 86dB. Accounting for baffle diffraction losses i estimate the speakers will have a sensitivity of about 82dB... pretty inefficient. I don't have a large budget but I'm looking for an amp that will drive these to a reasonable volume in a relatively small room.

I've been looking at the smsl ad-18 which has a power output of 40w@8ohm because i would like to be able to use bluetooth to connect although it's not a deal breaker if the amp doesn't have bluetooth as an option

 

I use the Behringer A500 amp in my system, 120 watts into 8 ohms each channel and about £160 brand new.

Excellent amplifier, even without reference to price.

S

 

The A500 i found on their website says its a power amp with 600w into 8ohm speakers in a bridged mono configuration... Is this the same one?

https://www.musictribe.com/Categories/Behringer/Power-Amplifiers/Studio-Monitoring/A500/p/P0217

I've taken a look at the yamaha r-s202 as well which looks really good but it kinda pushes the limits of my budget

 

That's the one. It's a stereo amplifier giving out around 120-130 watts per channel into 8 ohms, but can also be bridged to give around 450-500 watts into 8 ohms mono. These power levels are what I've measured on three real units in my system, and are somewhat more conservative than Behringer claim. They rate their power at 1% distortion, i.e. into clipping, I measure mine at the onset of clipping, so will give a lower number for output power.

Either way, it's quite sufficient for driving any sensible loudspeaker.

S.

 

Sounds good... I’m always a little cautious when it’s not specced for it on their website