How Much Difference Does a More Powerful Amp Make?

Since you are moving within the same make and lineup of the amp you will probably not have "inferior" watts. So it is all about 150 vs 250 watts. With your speakers it is a big thumbs up to go higher in watts. What you will most probably hear is a more resolute, disciplined performance because of the grip the amp will have on the drivers. The sound might be bigger as well but it will be more graceful. To me these are important improvements. I have owned and heard many Dynaudios in the past BTW.

This Sims are very high current so I doubt you need more power. The W-7 is more than capable.

How can you tell whether an amp has high current? And, pardon my ignorance, but what's the difference between currents and watts?

more power doe snot always mean better sound ... if power was the only consideration, old amps like the Crown Macro Ref or newer 1000w class D's would be the pinacle of amps

some of the best sounding amps (IMHO) from major manuafacturers include the Levinson 29, Krell KSA-50's, Jeff Rowland Model One and the Plinius SA-50 Mk III or IV. the Forte IVa is a "giant killer" in what could be termed inexpensive high-end amps.

Plinius amps are nice in that you can switch from pure class A to class A/B. the older models are an excellent value on the used market.

Jeff

Generally, an amp that doubles its output from 8 ohms to 4 ohms is a high output amp. Only very robust power supplies are able to go from 200 watts @ 8 ohms to 400 watts @ 4 ohms. An excellent solid state amp that does this is the Clayton M200, plus its output is all Class A. Occassionally they pop up for resale on Audiogon. I know, because I recently bought one at around $4,500. You won't find a better solid state amp than the Clayton. They even make a M300 with 300 watts/channel @ 8 ohms. These amps are built incredibly well and likely will last decades, due to their military spec building quality. They are plain looking, but beautifully sounding with most speakers.

An alternative solid state that is about as good as the Clayton's are the McCormack DNA-500's. Both these amps are significantly better than most of the famous named solid state amps, such as Levinson, Krell, Rowland, etc. And they are less expensive to boot.

Greg