integrated watts or amp watts


Most "Stereophile recommended" integrated amps only have a rating of about 50-70 watts (creek, exposure, croft, arcam). Others like the Anthem and NAD have more, but separates (amp+pre-amp) seem to have more watts. I was told that for a budget of $1500 for this, I'd get the best bang for the buck with integrated vs seperates. The question I have is 2 fold..
1) Does Stereophile only "recommend" these lower powered integrateds because they're the ones with phono stages (which I don't care about)?

2) To have a really dynamic accurate loud system do I need gobs of power assuming the speaker is in the avg. 8ohm range with avg. 91db efficiency (not an electrostat, etc)
How much money do I need to spend? Is a 70 watt integrated only good for a small bedroom system, and separates needed to rock towers and the whole house? Just curious.
128x128labguy

Showing 1 response by wolf_garcia

I think the sound quality of those watts is more important than the levels, unless you are hosting Dub parties where it (sound quality) really doesn't matter much except for bass of course. I have to wonder what people are doing in these "large" rooms...set up the speakers and sit 40 feet away? Using the system as a PA to call down to the butler pantry? I have a large-ish room for my hifi rig and the system is set up so I sit relatively close (9 feet from the mains maybe) with the back wall several feet behind my sofa/sweet spot. My 60 to 85 watt tube amp and 90 or so db speakers get too loud if need be (150 watt sub also). I bet a great sounding 50 watt integrated amp will deliver more pleasure that a mediocre 150 watts, and for less moolah. If I need to make the rafters shake, I'll apply my 1000 watt PA rig (I use it for mostly house concerts and pro monitoring).