What is your experience with amp power?


So I wanted to know what my fellow audiophiles feel about power.

I realize that some speakers are current hounds and need a prodigious amount of power or watts (lets say Maggies). But my question is for speakers that do not. Speakers that are easy to drive, or maybe just higher in efficiency and can be driven by a modest tube amp or even an adequate receiver. 

What is you experience with high power, high current amps ? Do your speakers sound better with more power? At low volumes, in a small or medium sized room? Do you think the quality of the music is dependent on higher powered amps?

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Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

In general, more power, more better for most all speakers. So let’s say you have a choice for the same amp… like Pass 150, 250, and 350. Higher power sounds better at low volume and high volume.

 

However, choices are never that simple. Undoubtedly the choice will be among different amps and technologies.

For me, once I left solid state amps, I did not want to go back and I would settle for a lower power tube amp (of high quality) over a solid state.

Ultimately, you have to listen to the character of the amp… then I would go as high on the power as you can. Without going overboard. If my speakers were 105db efficient, I would not pair with 350 watt amps… instead I would go much higher in quality and go 100 wpc or something like that.

@arcticdeth 

 

I have read many summaries that said that too little power is the bane of audio systems a can fry speakers. I have tended to use amps above the max recommended for the speakers I owned… admittedly not cranking them to ultra high levels. I have never had a problem with power… speakers or amps.

 

But, @arcticdeth story is what I have repeatedly heard is possible.