This could be a very interesting tread, looking forward to follow it.
One thing I feel doesn’t get enough discussion is high end solid state amps for normal 2way speakers or just speakers that are easy to drive, not talking about horns and the like, often when I see discussion about high end amps ( and there is a big tread on this forum) it always is high wattage amps driving difficult to low impedance full range speakers!
Maybe members on this forum are mostly US based, therefore having larger living rooms or space for their equipment, so large speakers are more appealing giving the full sound one needs, or could it be the US members liking more umph in the lower register;-) be as it may, in most countries around the world I think that a big percentage of music lovers have much smaller rooms where good quality (smaller) amps and speakers are more suitable.
Would say a 100w to 150w high end intergrated amp sound much different between each other ? ( excluding Class A )
And could you not get a better (high end ) sound much cheaper than many of these high end rigs we see, often in rooms that are far too small to make them justice?
Just something I think about sometimes:-)
A disclaimer, I have nothing against people spending big money on nice big systems, have heard two that sounded fantastic, although most I find sound way to cold and clinical, often loosing the essence in the music, making me want to leave the room after a few songs.
I also often find that smaller amps sound better at low volume than high wattage amps, do others have that experience too? Would a 8 ohm speaker going down to 6 ohm need more than say 150w ?
