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100W, 200W, or 300W?

I'm pretty new to this and could use some help. Working down my list of upgrades: did speakers, room treatment on order... I think next up is to replace my amp.

I'm currently using a Harman Kardon PA2000 stereo amp that I had sitting in storage. 100 WPC @ 8 Ohm. It's "OK", but it probably the weak point in my system right now.

For speakers, I picked up B&W 805D3 tabletops with stands.

88 dbSPL sensitivity, 8 ohm. They recommend 50-120W @ Ohm for the amp power on their site.

I pulled up an amplifier calculator and plugged in some numbers:

88 sBSPL, 8 ft distance, 85 dB volume w 15 dB headroom and this came out to 3W RMS w 94W peak

I have my heart set on blue watt meters so I see the following options:

1) MA5300 @ 100 WPC, no autoformers, integrated
2) MA7200 @ 200 WPC, has autoformers, integrated
3) MC302 @ 300 WPC, has autorormers, seperates


For the MA5300, I'm concerned that there isn't enough headroom. If I even get close to the 94W peak, it means that I'm pushing the amp to the max, so I'd probably be operating in an area of reduced sonic performance since it's being stressed. Is this a correct assumption?

The MA7200 looks like it'll leave plenty of headroom and it also has (for better or worse) autoformers which seems to be what puts the "mac sound" in macs.

The MC302 is just sexy as heck... but is there any realistic gain with my current set up that I would get by buying one of these? Or is it so much overkill that I am just throwing money away at this point?
eisenb11
eisenb11 OP
33 posts
 
@snuphy91 My room is a little smaller than yours: about 15x15x10 high. Sub is eventually on the TODO list to fill in the bottom end - but after amp and streamer upgrades. The REL looks like something along the line of what I’m consdering, also thinking about the B&W DB3D if I want to keep things "in the family"... geeze never-ending list of upgrades... what have I gotten myself into!?!?! ha ha

@elliottbnewcombjr I was kidding about the blue watt meters, just referring to them as a surrogate for the name "McIntosh"... I don’t actually intend to look at them :) So far, I’m really happy with the way the 805D3 sounds, don’t really want to get rid of it yet. Also, the $2k price bump of the larger amp wouldn’t cover the depreciation of the speakers, ha ha.

@elevick For me, I think the main deciding factor of MA5300 vs MA7200 now isn’t the +100W, but do I want to go with the autoformers or not? I almost feel that if I’m going to go Mac, I should get the Mac sound which means go autoformers... but the reviews on the MA5300 do seem to be coming in very positive. Darn COVID, wish I could side-by-side the two somewhere.

@erik_squires That’s a good point. They should be coming in near the end of the month so I’m mainly info gathering for now. Ordered a bunch of stuff - corner bass traps, some wall traps, diffusors, etc. Should be fun.


limomangus's avatar
limomangus
2,015 posts
 
Ahhhh yes a meter freak....I have 2 Carver 500mt 250 wpc.crazy nice meters.I also have a SAE 502 200 wpc.Bought used 200 for SAE and like 300 each for Carvers. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,487 posts
 
90dB leaves out a LOT of great loudspeakers. Almost all ESL's, all magnetic-planars. Horns are great for PA's, not so hot for music reproduction in the home. ;-)
arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 
Get the biggest best amps you can.
300W RMS, or larger.
 You need the headroom, said,many times, when crescendos, drum, or guitar solos, or the song ending slam at the end does happen, you will need the headroom.

 Don’t worry about speaker rating,  just get minimum of 300 WPC,

 my speakers are rated at 250 W, my,amps are 650W monos’
 nary an issue, never clip, never over drive, or under drive,
pure heaven!

 People always say, all u need is 50 or 100W, not true,
  my music is absolutely pure, effortless, and when pushed, I get great bass, and never worry about clipping.


chilli42
111 posts
 
In my view you can never have too many watts output.  Go for quality watts but get as much as you can afford.  The dynamic swings will be covered.  More will be more capable in terms of presenting dynamic scale realistically.  No worries or limits in the future if you want to change speakers to something harder to drive (note the advice from another poster to avoid less sensitive speakers ... that’s the tail wagging the dog). Someone mentioned Pass Labs.  Great amps, the X250.5 is the bomb, powerful, great sound, ... buy second hand.  It’s got blue VU meters ... not green but nice (but not the retro look of the MC).  The MC 100 watt amp will work for the speakers you are getting.  Trust me though, don’t make the same mistake I did buying amps in the 100 watt range that are less than what the should be and not future proof.
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