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.
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?
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?
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- 69 posts total
- 69 posts total