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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?

128x1282psyop
macg19
660 posts
 

@realworldaudio 

as most of us have no hearing above 14kHz or so

How do you know this? My audiograms only measure from 250-8000Hz.

jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,605 posts
 

What is your experience with amp power?

good discussion here so far ...

my short answer is:

’all else equal, more power over less power -- but all else is never equal’

that’s where the fun begins

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,154 posts
 

I use Pass XA30.8 to drive my 87db sensitive 4ohm Wilson Sabrinas. Room is not too large and 90% of the time the amp never leave class A (30 watts per channel). Match the amplifier power to  your speakers as well as your room, it’s not so much  the quantity but the quality that’s important.

 

larryi
3,716 posts
 

My personal preference and priority is for lively sound at modest volume levels. This is more commonly achieved with tube amps than solid state.  My favorite tube types happen to be quite low in output, and I prefer amps that don’t rely on many tubes operating in parallel—fewer tubes sound more pure and clear to me.  This does mean I have to make do with lower power, but this is a minor compromise because the power I get from my amps is “sufficient” (Rolls Royce used to stay away from the numbers game by refusing to give a horsepower rating for their motors, and instead, they said its output was “sufficient”).  With my 99 db/w speakers, I get by with 6.5 watts per channel from a parallel single-ended 2a3 amp and 5.5 watts per channel from a pushpull 349 amp (my favorite amp).

noodlyarm
89 posts
 

First is sound quality.   If you don’t like the first watt, you won’t like more of them.   That’s not my quote, but I really liked it.

Second is synergistic.   It has to work well in my system (with my other components), not someone else’s, like the dealer’s…

Third is power.   More is always better.

Fourth is aesthetics.   It’s got to look good and have a high WAF.

Fifth is price.   I have to be able to afford it as I don’t want a new wife.

Sixth is new vs used.   I prefer new, but usually end up with well cared-for used.  (See Fifth as I get a better bang for my buck).

 

YMMV (your mileage may vary)…

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