High current or high wattage amps

A higher current amp is my choice, and will outperform lower current amps of the same wattage rating. The absolute control of the speakers will be better overall, and they will sound more effortless at all volume levels. More current on demand means very low distortion on program peaks that occur in all types of music, and no sense of strain or "cringe" factor. Even a lower wattage amp with higher current will sound better overall (IMHO)

WITH HIGH CURRENT AMPS YOU ALSO GET MORE HEADROOM WHICH IS A SUBJECT MANY LOW EFFICENCY SPEAKER MANUFACTURER'S DON'T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT BECAUSE THAT IS MORE MONEY FOR THE CONSUMER TO SPEND WHICH MAKES THEIR SPEAKERS APPEAR LESS OF A BARGAIN. HIGH CURRENT AMPS WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER AMPS PLAYING THE SAME SPEAKERS IN A FAIR COMPARISON WILL APPEAR TO HAVE MORE POWER BECAUSE THERE IS LESS STRAIN ON THE AMP BECAUSE OF ITS RESERVE CAPACITY AND AS GASMAN SAYS LESS DISTORTION. AS A GENERAL RULE YOU CAN MATCH AN AMP UP WITH 20% MORE RATED POWER THAN THE SPEAKER MANUFACTURER'S RECOMMENDATION AND STILL OPERATE WITHIN SAFE MARGINS. REMEMBER IT IS DISTORTION THAT KILLED THE TWEETER NOT THE POWER.

Try to get your hands on a Levinson, Krell, or Classe amp. They have gobs of current. I used a 100wpc Classe with a a pair of 82db speakers, great match

You didn't mention the amp you are presently using which is proving inadequate to the task. That might help suggest alternatives. I can only concur with Gasman and Lgregory that you want both, watts and amps, but whatever the wattage you want comparably high current. Certainly my 100-watt Meitner monoblocks sound many times more powerful than my 130 wapc Quad 606. And it's not as if Quad is "cheating" on their power rating---the 606 is a fine product. But the Meitner is in altogether another class. Gentlemen, correct me if I'm wrong, but the ability of an amp to "double-down", i.e., the power output (wattage) doubles with each halving of the load impedance, is an indicator of high current capability. So some of the Krells which are rated at 100 wpc into 8 ohms develop 800 watts into 1 ohm. Finally, while high current may be necessary for certain types of low-sensitivity, difficult to drive speakers, a good amp is a good amp and they improve high-sensitivity speakers, too: mine are 93-96 dB (Tannoys and Altecs) and are easy loads, but the higher current delivery has really improved the sound, mostly depth, definition and timbre of the bass, but also to a lesser extent, overall resolution and clarity. And as usual, caveat emptor; not all "high-current" amps are made the same! In general, if an amp can happily deliver 400 watts into 2 ohm loads all day long (or whatever), the manufacturer won't hide the fact. If they just say, "high current", then you have to start asking questions. Lastly, I don't think one needs to observe the 20% rule (see Lgregory's note above) for matching amps with speakers. I would say that as a general rule, the more headroom you have the better and for the same reasons as my two colleagues have already mentioned. More specifically, many musical pieces produce transients that are as much as 30 dB above the average program level. This represents peaks up to 1000 times the relative "loudness" of the music. At any volume, a really powerful, really high current amp will distort less when reproducing such sudden peaks. A very sensitive speaker tends to do better in this regard than a relatively insensitive one, but that's a topic for another discussion. Regards, dr.joe

Then again, if you use electrostatic speakers, these normally require copious voltage as opposed to current--and a "high-current" amp produces less voltage for a given wattage rating if I'm not mistaken. So for driving electrostatics, the reverse could be true. But for driving big-ass dynamic systems (especially those of low sensitivity), I agree that a high-current design makes sense.