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

Showing 2 responses by ditusa

hi they recommend 50-120 watt amp@8 ohms that means thy don't have a power rating sensitivity 88Db @ 2' not 8' 8' will be about 82 Db if it had a power rating say 100 watts@ 8 ohms then your power amp should be 3Db higher will 200 watts @8 ohms remember the 805d-3 are good to 96Db spl and thd will be high
hi the amp power no more then 150 watt amp for the b w 805d3 how big is the room what is a good spl level for you  if you like the way the speakers sound take the time to match the amp to the speakers it is the only way so they sound nice to you preamp is more of the sound then the amp the speakers are the sound.50% the room is the sound 50%