Bell Canto C5i Integrated Amp with B&W Nautilus 803 Speakers. A Question

Besides room size, treatment and placement, how loud do you listen? I used to have a BC C5i that I used with ~88 dB efficient speakers (first Spendor SP 1/2E and the Golden Ear Triton 7s) in a medium size room and had no problem listening at average levels of 85 dB or so.  It is when you really want to crank things up (mid-90 dB or higher) that you really need the higher power amps. Remember that watts / sound level is a logarithmic relationship, not a linear one. For example, if it takes you 1watt to hit 75 dB, it'll take 10 watts to hit 85 dB, or 100 watts to hit 95 dB -- in other words, power requirement goes up 10 times for each 10 dB increase in listening volume.

Final suggestion -- invest a few dollars in a sound level meter or sound level app for your phone.  That is the best way to get a good idea of just how loud YOU listen.  Remember that one's person's "moderate" volume may be "extremely loud" or "soft" for others.

Interesting -- I listen at the 80 to 85 dB level and like the sound of my relatively low-powered Schiit Aegir much better than the VTV class D amp that had 150 watts/ch.  No issues with thinness or an overemphasized top end in my system. Just goes to show that everyone needs to figure out what works best for them, not someone else.