Is there a such too much power for speakers?

Will over power amplification be crushing imagine, sound-staging and PRAT? Since inner details and dynamics are at peak. 

One issue is the gain of the amp. The gain needs to match with the gain of the pre-amp and the efficiency of the speakers. If you have a high gain pre-amp and a high gain amp and high efficiency speakers, you may end up with the volume control being in the very beginning of its range, which can be a problem. If you are only using the lowest 10% of the volume control, you do not have much control.

Many traditional high power amps are class AB, which means they are class A in the low end of the range and class B at higher outputs. Many people find class A to have a better sound that class B. So, where the amps changes from class A to class B can be important. A high output amp may have more class A range, but that depends on the design of the amp.

One of the reasons for high power, is to coup with low efficiency speakers with difficult phase angles. With easy to drive speakers, the high power may be wasted. But also look at the current the amp provides. High power with no reserve does not help with difficult to drive speakers. An amp in that range should double down into 4 ohms and again to 2 ohms.

One disadvantage of high power is that it makes it much more possible to accidentally blow out your speakers.

So, yes their can be disadvantages to high power amps.

$75K for amps and $20K for speakers seems like a mismatch. I would suggest listening to some lower priced options also.

Lose that dealer.

Amen to that

Lose that dealer.

While it is true that you can use 20,000 Watts on a 20 Watt speaker, the real question is of personal listening experience.  There is no absolute guarantee that more power will be better, and sometimes the noise levels are significantly worse.

There are three areas where I think it is valuable to compare:

• Dynamic range - Does it play effortlessly at your personal listening volumes? Don’t compare at volumes you know you won’t use.
  
• Guts - The mid bass is a place where speakers can be challenging and discerning. Does it sound strong?
  
• Mid to treble liquidity and balance to bass.
  

I suggest listening to modest powered amps with your speakers between Ayre, Pass, Luxman and D’Agostino. I think among them you’ll find a real sweet spot for yourself.

Best,


E

KISS:If the first watt isn't any good, why would you want 200 more of them?

While I disagree with the notion of the more the better, I don’t think a high powered amplifier can hurt a speaker as long as the listening volumes are within reason and the capabilities of the speaker’s drivers. General recommendation is to spend the budget on “quality” watts rather than quantity.