Quite a bit more, especially if you don't want to hear the awful strain that goes along with an underpowered amp, with orchestral crescendos, etc. It just makes the sound very fatigueing. I've noticed with the MMG's, that they don't "come alive" with dynamic contrasts much at all, until they get quite loud. Definitely not as well as a cone speaker, and especially not like an electrostatic. But as the volume goes up, mine sound better (to me) than some full range electrostatics I've heard (that were about 6 times the surface area!!). For a very big room, I still need cone speakers (mine are Paragon Acoustics Radiants, right now). Occasionally, I combine either system, in either room, with the Sunfire Sub Pro (same as MkII), with superb results. Lately I've gotten bogged down auditioning power cords, and can't have the sub in use (especially when trying to figure out the signature of the power amp's cord, etc.). OH YEAH, you do need to have at least 6 ft between you and each speaker, or else they'll never sound dynamic enough (and not just in the bass, but the whole range). Ideally, you might consider some ASC Frecoes to go behind the MMG's, and even get more traps too. Makes the bass so smooth and tight, you won't believe it. My small room is only 10 x 12 x 8. It takes maybe 400 watts peak (per channel) to get listening levels a little over 100 dB peak, at a distance of about 6.5 feet from each speaker. With deep bass dynamics in symphony music, this can easily go higher than that. They do lose a tad of control at that level (partly my amp's fault, but not mostly), and certainly aren't designed to go that loud...as they say, "your mileage may vary"...But for $500/pair, I'd bet my life there is no better speaker value, for average to small rooms anyway.
