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SS amps. Why so much power?

I though that there was so much tube amp talk on this page lately, I'd put up a SS thread. Why do so many people buy the big SS amps that have 200,300,500 watts of power? Is it because the speaker you want is inefficient and you need lots of power, or do you need to play real loud? Or is it a status thing, like my amp's bigger than your amp, or what? Do you buy a big amp first, and then look for a speaker with high power handling? Or do you pick a low efficiency speaker you like and then look for a big amp to drive it? Do you subscribe to the idea that if you have alot of watts, the amp will sound better at lower volumes? I've noticed that the majority of AudiogoNers go with high power SS amps and low efficiency speakers. What gives?
twl

Showing 1 response by kthomas

kthomas
911 posts
 
For me personally, I found a set of speakers that I really loved and have found over the course of a couple of amp upgrades that they sound markedly better with beefier amplification. I didn't set out to own a big amp, but the sound I liked led me there. I've got nobody to show it off to, and if I did show it off to most people I know, I'd be labelled crazy rather than cool, so I don't think it had anything to do with status.

And while I agree with Sean that high-end audio isn't bragging material to a general population that believes Bose is the ultimate, the one thing that WOULD generally be understood as "awesome" by that same general population would be telling them that "my amp has 1000 watts per channel" (mine doesn't, BTW). Since those same people have learned that more watts == better amp, that's impressive. -Kirk

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