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The End Of Big Iron?

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Once upon a time you could buy a 1,000 wpc, a 900 wpc and a 750 wpc monoblock from Krell. You could buy a 1,000 wpc monoblock from Pass Labs. Now, 575 wpc is the biggest you can get from Krell and 600 wpc is the biggest you can get from Pass Labs. The muscle of flagship amps in those mfgs has been virtually halved. I mean, was 1,000 wpc, 900 wpc, or a 750 wpc amplifier ever necessary? If they were, why are they no longer necessary? What has changed in audio or speaker technology to cause the dwindling of 'muscle' amps?
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128x128mitch4t
53 responses Add your response
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,107 posts
 
Class D amps are taking over for traditional big heavy Class A/B amps.

I think some go up to 1000 watts into 8 ohm, but I find 500 w/ch Class D to never break a sweat in my application.

That's still way more juice than most people would have ever been able to apply practically prior.
p59teitel
312 posts
 
Maybe Krell and Pass gave up the Wattage Wars when this fella came along:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1011/boulder_3050_monoblocks.htm
mceljo
1,356 posts
 
Interesting question. I would say that 1000 wpc was never necessary. What I have noticed with Krell amps is that they double power all the way down. 400 wpc @ 8 ohms, 800 wpc @ 4 ohms, 1600 wpc @ 2 ohms. Their flagship amps are a bottomless pit of power. Is it possible that the older amps were rated differently? It may have been the result of marketing because the audiophile thought of the day was more power was always better. Just some thoughts...
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