Too Much Power

I have never had a problem with to much power, only not enough. High power amplifiers will only damage your speakers if you exceed the rated power, and you can usually hear the speakers straining long before damage occurs. On the other hand, damage to tweeters and midranges occur much easier by clipping a low power amplifier while trying to achieve a desired sound level. I have started downsizing but once had 9600 watts rms. Only damaged tweeters when I clipped a 60 W/channel amplifier when I first started in audio.

are the drawbacks to that much power?

Size, weight, heat, and if the gain values are high perhaps a little noise but quality amps are very quiet today. 

Thanks. But as the 1200's are class D amps, size, weight, and heat would not be a concern.

I was answering what sounded like a more general question. 

Overkill in some cases perhaps but with modern amp technology no real downside, all else held constant, at least these days. It’s like an oversized engine in a car. Worst case you are paying for an insurance policy. In years past, extreme size, heat and weight were common downsides.

Too much class A power creates unnecessary heat.  In a class D amp (or generally class AB) there is no real practical drawback. 

You might find that an amp that is designed to put out 600 wpc didn't focus its design on making the first 5 watts (where you will be listening the most) the best that they can be.  I currently use a 6 wpc amp, just for that reason.

The power rating of 600 wpc into 8 ohms and 1200 wpc into 4 ohms is the mark of a good quality amp… as far as power. Also, there is no such thing as too much power…. Assuming you don’t crank up a little set of speakers to ridiculous volumes.

However, there is a question of the sound quality of the amp… each amp type independent of power has a character (design type and importantly the designer)... is that the character you want? For me, high quality tube amps give me the quality of sound that I want. So, it would be hard to afford an amp with that much power… on the other hand, my amp produces 140wpc in linear mode and 70 wpc in triode mode. My Sonus Faber Amati Traditional sound best with the lower 70 wpc triode power.

So, as far as an amp… the character of the sound is most important… then, more power is better. 

i have a mcintosh mc602 amp with 600 watts per chanell at 2 ,4 and8 ohms!! where doe's my amp stand???

russ69 - Understood. Thanks.

ghdprentice - Thanks for insight.

Beyond a certain level, maximum power output (taken by itself) is not a very useful measure. Even prior to the class D era, there were plenty of power amplifiers used in pro audio that had hundreds of watts output, were comparatively cheap, and sounded pretty horrible. Power supply quality, component quality and consistent (e.g. transistor matching), the overall design philosophy and circuit layout and manufacturing quality are all influential. My current amplifiers are the lowest powered (120 w/ch into 4 ohms) that I've had in my system for a long time - and they sound the best so far.

My pure class A 30 watts seems plenty for my needs..runs hot even at 30 watts, at least I know it’s on or working. 😁

A problem you can run into is some high powered amps need a bug enough load on the to sound there best. Sometimes easy to drive speakers sound like garbage on a big amplifier as they don't possess enough load on the amplifier. Also generally speaking big amps timing is slower than small amps.

More often than not, not enough power. Got the Parasound Halo A21+, class A/B, 500 watts per channel @4 ohms feeding my PBN Montana XPS speakers and the first 6 watts are pure class A. Not too much heat and packs a wallop.

+1 For Class A or A /AB.. 30 WPC of Class A is plenty for most situations.

Otherwise get A /AB. More user friendly too.

You will never buy a Class D amp after living with either of these.

Aside from greater potential to blow up speakers accidentally, excess power in-and-of-itself is not a problem.  But, in the real world, how one gets there—running many output devices in parallel— could reduce sound quality.  Many years ago, I heard a demonstration of two Rowland amps that were very similar in build, one rated at 50 watts, the other something like 200 watts, running power hungry Magneplanar speakers; I preferred the 50 watt amp, particularly at lower volume levels where the big boys sounded lifeless.  One manufacturer of high end gear touted how his amp used only two output transistors per channel, that is, until market demand compelled him to make an ultra high-powered amp.

I run high efficiency speakers, and with my speakers, the very best sound I’ve heard comes from low-powered tube amps.  One of my amps is an Audio Note Kageki (parallel SET 2a3 rated at 6.5 watts/channel), the other (my favorite) is a custom-built pushpull amp running 349 output tubes (5.5 watts/channel).  I also liked, in my setup, a First Watt J-2 solid state amp that is low powered.  Perhaps I do compromise sound at higher volume levels, but I rarely play my system at high volume levels, and even when I do do, the average output would still be below one watt, and I choose not to compromise that watt with amplifiers that don’t sound as good.

I believe the answer is it all depends. Btw, the answer that a "too powerful amp" endangers the loudspeakers posted above is completely false. I would even go so far as to say that an insufficiently powerful amp is more dangerous to loudspeakers than a "too powerful" amp simply due to distortion being potentially harmful when an amp is overdriven. But why does it all depend? Because different amp topologies behave differently with different speaker loads. In general the answer is "no". While not directly responsive to the question asked, also consider that with most amp designs, more power means more output stages. Some of us believe that less output stages result in purer sound. 

Why is there the oft-dispensed advice to choose speakers first and then the amp? Because if the loudspeaker is easy to drive it may be best to choose an amp that is not overkill in terms of power for that particular loudspeaker. That said, there are other factors that go into choosing an amp for any given loudspeaker. Some of these criteria are just empirical experience as to what mates well in terms of system synergy. That said, when JA of 'Phile measures an amp and concludes that it needs to be mated with loudspeakers of a certain impedance of vice-versa, that advice imho can be relied upon. 

Plus one @fsonicsmith 

As we say in hotrodding, too much horsepower is almost enough.

@gnoworyta I'm nowhere near an expert at this type of thing as well or in the different classes of amplifiers but I do own the M1200 and EXTREMELY pleased with the SQ and price performance

In the reviews I read prior to purchase the references to the power rating reveled not in how loud the amplifier could play, but the ability to create a larger and deeper sound stage with headroom remaining to deliver the sonic peaks with equal performance

Rest assured the M1200 delivers as advertised, IMO

I've paired the M1200 with speakers rated at 900 watts and have little concern about over powering or damaging them

The symmetry between the M1200 and the speakers is a thing of beauty, again IMO

It's two channel with no subs and do not feel I'm lacking in bass performance.  Though truth be told that's one of the areas that you don't know what you're missing until you've heard it, sort of things.  I'm not ambitious enough to go through the brain damage or cost get my room equipped for 3 or 4 subs to do it justice

Relative to volume, on a scale of 1-100, I typically begin playback at 35, the sweet spot for most recordings is 45-50, hi-res formats come alive between 50-65, and rarely if ever have turned the volume up past 65

I begin to get wide eyes and big smiles from guests around 45-50 and reactions of WOW in the 50-55 range

Here's a review from TAS that sums it up more technically than I ever could and if I'm not mistaken in 2021, the M1200 was also on the editors choice products of the year list in TAS as well

stevewharton

Thanks. What preamp are you utilizing with the M1200's?

Making a statement that 5 watts is all you need is ridiculous and it also doesn’t  mean 5 watts of class a power is all you need. I’ve had Classe monoblocks that had much more than 5 watts in class a mode and hundreds in class a/ab mode.

Get the best amp you can afford with power that is 2 or 3x more then you need for your speakers. No 5 watt amp will drive a pair of magnapan 20.1’s, but you can get a quality a - a/b amp with hundreds of watts that will make your 96db speakers you might have today sing as well as 86db speakers you might buy in the future. Decades ago, I went with amps that were rated 10x what the manufacturer recommended and they sounded the best compared to the same manufacturer other amps that were only 2-3x more powerful 

I’ve seen more speakers blown from accidents, like pulling an interconnect with the amp on, or volume set at full blast than the supposed danger of harmonic distortion from clipping burning out tweeters.  That sort of extreme distortion is so obvious that no half intelligent person would allow such abuse to go on long enough for the tweeters to go.  Unnecessary reserves of power do not protect your speakers—they only tempt one to over drive the speakers.

@gnoworyta the preamp is also PS Audio, the model is the BHK Signature

with speakers rated at 900 watts and have little concern about over powering or damaging them

You have a home audio speaker that can take 900 watts?

I bought these to replace a Peachtree 220. They are light weight, dead quiet and sound great. I got an offer from PS Audio to trade them for a BHK Stereo 250 so I accepted and shipped the monoblocks back. The 250 is a lot noisier but is creamy and wonderful.  Too much power is better than not enough, and you would have to turn up the volume almost all the way to get close to the maximum output. The 250 watts is more than I need because my speakers have powered subwoofers and the input impedance is over 20 ohms at low frequencies. 

@russ69 I know 900 watts sounds like a stretch and I can neither confirm or deny, though that is what's listed on the product literature

• Made under U.S. Patent 9247339 with multiple new patents pending
• Ultra-linear frequency response
• Proprietary patent pending 15 dome radiating hybrid MTM high-frequency array
• Dual 12″ low-frequency transducers
• 98dB 2.83V@1m sensitivity
• 4 or 8 Ohm design – we suggest 4 Ohm for optimum performance
• 20Hz-30kHz frequency response
• Height 69.0″ (175.26 cm) x Width 13.5″ (34.29 cm) x Depth 17.0″ (43.18 cm)
• 900 Watt power handling
• Weight 135 lbs
• Manufactured in the USA

@stevewharton  Wow. I had not seen that before. That is quite a claim. Not sure I'd want to test that claim. Thanx for the reply. 

If you choose an amp with a lot of reserve power, the advantages you will get are:

- Ability to handle a lot of extra dynamic headroom.  With today's digital sources, it is possible sometimes to get about 120 - 144 db of dynamic headroom.  If you are listening to a lower powered amp already at 3/4 of its max volume, and one of these musical sections slam you, your amp may not be able to handle it, if it is a relatively low powered amp.  On a hi powered amp, since it is extremely unlikely you will be listening at 3/4 the max volume, such a slam will be much more easily handled.

- This also goes pretty much with the above but you are much LESS likely to clip your amp, if it is higher powered.

- If your amp is class D, you will not be paying for extra heat or inefficiencies.

All things being equal, there are really no drawbacks for a high power Class D amp, other than maybe paying for something you may not need. But all things are never equal and one of those is Class D is horrible sounding if not done right (Levinson No. 53?).

An analogy to amplifier power would be: is a 2400 watt wall outlet (standard 20-amp circuit at 120 volts) too much power for a 7-watt LED desk lamp? Of course not. The power is consumed by the light bulb and all you pay for is the power consumed, not what is available. The outlet does not "produce" 2400 watts and the lamp only takes in 7 of those watts -- it has it there at the ready should it be needed. Just like the power reserves of an amplifier.

...referencing back to @mapman ​​​@carlsbad, the bulk of your listening is done at <5wrms.  At that level, you're already peaks into 100+...and beyond if that's your amps' available power....

Which is what it's about, roughly.  A tube class A into efficient speakers seems to have more 'bark to it's woof', whereas A/B tubed a bit less so.  But the price one pays is heat and shifts in 'character'...imho...

Into SS amps, less heat but into the Silicone Sound....love it, leave it, or just enjoy the differences.  More or less, what I'm about. *G*

D is OK at the lower $ levels, but the improved (& more $, generally) versions are obviously superior,   And no heat, unless you're riding it hard & putting it up wet...

The lower wattage ones seem to 'soft clip', but that's just an absurdvation I've made.  Your results will likely vary...Damage?  Perhaps.....

I used to own this nifty little box that registered VU and RMS at the amp output
16ish leds', labeled for both.

Listening with 150 a side in a 12d x 20w x 12h roof, most was 1~2 wrms with the peaks flickering at 100.

Any louder required leaving the room or earmuffs...SOP for 'room eq time'. *S*

Power hinges on driven into the given space v. the visceral experience you desire at high levels.  Simple... ;)

A good week, gentlefolk...J

Never too much power. 
 

  The sound will be effortless and open, airy etc

my speakers are rated for 250w and have never sounded better with a Sunfire 600:sig at the helm!

 You need the power. Get power and don’t look back

would need a lot of time with a D amp.

have demos a few, not my thing, a/ab is the way to go.

if you like the amps, go for it!

I find that with many S.S. amps, the best sounding amps tend to be on the lower power side. Probably has something to do with the number of outputs and the complexity of the circuit. All things equal you can never have too much power just a case of how this extra power sounds and how it is created.

Thanks for all the comments thus far.

Any thoughts on Audio By Van Alstine DVA M225 mono amps? These are small, high power, appear to run relatively cool, yet class A/B...

They ever a showman Bob Carvar did a video once showed the power required to reproduce the sound of a pair of scissors doing one big snip. I think it was a short transient of 1,000 watts. Anything less clipped.

But that is the point of massive power… not in plying loud but delivering enormous current for short durations so not to compress the music. I have usually owned amps of twice the maximum power handling capability of my speakers. They always sounded better because of it. Typically with a real high current amp you have to turn the volume up less to sound satisfying.

All that extra power to prevent clipping is only useful if there are recordings that have a suitably wide dynamic range.  Absent such a large range, the average level would have to be incredibly high for that reserve to ever come into play on the peaks.  Even with notoriously inefficient and difficult to drive speakers, I would NEVER want the amp to actually deliver anything close to 900 or 1200 watts.  I cannot think of any amp over 100 watts that I thought compared favorably with low-powered amps when playing the vast majority of speakers at sensible power levels.  

Except perhaps for Quads, you never blow a speaker from power but rather from clipping. Check out the way tube and solid state amps clip and tell which type of clipping most would deem more tolerable. 

You most certainly can blow a speaker from applying excess power; it is not always the case that tweeters are the drivers to blow because clipping introduces high frequency harmonics.  I wish people would be cautious around their high-powered amps.  The most surprising thing that I've seen is speakers where none of the drivers were damaged by extremely high power being sent through the speaker, but, the crossover failed from the excess heat; that heat was enough to completely melt the plastic bobbin of an inductor which left a lump of wire sitting in a pool of plastic.

I have a post it note on top of my preamp “scotch or beer, lower the volume”

had nightmares in the late 80’s early 90’s with smaller speakers. Not with my,modded CV D-8 pairs. Power hungry monkey coffins.

After the right side binding posts literally turned to melted red/black crayon on my old Onkyo m504, I saved and have never had an amp with less than 250+ WPC!

ONE EXCEPTION, bought a 20 year old pair of odyssey stratos many many years ago,sat in my basement for a few years til I could save the scratch ,….and proving Klaus is a damn good dude, on his way back from an audio show , he stopped at my house, picked up the amps to be upgraded! Called me in a month or two, we met almost halfway so I could pick them up.

Those,amps rated at 180 or 200 WPC ?? Are the lowest watt amps I’ve had in years. Will say, ….they do drive my modded D-9 pair very well, where as other amps have shown a lot of strain and some just barely chugging,along.
they are about 3.5 - 4.5 Ohms, power hungry little buggers! The upgraded Odyssey kismet really control them nicely, I’m not sure the output of the amps at 3- 4.5 Ohm load, but they get somewhat warm after 3 hours of jamming’ thin lizzy, frank Marino, scorpions, Gary Moore, venom, Motörhead, tank, forbidden, riot, onslaught, etc etc etc…. They,do hold up well, and never miss a beat. I would think the kismets would hit 325 - 350 at 4 Ohms. Maybe a little more as the impedance drops below 4 Ohms.

Used 2 carvin dcm 2500 pair as monos, they didn’t last too long being pro amps, I was happy with the open sound and guitar n bass crunch.
The Emotiva xpa-1 pair would get real hot,….had to put fans on them.

QSC pl-340 is reliable and will drive anything I hook her up with.

anyway, back on track, sorry for the hijack……