Too much power?


I have a wonderful system with a great amplifier, and yet auditioned a more powerful version of the same amp. It indeed seemed to have more punch and drive, but at the expense of playing it a bit too loud. As my current system I rarely play over 70 db, since it’s perfect at low levels. I wonder other than bragging rights, what does more power get you? Since we aren’t here for PA style sound, is there a reasonable limit to how much you will benefit from higher power/ more expensive and? Especially since tire just using one watt most of the time?

dain

Showing 1 response by ejr1953

@dain  OK, I'm dating myself, but "back in the day" I found that some of the then "high powered" amps (like 200 watts per channel) to me didn't sound "good" until you cranked it up.

Fast forward to the 2000's and when I "saw the light at the end of the tunnel" with my kids' college costs, and started my journey into the "high end", I found that the more powerful amps seemed to sound like they had more "air" around the music, that they were not struggling to drive the speakers...and like you, I don't play music that loud.

@carlsbad   I'm with you on the loud volumes played at audio shows!