Too much power?

@dbakker  that’s an interesting observation. I was recently at a chamber orchestra concert playing in an exquisite hall. 4th row. All I could think is that this would sound better as a recording where I could turn it up! It was in the 70db peak region (I checked) I enjoyed it but how anyone in the 50th row would hear the piano (well it was a harpsichord )I have no idea. So how do you assume there’s some specific volume appropriate to any recording? If you want to study this you’ll find masterers really have no idea, and are currently being policed by streaming services that now stress dynamic range over sheer loudness as has been the norm for 50 years, but that could be a different topic.

OP,

It seems you are investigating the right things. I have had season tickets to the Oregon Symphony for ten years, 7th row center. Over this time the softest music slowly rises out of a black background and crescendos we’re a bit to much for my ears… where resolution is reduced because it is simply too loud… but we are talking about a couple seconds over many hours of concerts.

So, for me, this showed the audio levels that are appropriate. Only the very loudest crescendos being really loud and the very softest pieces coming out of the void. This gives you a base line of what a system should sound like. You want a dead quiet background  < 30db in your listening room and have the quietest pieces gently rise from this background, then the largest crescendos push the limit of when your ears start loosing differentiation. 
 

A full symphony is the key to gauging the sound pressure levels.

Your equipment, well  that is another story. The better it is, the more it will mimic the real world.

@boxcarman 

My experience with Magnepan's is just the opposite. My 1.7's sound much better being driven by the XA-25 vs the XA-100.8 monos. That said, I prefer the 100.8's with the Quad ESL-2905's. 

Great article! I love the guy that said “life begins at 300watt Tubes of course!” After having Big Powerful Mono blocks for years I’m happy with less now running a 

VTLS200 and surprisingly in Triode more then I like to admit ✨with only 100watts but then again I have a REL Carbon Fiber to fill in the lower region and couldn’t be happier, however that being said so much is dependent on your speakers efficiency as when I had Martin Logan’s they responded well to massive power where as the Harbeths response is to quality not quantity🌟

I agree, I’ve had so many amps in the past, nothing compared to the Rotel rb1090 when i had it (before the smoke rose from the top one morning)

all these bunny fart amps , while loved, are worthless for volume, you need the headroom for rock/metal, or just symphonic crescendos!

have not gone below 300W rms, since the rotel fiasco.

if you love your 1.5 watt class A tube, enjoy, im sure its amazing through a nice bonus faber bookshelf pair, at low to med volume.

if you wanna shred, go 250-300W rms you will be rewarded.

no clipping, you get the full sound as meant to be!

cymbals , guitar, vocals, kick drum,.....the lowest powered amps i have in 8 Ohm are the Odyssey moon, they are powering a 3-4 Ohm speaker pair, so im still getting 300+ rms. Those Sanders Magtech monos are a 9th wonder of the world, they seem to run on endless power, into any load, even to 1 Ohm and below during tests, and use, powering some hard to drive Avalon, or Apogee, even those MBL Radiostrahler beasts, nothing drove those speakers like the magtech monos, even a pair of Sunfire sig 600's kneeled to the Magtech monos. They are so simple looking, yet will control any speaker, electrostatic,,....anything. She is on my radar this summer, then i can sell my Emotiva monos. Hint......hint......

most will disagree, but once you have the power, you will never look back.

METAL IS A LIFESTYLE !