What decibel level do you listen at? What is ideal?

" I’ve said this many times to the dismay of people who say (usually parroting what their dealer told them) something along the lines of, “but it provides more grip” or “but the transients come out better with more power”. 

I have fifty years of experience in pursuing high end audio. Solid state amps benefit greatly from more power in the vast majority of cases. No dealer has to tell me that, it's not a rule of thumb to benefit sellers of high powered amps. 

@jonwolfpell

That’s the best way to learn. Find yourself a friendly dealer. Over the last forty years I have always been friends with at least one dealer. I might propose a question like this and he would know the answer and set up a demo for me, or if he didn't know, then say, "well, let's find out". The dealers I have been friends with have been enthusiasts first and business owners second. 

I would recommend using a one set of good quality speakers that you are familiar with... if you swap amps and speakers you get too many permutations really fast. You could easily use Pass X150.8 and X350.8, for instance. 

@jonwolfpell 

Yes. That is exactly what I am saying. 

I have never been a fan of Carver. But I remember decades ago him doing a demo of the sound of (I think this is right) a set of scissors cutting a piece of paper. He was able to measure the near instantaneous power demand to reproduce this sound (as opposed to normal gauges that are long term averages in comparison). Any the really large amp clipped during the snip, restricting the dynamics of the sound reproduction. 

That is the logical side. Then I have heard multiple versions of the same amps with the same speakers... and they sound better... so that is holding all other things constant. This have always been solid state amps. We are talking normal speakers... sensitivity 82 db to 96db. I have never played with 100db sensitive speakers... there could be some down side with speaker that sensitive. 

@jonwolfpell

Having high power amps is not about the ultimate volume. It is about dynamics and transients. The more current the amp can provide improves the dynamics and solidity... especially in solid state amps. So, with all things equal a 350wpc amp will sound much better... solid and dynamic than a 250wpc or a 150wpc. While overall quality trumps just power... in sold state amps bigger is almost alway better... even at 75db.

It is system and person dependent (highly age dependent).

The better my system the lower the required volume has been to sound great, after I got past my 20’s.

so now 65 - 75 db.