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

Mine is around 60 to 70. I push to 80-85 when rockin the system.

Ghdprentice -are you telling me that a high quality solid state amp that can put out 300 watts / channel will sound better than a high quality 100 watt / channel amp when they’re only driving an 89 db sensitive speaker to level of 70 db’s & thus not even using a watt of power? I have my real doubts as does Nelson Pass & thus his believe that class A amps sound better when putting out lower wattage as do high quality low power amps ( his First watt line) w/ the right speakers at reasonable volumes. If you’re actually using 40 or 50 watts average & thus peaks of of a few hundred watts, then I would think the higher power would sound better. 

My longtime experience tells me that the size and quality of the amps power supply has the greatest effect on what we hear, keeping in mind, the amp is of good design. I personally experienced this when I purchased my Krell KSA 100 upon its introduction, while owning several other amps rated at 200wpc. At half the rated power of the others, it quickly became "my baby", as it took me to another level in overall listening enjoyment, with all my music, at all my playing levels and with many brands and models of speakers. I am sticking to my story, still today. 

@jonwolfpell  agreed, Pass designs like my XA30.8 are totally sufficient at lower wattages even for higher spl listening.  I also have subs which really helps take the strain off the amps.  I've blasted it loud as hell and haven't seen the needle move.  I would say though "powerful" is relative and there are other things than wattage to consider like toroidal capacity and how much amperes it's rated for.  Along with so many other things... although some inefficient speakers DO really need that extra juice @ghdprentice and from the same manufacturer, yes more wattage is typically better for inefficient speakers and also has to do with other things like ohm load and impedence matching with the preamp to the amplifier

@larsman I meant more like a physical one - check out BAFX spl meter on amazon or wherever you care to shop.  It has served me well and is not expensive.  My friends phone can be wildly off vs an actual calibrated meter.  Best of luck to you!  I'm always curious myself at volumes but if you're listening quietly it doesn't matter that much.  Your ears will tell you when it's getting loud