It was a while ago that I auditioned two Rowland amps of very similar design.  One was rated at 50 wpc, the other something like 200 wpc.  The primary difference was the number of transistors per channel.  Both were playing the same somewhat difficult to drive panel speakers (either Maggies or Acoustats, I don't recall) at relatively modest levels.  I actually preferred the lower powered amp, and so did the owner of the store.  There might be a sound quality compromise to using more output devices to achieve higher power.

Hello 2psyop!  This kind of question shows up often. It's a perfectly reasonable question. Do you have some piece of gear with sound level meters? It will be very helpful.  You will read somewhere that person A has "stepped up" from a 50 watt amp to a 70 watt amp. That change will not be audible unless the 50 watter was being pushed into distortion (being asked for 65 watts or so) and the 70 watter was distortion free at 65 watts. Watch the meters on some music you really enjoy. (No meters? Download the free version of Wave Pad and you'll have a visual indication of sound level. I'm guessing you have a computer.) Much "pop" music has a very steady level so it sounds good on car radios.)  Notice that an increase in level of 10 db does not sound like much of a difference. Yet a 10 db increase in level requires ten times the output power from an amp. A difference of 20 db is quite noticible. That calls for 100 times more power from an amp! So the little 300B Class A tube amp running thru very efficient (100db sensitivity) speakers is only putting out 0.25 watts when the 10 db rise comes along. It easily handles the 2.5 watt requirement and all is well. But, when the 20 db change comes along, and 25 watts is called for, the sound may get a bit harsh. Listener X has low efficiency speakers (80db sensitivity) and needs 100 times the power of listener A for the same level of sound in his room. So, his normal listening level is 25 watts. When the 20 db higher passage comes along, he needs 100x more power (2500 watts!)  to reproduce the sound without distortion. Sad but true. So "big" amps tend to sound better because they do not distort the peaks in the music. In reality, few speakers have sensitivities as low as 80 db (I'm on my thirds pair of "Maggies" and will soon order a fourth) and run 400 watt amps (class D) on each of the stereo sides. I don't hear harshness and I don't play all that loud (even when my wife is away) because I'm not trying to break a lease. I do have a 300b, class A amp amp (9 wpc) driving a pair of 110 db sensitivity speakers and I can play both systems at the same levels in the listening room without a problem. So it's all a matter of how sensitive your speakers are and how loud you want to play your music. Big amps are less likely to distort on peaks (or with LOUD music) and so, tend to sound "better," all other things being equal (which they never are.). Doubling amp power only gives you 3db loudness increase which is the smallest difference the untrained ear can detect. So. if you are "upgrading" a sub 50 watt amp, go to 200 - 400 watts at least if you really want to hear a difference. They are less likely to overload on loud passages. It really is that simple. I do hope this helps. Happy listening.

I have Maggie's and typically drive them with my VAC tube amp (KT88) 100 watts per side I also have two subs in my system  To me it sounds magical but at the same time, l felt something was missing When I use my other amp that puts out 500watts@8ohm 650@4ohms and 1,200 watts@1ohm plus 65 amps for 500 milliseconds the Maggie's really come alive with dynamics and inner detail  All the leading edge of the music just has much more energy even at lower levels  If I want I can bring my Maggie's to their knees  But typically I listen to music around 75 db with peaks in the low 80's  my listening position is eleven feet from my speakers It's obvious that not all speakers require lots of watts/current but l would have to say my Maggie's sure love the watts/current 

Also clear as mud given the variables. W/ my speakers more zap (duel mono and very clean) added better sonic yield that's fantabulousahhhh   

Amps are like cars and there’s no substation for horse power. More horse power. More horse power = most males even the "sensible" ones

@bigkidz Wrote:

And higher power sounds better at low volume and high volume is another false statement.

I agree!

Mike

To be honest, there are a lot of inaccurate statements in this thread.  I am guessing that only a few people here know design and have experience in building an audio component.  For example, a lesser power amp sound as good as a more powerful power amp.  Everyone is welcome to come to our listening room in Northern New Jersey and have a listen to equipment.  Like I stated, I have a 28WPC amp powering Vandersteen Seven speakers 83db that outperforms amps with 100 to 200wpc, from class A/B, Class D, etc.  Also, Adcom back in the day made a 100wpc and a 200wpc power amplifier.  The 100wpc always sounded better.  It is not that simple to double the output wpc and make a better amp.

Happy Listening.

bigkidz,

As I explained above, I had the same experience with a lower-powered and higher-powered Rowland amp.  I generally tend to like the sound of lower-powered amps.  I tend to like tube amps that run the likes of 6L6 or KT66 more than I do amps running KT88 or KT150, for example, and when speakers are sufficiently efficient, I like single ended 45 and 2a3 amps.  Even in the solid sate realm, some of the lower-powered First Watt amps are among the best sounding solid state amps.  I heard one of their SIT amps and I borrowed a J2 amp from a friend for a couple of weeks.

I run something pretty exotic in my pushpull amps-Western Electric 349 output tubes.  A quad of these cost a fortune, but they last a long time, when run gently (my amp puts out something like 5.5 wpc).  My amp is essentially a rebuilt Western Electric 133 amp (input/driver tubes are 348, I use the correct input and output transformers, the power transformer and choke are modern).

I am not quite as extreme as you are, given that my speakers are 99 db/w efficient, but this is still quite below the power a lot of people seem to think they need.

Okay. The OP is asking for experience with amp power, so here’s one.

About 10 years ago, my "rig" was running an amp with just north of 100wpc. We serviced equipment full time, also providing performance upgrades. After "hot rodding" an amp with 600+wpc I decided to do a "field test" in my home. The speakers are of my own design, are approx 97db efficient and have "sufficient" cone area.

After a little warm up period and determining where to dial in the volume control on the preamp to get max power without clipping, I queued up one of my favorite demo pieces: Foreplay: Between the Sheets and got comfortable in my listening chair.

Those familiar with the cut understand that things happen pretty quickly, so I braced myself for the anticipated impact to follow. I pushed the "play" icon on the remote .... and ...

I felt the bass hit my chest. Not the first time this had happened, but not at this level of intensity. I then felt the bass go through my chest, hit the cushion behind me, which caused it to vibrate. If felt the recoil of the cushion hiting my back. It was startling to say the least.

The amp was returned to the owner (accompanied by a big "thumbs up"). I’ve never had an experience even close to this in my home. The additional 8db (+/-) of headroom was clearly "audible." You may be asking why I haven’t purchased an amp to duplicate this experience in my home? I have hot rods in my garage. Doing a smoky burnout once in my lifetime is enough.

It varies wildly depending on the speaker and the amp.  Certain brands are best with huge amounts of power and are not just low efficiency low impedance as your rightly pointed out.  

That said, with speakers of even modest efficiency, amp quality is often more important that power.  I run Wilson-Benesch Discovery 3Zeros with a pair of 55w mono blocks.  I have run with more power (200w) into 8ohms via excellent SS amps and do not feel they outperform my better tube based monos.  

I just did an extensive test between my Canor tube monos and the AGD Gran Vivace.  AGDs delivered slightly better bass response.  Canors sound slightly more natural.  But these are small differences and most people would walk away saying both were great and a great match for the speakers.  

To be honest, there are a lot of inaccurate statements in this thread. I am guessing that only a few people here know design and have experience in building an audio component.

Are there really inaccurate/false statement in this thread, or is it just perspectives and experiences that don’t match with yours? If it’s truly a false statement, it can be decisively refuted with math & physics.

One of the common perspectives I disagree with is (paraphrasing) - "doubling power is only 3dB and that’s not much anyways". 3dB is a lot! You can TOTALLY hear a huge difference in 3dB. Find your "preferred" listening volume, then adjust up or down by 3dB - it sucks! 1dB was loosely determined as the "audibility threshold" a long time ago, but the subtext there is *for casual listeners*. It’s more meaningful for a seasoned audiophile. When dealing with say L/R channel imbalances, you can certainly notice down to a third of a decibel, at least.

Another perspective I don’t share is that paralleling multiple outputs (tubes, transistors) imposes some kind of sonic penalty. Definitely NOT in my experience. If anything, the aberrant characteristics of one particular device can get averaged/smoothed out by the others (that’s good). The choice of device itself matters a lot (of course), but if the PSU and OPT and driver circuitry can handle it then the more the merrier I say. Bridging is a different story, as is stacking extra gain stages - both of these can certainly impose performance penalties in the pursuit of higher power and higher volumes.

I definitely get folks who prefer the sonic character of say 6L6 or EL34 (I love both of those tubes) over the more austere KT88/KT120, but I bet a properly done high power amp with lots of paralleled (say) 6L6GC would be pretty amazing - you just don’t see those on the market. Manley does have their NeoClassic with lots of EL34, but I haven’t heard it yet - looks interesting.

I agree that 3 db is quite a bit of difference in sound level and I share your experience with channel balance.  I use to run a Levinson No.32 linestage that allows for 0.1 db changes in volume.  That gradation seemed ridiculously fine.  With most musical sources (i.e., not a steady test signal) it is a bit hard to hear a 1 db change in volume.  But, in terms of channel balance, it was quite easy to hear a 0.2 db change to one channel.  That explains why Levinson offered such small changes.  I don't like stepped attenuators which have so few steps that there is more than a 1 db change between steps--the right volume level always seems to be between the two offered steps.  It is amazing how small is the window on the ideal volume level.  That is another reason why remote control of volume seems essential to me--you cannot, practicably speaking, find the right volume by getting up to manually adjust the volume even if you are not lazy.

bigkidz is correct.

Do not concern yourself with amount of amplifier power, concern yourself with quality of amplifier power.

I bought my amp from a custom builder who also built my preamplifier.  They are "matched" in a way because the amp has input transformers that demand, for optimum performance, being matched to a line stage or preamplifier with a corresponding output transformer.  I had this combination for about five years or so, and in that time, I would sometime be asked how much power the amp put out and I had no idea whatsoever.  When the builder, who is from Italy, came over to the states, I got to talking to him and I asked him about the output power of my amp.  I got such a look of disdain from him; clearly I did not deserve that amp if I concerned myself with such irrelevant and trivial matters.  He thought about it a bit himself and took a guess (I would not expect him to have actually measured it, how it sounds is the only consideration); he guess 5.5 wpc, which is my answer to anyone who asks.

for those worrying about the clear-as-mud, here's a simple solution:

the Marantz 40N amp is simple, has real knobs, and has 75 wpc rated and is enough for almost any reasonable home 

@czarivey What is this 'poor dynamic floor' on high sensitivity speakers to which you object? Never heard that term before.

@mulveling  - yes if you read all of the posts, there are plenty of inaccurate statements regarding power and sound quality.  It is not my opinion but there is plenty of designs that prove this.  As my partner in my company that manufacturers tube components and he has a masters in electrical engineering, I have learned how things work and what makes them sound the way they do.  That being said, I am always open to learn something new but the inaccurate statements are based on how an amplifier can be designed and implemented.

Happy Listening.

@czarivey Wrote:

 It's a trade-off. Heavier speakers can get a lot better dynamic range from quiet listening to very LOUD.

What does the speakers weight have to do with it's dynamic range?

High efficiency loudspeaker usually have greater dynamic range than less efficient speakers, due to something called ’thermal compression’, which is heating of the voice coil. As the coil heats up, its resistance goes up too. This is far more common with lower efficiency loudspeakers! Most solid state amps will thus put out less power. This can happen with individual bass notes, causing them to compress.

Its often more difficult to find higher power amplifiers that actually sound like music, although that problem is not as big now as it was 20 years ago.

@atmasphere

I use all pro amplifiers crown xls, xti and a Cerwin Vega el-36dp along with a cvx 21-s all of those are professional level which they also put out a lot of power and sound very musical and I mean it they sing also the Cerwin Vegas makes my system sound like a movie theater, club and small concert. My goal is to have a huge concert going on in my head and around me when I’m by myself

More power, more better when comparing apples to apples is pretty spot on. The best example of this I’ve ever heard is when I added a second Devialet to my system go from a 200 to a 400. It was an instant wow. Same technology all around, just more power. 
 

But now I use a Luxman 590, 30w class A and will never go back. 
 

The type of power seems to me to be way more important than the amount of power. 

Some amps with a lower rated power sound more powerful than their specs would have you believe (due to good design and a robust power supply). Speaker sensitivities are unreliable (and misleading). If a high powered amp sounds “more dynamic” than a lower powered amp at lower levels, it is not due to its maximum power rating in watts, it has much more to do with the amp’s design, regardless of rated power. An amp’s input sensitivity dictates what sound level will be produced at what position of the volume control (all else being equal). If you listen to music at moderate levels, you likely don’t need as much power as you think you do. I’m getting some of the best sound of MY life with a Music Reference RM-10 amp (35 w/ch) driving my Magnepan 3.7s… and I’ve used dozens of amps of various power ratings over the past 37 years (I’ve always had Maggies in the house).  This is my experience with power. Ymmv. Gotta try some different amps out with an open mind regarding power!

Understanding Amplifier Power Output Specifications

Don’t base an amplifier’s quality just on its wattage output

@mulveling wrote:

... When dealing with say L/R channel imbalances, you can certainly notice down to a third of a decibel, at least.

Indeed. My Xilica digital crossover/DSP has gain adjustment in 0.25dB increments, and occasionally I wish 0.10dB increments had been available.

@2psyop wrote:

What is you experience with high power, high current amps ? Do your speakers sound better with more power? At low volumes, in a small or medium sized room? Do you think the quality of the music is dependent on higher powered amps?

My previous, passively configured speaker setup (104dB sensitivity) had a 30W class A power amp delivering substantial SPL output with ease, where my current, actively configured speaker system is powered by a combined 2,350W per channel with a sensitivity range of 97, 100 and 111dB’s (subs, midbass and HF/MF horn). Even with high sensitivity in both speaker cases the latter, active scenario lets the prodigious power wallop at hand here shine through at moderate as well as very high SPL’s, but that’s just speaking of the perceived power envelope in different contexts. Perhaps more relevant would be comparing different power scenarios via one and the same speaker combo and (preferably) the same amp brand/series, which I have, and with my current, active speaker system and chosen amp brand/series this has yielded a slightly more assured and fuller presentation with the more powerful iterations from the same series (even with a very slight difference of 575 vs. 625W/8 ohm). Rarely using more than 10-20W in my specific case this may seem an improbable outcome, but listening soon lets one know otherwise.

I’d say it is more the speaker than the Amp. I’m running only 30 watts of class A power into the Tannoys... (Sugden A21se signature)plenty of power! They are honestly the best speakers I’ve heard at low volumes...still sound full and I do not feel I have to play them loud, as it is still all there

I’ve destroyed several amps, melted binding,posts, blown tweeters, mids, u get that unclear muffle sound, then u fry a tweeter, nt from power, from NOT ENOUGH POWER, headroom, amps ability to produce the juice you want, when you use a little flea fart amp, or in my experience, anything under,250-300WPC RMS, even at medium volume, the amp may not be able to supply the current/power,needed for a crescendo, or a double bass section with lead ,bass, and rhythm guitar, all going forward with intensity,……many,amps will clip. In my 35+ years in audio, I’ve found the best results with min 250-300 W at 8 ohm and close to doubling in 4 and 2, which tells purchaser there is a stable power supply.

The lowest power monos I have are the Odyssey stratos maxed out , they are 200W at 8 ohm, and 375 into 4 ohm, while these are capable, they are very high current which picks up the slack, almost beer can size caps, etc etc, I hooked up my modded cerw vega D9 which drop down to about 2 ohm, new woofers, crossovers reworked, great mids and tweeter, these destroyed my previous receiver and amplifiers.

When I bought the Rotel rb1090, the gates opened, and a heavenly light shined my window, and the angels sang a chorus of Stevie wonder ,ac/dc, Helstar, which was crystal clear 1/2 mile away at my uncles driveway.

From that point on, nothing less than 300+ WPC rms

plus that headroom gives a open almost stadium, ease of playback ,no strain volume , at any level.
will never go back to flea fart and bunny queef receivers, amps.

its effortless, easy, and gives a sense of fluid, easy going, non fatiguing playback.

In the end, I was so sad one morning, saturday, no work, pressed power switch on my Rotel rb1090, and POP, flash, white smoke, small,white and blue flame shot up from the top cover vents, the inrush limiter had fried, only 15 months old.

went through a couple amps and monos since settling on my dna750 monos bought used in 2016 I think. Best decision I have made in a,long time.

650W 8, 1000@4, power supply not quite hefty enough to double down, but with 650 at 8 ohm, I’ve never heard a muddy sound, clip, strain, distortion,

pure goosebump overload.
even playing poorly recorded records, does sound as it is, poorly,recorded, but there is a subtle fix, or tone, which makes demo tapes and old boot live,recordings more listenable.

yes, having the headroom is essential for playback, if you like any volume at all, it will save you from clipping, distortion, strain. 
higher powered amps sound better, with class A being only exception. 
 

even in class A, I would not go below 250-300WPC,  just from lessons learned and life experiences with power amps. 
 

plus , if you decide to upgrade speakers, etc, you will have the backbone to drive most consumer speakers down to 3.5 - 4 ohm.

planar speakers and those 1-2 ohm,…speakers, best check with manufacturer. 
and use your ears as main guide, if you hear strain, or tweeter breaking up, Gary Moore’s guitar muffled in midrange, your pushing too hard. 
 

use ur best judgement, and FFS, drunkenness and volume don’t mix. 
 

my,speakers I use now, only rated at 250W,, they are,glorious, smooth, warm, and so clear, there are no,speakers when I sit for an extended listening session, when eyes,closed, you can not pinpoint where the speakers, sound is emanating from!

love it

I figured out a long time ago that less is better - amplifiers and other components with fewer parts sound better to me - better imaging, transparency and so on.  The less stuff a signal has to travel through the better.  High power means more parts.   I just finished building a Firstwatt F5 which is 25 watts per channel class A.  As you know Nelson Pass is designing these low power amps with as few parts as possible.   Speakers are Klipsch Forte which are something like 98 db sensitive.  But what you like is what matters.  

In this home office setup, I’ve come to really appreciate 2 pairs of fairly large, sealed 2-way speakers. Both are relatively inefficient, as most sealed/acoustic suspension speakers are. So on the rare occasions when I really crank the system, having lots of watts matters. There’s definitely a benefit to big, strong amps that loaf along at <10%-15% capacity even at peak volumes (ie, if good sound = a good power supply, it’s an unstressed, high-capacity PS that one is hearing).

But at other times when lots of watts aren’t needed, it’s down to how well designed and voiced the amp is; how carefully the components were selected for sonic as well as electronic properties; how robust the PS is; the quality of circuit layout and wiring...all the audio verities. Spending lots of money on an amp isn’t a guarantee of good sound, but I suspect really good sound becomes more commonplace with the bigger, heavier, more expensive amp designs.

@arcticdeth 

I have read many summaries that said that too little power is the bane of audio systems a can fry speakers. I have tended to use amps above the max recommended for the speakers I owned… admittedly not cranking them to ultra high levels. I have never had a problem with power… speakers or amps.

But, @arcticdeth story is what I have repeatedly heard is possible.

The power of audio amplifiers

The best and most complete article ever written about the power of audio amps With focus on hifi.

I’ve been in this hobby for 40+ years and have owned many different systems.I have extremely high powered class A/B amps is my system and I’ve always owned extremely inefficient speakers that I prefer to listen to at moderate volume levels in a medium size room. Back in the day I owned a set of Thiel CS 7.2 that I tried to power  with a Threshold T400 (150 watts per channel class A amp). The speakers could play loud but lacked dynamics and sound stage. I had to use a Pass X600 to energize the speakers at moderate volume. Since then my speakers have changed but I’ve continued to use extremely high powered amps. So to answer your vague question, I believe speaker performance is highly dependent on the amp and the room. Personally, I’d use a lower powered Class A amp if I had more efficient speakers. 

Our custom tube monoblocks (75 lbs. with massive pi filtered power supply) put out about 100 watts each into our nominal 6 ohm 87dB NorthCreek crossovered B&W Matrix 801 Series 2 speakers. Our nearest neighbor’s house is about a 1/4 mile away. One day mrs. x and I were celebrating being alive with the volume knob and some of our Jimmy Buffet vinyl. A couple of days later at at the mailbox I ran into mr. neighbor who commented on how great our Jimmy Buffet concert sounded. He said he and mrs. neighbor enjoyed it with margaritas on their porch :)

The amps drive the speakers just fine.

@ghdprentice Another time I totally agree with you. If the speaker is both efficient and an easy load, I use a 30 watt tube amp on it. I disagree with @james633 My second system Signature IIIs sound equally great with either my superdeluxe voltage regulated Dynaco ST70 (30w tremendous bass), my EAR 890 (70w) or my tube monoblocks (125w)  A little sweeter sounding with the Dynaco though.

@spaceguitarist : Excellent article! My French has become almost entirely unusable (I last studied French in college almost 40 years ago), so I had to resort to the translation function, but the information was spot on. My experience with “rated power” of various amplifiers has shown this info to be true. See, we can agree! Lol. Thanks for the link. 

Using examples such as: “Amp A @ 600 w/ch sounds better than Amp B @ 150 w/ch shows that more powerful amps sound better” is an unreliable argument. It may in fact be 100% true, but is it solely due to Amp A’s higher maximum power rating? No. Also, the idea that a 200 w/ch amp plays 3dB louder than a 100 w/ch amp only holds true when each amp played to its maximum output. At any listening level below the maximum output of the lower powered amp, the output is unaffected by the maximum rated power (all other factors equal, re: input sensitivity, power supply, design, etc.). Two amplifiers using identical components, but configured differently so one outputs 200 w/ch rated power, and the other outputs 50 w/ch won’t sound different because of rated power, unless the listener exceeds 50 watts. For example: If you are listening to music and using 25 watts to achieve the volume level you desire, it matters not whether the amp in question maxes out at 50 watts, 100 watts, or 1000 watts… because you’re only using 25 watts for this level. There WILL be a difference if one amp in the comparison is designed with a stronger power supply, regardless of its power rating. 

Here is my experience with SS and tube power on a pair of Nola Ko speakers. 1st I had a MF m6 series 230 wpc SS amp running them. A little forward that would fatigue my ears after a couple of hours. Next I used a 75 wpc KT 88 tube amp. I thought now I'm moving in the right direction. Much more refined sound quality. And I can listen for much long with no listening discomfort. Next amp was a 20 wpc tube amp with el84 tubes. Now much more open and airy sound and still quality bass. Now here is the big surprise. I tried a 8 wpc single ended amp on them. To my surprise this was the overall best sound quality amp for my Nola Ko speakers. This Wee amp can push them to 80 db in a 24' x 18' room very easy for many hours on end. And the plus side of it is no listening session is to long now. 

Considering that you use a well designed amp that can provide 6dB dynamic headroom : for Hifi listening you will **NEVER** need more than 2x50W RMS/continuous 0.5%THD-20Hz-20KHz ( 6dB dynamic headroom ~ 2x200W dynamic power) to drive the most demanding speakers (most demanding speakers are usually the small "low sensibility" bookshelves)

If you need more than 2x50W RMS : then you are either doing "sound system" - not Hifi (it’s not bad to seek "sound for the whole room", but it’s not Hifi listening); ... or it means that your amp is not designed for Hifi (Usually high end Hifi amps have a good dynamic power, but I’ve seen amps costing more than 10K$ with specifications that I wouldn’t validate for Hifi listening : these are sound system amps).

For sound system : the amp should provide at least 2x200W RMS at less than 0.5%THD, but it varies with the room size , so you may wan 2x500W RMS for a very large room. Room size is only a matter for "sound system", for Hifi room size is not relevant as you will always listen at 3~4 meters at the sweet spot in Hifi !!!! (else it's not hifi).

Everything is explained here :

Excellent discussion. Here’s a musical take. 
 

Why Do Tweeters Blow When Amplifiers Distort? See below:

Mike

https://sound-au.com/tweeters.htm#a6

Why Do Tweeters Blow When Amplifiers Distort? See below:
Mike

https://sound-au.com/tweeters.htm#a6

That site is normally a good source of information, but that particular section "6 Bigger Amplifiers" seems short sighted to me:

• It assumes that a hapless user, when given more power capacity, will simply crank the volume in an attempt to recreate the Maxell ad. OK, I like it loud but I’m not that stupid lol.
• It ignores the fact that music source material has decreasing energy content (amplitude) as frequency rises. This means that most of the musical energy energy is handled by woofers, not the tweeter. Speaker designers respond by designing speakers with much higher power handling in the woofer section. Quite reasonably, it’s difficult to create a tweeter with very high power handling that doesn’t adversely affect its cost and HF performance. Result: speakers can handle their rated power levels IF the spectrum content of the program material is "correct". Led Zep: OK. Lady Gaga: OK. Pink or Brown noise: OK. White noise: NOT OK. Amp clipping: NOT OK.
• An amp that’s clipping on a high amplitude low frequency wave form will create a squared waveform that suddenly now carries a LOT of high frequency energy. This HF content was NOT in the source material, but it’s now going right into the tweeter - which was not designed to handle such high peak levels of energy! Its amplitude is proportional to the LF waveform (very high amplitude - the max allowable by the amp's rail voltage) that’s being clipped, which is way higher than you’d see HF content in nature. That’s why it sounds SO BAD and kills tweeters.

When the builder, who is from Italy, came over to the states, I got to talking to him and I asked him about the output power of my amp.  I got such a look of disdain from him; clearly I did not deserve that amp if I concerned myself with such irrelevant and trivial matters.  He thought about it a bit himself and took a guess (I would not expect him to have actually measured it, how it sounds is the only consideration)

@larryi I get that a designer might think of his product like a fine wine; or at least, convey that POV to a customer. But the idea that they had not measured the output power is a stretch! This is because you cannot know if you have optimized the output circuit without at least measuring the power!

@mulveling. I think this addresses what you wrote in your post.

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! See below:

Mike

https://www.cieri.net/Documenti/JBL/Technical%20Notes/JBL%20Technical%20Note%20-%20Danger,%20Low

I own a set of DQ10’s. Notorious power hogs according to everything I read.  "You need at least 200wpc 'to make them sing'" is the famous opinion.  Horse dung!  I run them with this little gem. A Proton D540. 40 wpc but with 6db of headroom. No need for a heat producing beast. Why? Because my ears tell me so..... This little amp makes them sound absolutely stellar. And no sub either...fabulous and tight, full bass. Check the review and bench test for it here........https://www.hifi-classic.net/review/proton-d540-410.html

I listen to electrostats. Although they’re known as power mongers driving them with tubes more than gets the job done! I’m using 75 watt monoblocks which get the job done. I don’t need more power.