Can you ever have too much power?

Subaruguru beat me to the punch and with so few words! Rats.

My Cinepro 3K6II is too much power. I now have so much volume, so fast that my subs can barely be heard. Balance in your system is what you will lose. Along with power comes noise unless you have the big bucks. I will be returning to the 200wpc crowd before too long. Maybe seperate amplifiers next, I haven't decided yet.

Hmmmmmmm, I've always felt that when an amp was running too close to its limits, the sound wasn't as good as when it was just crusin' along not being pushed. I think some headroom is a good thing.

Yes, you can have too much power.

Being a confirmed fan of Class A (Sumo, NEW, Classe, Atma-Sphere, Llano and now Plinius) and planar speakers (ML, Soundlab and now Apogees), power is a major issue in my audio life. I don't believe you can have too much. Having said that, there are volume control, sound quality and heat issues as pointed out above quite accurately (Fatparrot - Plinius amps have a bias switch that allows you to keep the amp warm in AB and ramp up to A in a few minutes - a very handy and unique feature, even better than the standby mode of tube amps). Could I cook my ribbons if I cranked the Plinius all the way up? Probably yes. But I couldn't stand to be in the room, so I think I'm safe from power excess. At the same time I've heard JA-200s clip on acoustic guitar through Apogees - 180W of Class A tube power was not enough! I would compare power to breast size (or horsepower if you like the auto analogy): in general, more is better, but after a point it becomes ridiculous! Let your results in your system be your guide.