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Why do you need so much power?

I have a basic question.  I have a set of Tannoys with 93dB sensitivity. I’m told that a 25 Wpc amp like the First Watt J2 can power it just fine. (I don’t crank it to 11.). Someone also suggested an Emotiva amp with 500W RMS. 

So my question. Assuming you have a good set of speakers that are efficient (>90) and you don’t crank it till it’s clipping, then do you ever need such power as the Emotiva?  Thanks!
ssmaudio
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
Tannoys and Emotiva, just doesn't slide off my tongue.

The guy on the other thread didn't like Pass and Klipsch.

Geeez..

Pass and Tannoy, what could be better. A valve amp if that is your cup of tea. It would be mine. I like Tannoys, not suppose to blast..

Regards

arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,549 posts
 
Emotiva - NO. 
  And yes, even with high eff speakers, you will need the watts for headroom, and quiet to loud passages, the song ending slam of drums and guitar/bass.
    And with a good high quality/descent amp you will most likely not clip the amp. 
elevick
2,636 posts
 
You don't need watts, just good power supplies for dynamic headroom.  I'm delighted with my 10 watts all day long.  My 100 watt monoblocks are gathering dust.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Robert Harley answered your question years ago:"If the first watt isn't any good, why would you want 200 more of them?"
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Robert Harley answered your question years ago:"If the first watt isn't any good, why would you want 200 more of them?"
Yeah well, that's also a load of ****
The first couple of watts in any a/b amp are usually the better sounding Class-A biased ones, naturally the rest in Class-B are not as good, as they have a bit of crossover distortion in them

Cheers George
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