Too Much Power

Plus one @fsonicsmith 

As we say in hotrodding, too much horsepower is almost enough.

@gnoworyta I'm nowhere near an expert at this type of thing as well or in the different classes of amplifiers but I do own the M1200 and EXTREMELY pleased with the SQ and price performance

In the reviews I read prior to purchase the references to the power rating reveled not in how loud the amplifier could play, but the ability to create a larger and deeper sound stage with headroom remaining to deliver the sonic peaks with equal performance

Rest assured the M1200 delivers as advertised, IMO

I've paired the M1200 with speakers rated at 900 watts and have little concern about over powering or damaging them

The symmetry between the M1200 and the speakers is a thing of beauty, again IMO

It's two channel with no subs and do not feel I'm lacking in bass performance.  Though truth be told that's one of the areas that you don't know what you're missing until you've heard it, sort of things.  I'm not ambitious enough to go through the brain damage or cost get my room equipped for 3 or 4 subs to do it justice

Relative to volume, on a scale of 1-100, I typically begin playback at 35, the sweet spot for most recordings is 45-50, hi-res formats come alive between 50-65, and rarely if ever have turned the volume up past 65

I begin to get wide eyes and big smiles from guests around 45-50 and reactions of WOW in the 50-55 range

Here's a review from TAS that sums it up more technically than I ever could and if I'm not mistaken in 2021, the M1200 was also on the editors choice products of the year list in TAS as well

stevewharton

Thanks. What preamp are you utilizing with the M1200's?

Making a statement that 5 watts is all you need is ridiculous and it also doesn’t  mean 5 watts of class a power is all you need. I’ve had Classe monoblocks that had much more than 5 watts in class a mode and hundreds in class a/ab mode.

Get the best amp you can afford with power that is 2 or 3x more then you need for your speakers. No 5 watt amp will drive a pair of magnapan 20.1’s, but you can get a quality a - a/b amp with hundreds of watts that will make your 96db speakers you might have today sing as well as 86db speakers you might buy in the future. Decades ago, I went with amps that were rated 10x what the manufacturer recommended and they sounded the best compared to the same manufacturer other amps that were only 2-3x more powerful