Why do speakers improve with more powerful amps?

@esarhaddon1 +2

@phusis +1

Mike

OP, Thank you for your kind words about my system. One of the greatest benefits after the doggies is the sound space three walls concrete (front and sides)… and large, highly asymmetrical space. Bought the house knowing there was a place for my system…. Had no idea it would sound so good. As they say, better to be lucky than good. 

It’s about the ability of the amplifier to deliver transient response to whatever speaker they’re driving. Transient response can take loads of power momentarily. If your speakers are efficient enough to handle that from a low watt tube amp then great. I have found that most speakers require a lot of power to reproduce transients properly. Play London Grammar, “Hey Now” and tell me if your amp has enough power to handle it.

Try driving a set of Maggies with a 2W Decware Zen Triode. Not going to work. 

Not having to deal with the interaction between driver impedance and passive filter network gives the designer of an active crossover/equalizer much greater freedom and control to develop a superior product.

As some one who can do both, this statement is not always true. Depends. For certain, the digital/active domain makes time delay easy, which therefore makes high order, symmetric crossovers a lot easier to accomplish on a flat baffle speaker.