How many watts??


If I have a 80 watt stereo amp and I normally listen at quarter volume and never play at levels higher than this. Do I really need 80 watts could I use a 15 watt amp at half volume?

My next question if I have speakers that my mfg states needs min 50 watts to really make them sound good with my current amp rated at 80 watts but played at qtr volume does that mean I am not really getting the best from these speakers. If I play at half volume this is too loud, do I need a bigger room. Sorry if I did not explain clearly enough.


ecpninja
Many amp designers say amps tend to work at their most linearity at around 20% of their full rated output. As has previously been posted, volume increases require logarithmic power output. Having an additional 80% of total power output for headroom is prudent. Running out of power; can lead to clipping; clipping can lead to speaker damage.
Speaker sensitivity, room considerations and desired volume levels will ultimately determine how much power one needs.
There used to be an oft repeated audiophile general rule of thumb; "double the manufacturers minimum power recommendation".



Hello,
I usually listen at modest volumes. Probably 60-70db and even a lot lower at sometimes. I was never impressed by playing loud. I am more impressed by how low you can play the volume and still hear the full dynamic range. One way to cheat this is add a subwoofer so you can still hear that deeper bass. I will tell you the preamp or preamp portion of an integrated amp is most important. More important than 80 watts or even 1000 watts. The amplifier is amplifying what the preamp sends it. Garbage in, garbage out. If you hear a his, hum, or distortion why would you want to amplify that. I have seen a 10w per channel integrated tube amp rock out. You should try it. But it’s the preamp, not the amp doing that. Your system is amplifying garbage from the preamp. If you can hook up a good preamp to your system you will understand what I am saying. If you are in the Chicagoland area borrow a Rogue preamp from this store to hear how good your system can sound. https://holmaudio.com
they let you demo in your home before you buy. No more buyers remorse. 
Watts are only one small part of the overall equation of how much power an amp has. Too many people get hung up on watts and db’s. Yes numbers can be a good starting point but never stop there. Example 1 watt from a class A amp is nowhere close to 1 watt from a class D amp. Its like comparing the horse power of a lawn mower to a motor cycle. The number can be the same on paper but the end product is nothin alike.
Its like comparing the horse power of a lawn mower to a motor cycle. The number can be the same on paper but the end product is nothin alike.

Yeah… I agree that my John Dear mower is nothing like a Kawasaki motorcycle. They are both green, and have engines, but after that…

James Watt, who coincidentally standardised the unit of Horse Power, later the “metric horse” became labeled as being Watts and kilowatts…
So to claim that a watt is not a watt, only means something in the context of asking a two different 1W amplifiers to give 2 watts… and how they clip.

I quest that the OP likes it quiet. The average person needs the 50W amp that the manufacturer recommends. And there is another Gaussian tail of people on the right, that will blow the speaker apart. We can call these the 65dB, 85dB and 105 dB groups… or the A, B and D groups.
Your brain interprets distortion as volume. It can be any distortion coming from the system or the room. You have work to do.

@russ69 , Hold on Tex, you are forgetting about Crown and Phase Linear. They were the first to make amps over 100 watts. The Crown sounded like finger nails down a chalk board. The Phase Linear like to blow up if you tried to drive the wrong speaker with it. The semiconductors of the day could not handle the heat and the Phase had pathetic heat sinks. But, it sounded 1/2 way decent and it did not clip into large Advents at 100 dB or so. Both amps had these large fancy face plates but were only a few inches deep. They may have weighed 5 lb at the most. As compared to the Parasound JC 1 at 65 lb, serious light weights and the JC 1 is a relatively light amp! The big Boulders weigh over 300 lb most of it CNC milled Aluminum of no sonic significance what so ever not to mention fugly to my eye.