2. amps-preamps
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More Power is always good?

Hi all,

I'm a little lost in my search for the amp. Does more power (like more than 100W) means good?

I have been around listening to various amps, maybe a little too much that confused me.

Say for a room of 16ft by 20ft. What is the optimum power requirement?

For example, once I heard the Sugden A21Se (Class A 30W) driving the Spendor S6E, everything was nice except that I found that the basss definition and extension is lacking which is a concern to me, the showroom was smaller than my room. That's why I'm looking for amp with more power (like 100W), am I wrong? Will Class A amp like Sugden MasterClass or Accuphase E530 or Lavardin or others similar amp with power rating of 30W-50W be sufficient?

by the way I am using the old SF Grand Piano Home. I'm looking for a good amp that will outlast the GP Home, i.e. I don't have to change amp when i change the GP Home.

Any comments?

Thank you.
pingpong
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,124 posts
 
if that were the case people would not spend $30,000 for 3 watt amps...
bluecirclehead
79 posts
 
Pingpong,
Some time ago I read this article in Soundstage! that was very useful:

http://www.mastersonaudio.com/audio/20031101.htm

You may want to look at it too.
jay_douglas_2879b79
239 posts
 
the grand pianos in a mid to big room thrive on a larger amp. lots of good integrateds for no more than the cost of the sugden.
krell_man
827 posts
 
Think about being in a car pulled off on the side of the interstate. You want to get back on but there's a lot of traffic. Would you be safer trying to get up to speed to merge back onto the interstate with a four-cylinder or a turbocharged V-8?

The more power that you have the more headroom you have when you need it. Do you need it all of the time? No. But if you don't have it when you need it and you run out of headroom, you drive your amp into distortion. That will blow a speaker before anything else.
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
Just because someones spends a lot of money on a 3 watt amp doesn't mean it's necessarily good.
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