Too Much Power?

BO said...

"

Most people have no idea about the properties of an amp, source, cable, loudspeaker etc." 

I am not sure what "most people" know about the above.... I only know what I have experienced in some 60 years of making and listening to acoustic music... Live and recorded alike.

In the last few years, I gradually formed a more than positive opinion of certain class D amp designs, particularly those based on NCore, Pascal M-Pro2, and even some classic ICEpower. In particular, I have experienced the staging, imaging, and timbral resolution and emotional engagement of NCore to be exceptional.

Have I listened to Pass and Krell? Sure, many times.... Really nice amps... Yet this far I have prefered the aforementioned NCore and Pascal based amps.... But I keep an open mind... The future is, of course -- in the oft unpredictable hands of Gaia *Grins!*

G.

 

Go for it. Having lots of power means you can hear yr stereo clean at low volumes & you will be surprised how recordings you once did not rate sound much much better. 

Sfall nailed it.  Never worry about too much power.  It is not having enough that kills speakers.

Use the volume control to smoothly deliver the power and your ears will tell you when your speakers are at their limits.

Some may consider my present situation off the subject, but then again it may not be.  I am driving an Stax SR5 electrostatic pair of headphones with a 160watt per channel Rega Osiris integrated amplifier.  I am using a Stax SRD6 energizer box.  I have found over the years that the Stax's own amplifiers, whether solid state or tube to not have enough power to adequatly run rock and roll.  That is a fact, which is the main failure of using an entire Stax system.  I have previously used a 50 watt per channel Audio Research integrated amplifier, but again, for rock and roll the 160 watts on my Rega is overall the best combination.  Again, even for Stax headphones, evrything else being equal, more power is better.  And it is much easier to damage a Stax electrostatic headphone using an underpowered amplifier than one with "too much power".  And finally, I can turn the volume up to a much higher level with more power dur to the fact that, using true quality electronics, the amount of distortion goes way, way down.  Yes, it is distortion itself which is the main factor in damaging a speaker system.  Yes, either regular speakers, or Stax headphones.

In my world it is not about how it is build or which kind of system it uses. No it is all about what you can hear.

Like Guidocorona says: when an amp can reveal all the layers/diversity in sound and combined with a deep and wide stage with an intimate physical stage this is what you need and want.

Like more power wil give you always more control and grip. It is never a negative thing, so no worries about it.

In the beginning I prefered Pass XA amps, but based on my insight and knowledge these days I can create a higher level with an X series amp.

This is also based on the fact it has more power. I can reveal more details in the high freq. with it. I can create the same sound of a XA amp out of a X series amp. But I add it with more control/grip and details in the high freq.

You need to understand the properties to create the benefit with the X series over the XA series. Properties will always be important to understand the sound and stage. And to use it maximum.

I work by Tru-Fi, which are 8 parameters you judge sound for. When you listen to Pass labs pre/power combination you will hwar by Tru-Fi that it is incomplete/

This means that a part or more parts of Tru-Fi are missing. So what is missing?

instruments and voices are in real very small and direct. Almost all shows and in shops you see that instrumentd and voices are too big in proportion. Beside this the black level is nog that good. 

When you would use a pre amp what can create an intimate and realistic individual focus you will experience the music at a more emotional level.

At the end you need all the different aspects/properties  of sound what can be revealed when it is complete.