Regardless of what speakers you have, listening at moderate levels doesn't require a powerful amp at all. The dBs produced at one watt is the same no matter the amp.
Too much power?
I have a wonderful system with a great amplifier, and yet auditioned a more powerful version of the same amp. It indeed seemed to have more punch and drive, but at the expense of playing it a bit too loud. As my current system I rarely play over 70 db, since it’s perfect at low levels. I wonder other than bragging rights, what does more power get you? Since we aren’t here for PA style sound, is there a reasonable limit to how much you will benefit from higher power/ more expensive and? Especially since tire just using one watt most of the time?
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70 dB may be too low for good listening. I'm sure recordings are mastered at significantly higher levels than this. And our hearing response is level related. The lower the level the poorer our hearing at low and high frequencies(I seem to recall flat is at 100 dB). So if you listen at levels lower than the recording was mastered at, the level the mastering engineer set his sense of octave to octave balance, you're missing out on lows and highs and that probably results in the loss of excitement. |
@dain It is true that different systems perform differentially at different volume levels. So uncomplicate the issue. First determine what volume you like listening at. After all. your music and your system are playing for your benefit. Then listen to competing systems all at that level - get a dB meter and set the volume using a steady state sine wave at about 600Hz being a mid-frequency level. Choose the system you like the most. |
Most people don’t realize that they probably use only 5 watts during normal listening levels. However, having the reserve power for transients is very important and adds greatly to the performance of your system, That being said, higher wattage amplifiers don’t always mean louder. In fact it take exponentially, more wattage to produce a noticeable increase in loudness. I’m sure there are more knowledgeable individuals in this post who can explain in more depth but my point is don’t expect a larger amplifier to be “louder” just because it has more wattage output. Quality over quantity.. |
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