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?
@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.. |
Great points. Thanks. I also needed to update my system in the forum. It’s all EC from dac to preamp, and yes, @ghdprentice I changed the preamp from Freya+ to EC and was very impactful. My amp seems plenty able to drive the Maggie’s loud, I just find the need to do that less necessary, mainly because of the bass impact from EC seems very effective at delivering current. >70 amps rating. I looked, the 180 monoblocks I tried have >100 amps and I looked up Parasound flagship >140 amps. I suppose even at 1 watt that this current or push has some positive effects, but it done any seem at my preferred listing level moving to the more powerful amps would accomplish much except draining my bank account. As @tomcarr said, enjoy and stop the FOMO. |
All else being equal a more powerful amplifier provides: The ability to play music at louder levels without losing response linearity or introducing clipping and strain distortion. The ability to maintain relative volume level going from a smaller room to a larger room and a greater distance from the listening position. The ability to maintain a relative volume level and dynamic headroom going to a speaker with less efficiency and more difficult to drive. The ability to provide more relative volume and dynamic headroom (ability to be heard above louder levels of room background noise and din). |
