What is your experience with amp power?

Been thinking about amp power for a while now.

Diy builder of amps, so I spend time thinking about this.

The issue of bigger power amps is more about the power supply than the number of gain devices at the output stage I think.

Unless you are driving inefficient speakers to ear shattering volume in a huge space, I wonder how high on the watt side you actually go. I wonder how much of the dynamics are managed by power supply as opposed to number of gain devices.

Built a 30W class a amp with a 500va transformer, and 192k uF in storage.

That amp drives my 83db efficient speakers with much better control and dynamics than my 100w Adcom. Apples and oranges, I know, but it speaks to what power in an amp is important. All of it matters, but if given a choice, I would choose lower power, bigger power supply, than give versa. The 30w amp never feels like it’s straining.

Im also thinking, you want to get into the power band of an amp a bit for the speaker’s sensitivity and how loud you listen. Don’t want to over drive the amp, but you want to get into the linear part of the amps power band.

Curious what others have experienced.

I ran for at least 15 years on a 20wpc Philips receiver (when Phil was making some fine gear) and it was plenty for my purposes and rocked the house when needed.

From my experience I generally agree with others that at sound levels of 85 dB or less one need not have an amplifier that puts out hundreds of watts per channel. Yes, how loud you listen, distance from the speakers, ceiling height, speaker sensitivity, all have an effect. But some speakers present particular challenges for amplifiers.This becomes more of an issue with larger inefficient speakers, but also with any speakers that have wide swings in their impedance curve at different frequencies. Some speakers stay close to 8 ohms or 4 ohms most of the time, while others can drop as low as 2 or 3 ohms, and a few drop even lower than that at certain frequencies. Those low impedance drops require more power from an amplifier, particularly if the drops occur in the lower frequencies reproduced by the larger bass drivers. You need to know the impedance curve of your speakers and determine if it is relatively flat, an easy load, or if it drops to a very low impedance along the frequency curve, a difficult load.

I had a personal experience with a pair of speakers I own, which are large 4 ohm, floor standing speakers with 10" woofers, but drop to a bit below 3 ohms at some frequencies. I brought home a very fine 120 w/ch @ 8 ohms Luxman integrated amp to audition at home. At modest listening levels the amp sounded fantastic. When I turned up the volume to a "live" level while listening to a symphonic piece, the amp very audibly started clipping. I immediately shut off the music to avoid damaging my speakers. Sometimes you end up learning things accidentally - the dealer explained the issue when I returned the Luxman unit. Not every amp can handle a load below 4 ohms well. Too bad because at modest listening levels it really was outstanding. But my old dual mono amp rated at 250 w/ch at 8 and 500 w/ch at 4 ohms never breaks a sweat driving my speakers, even at volumes in the 95 dB range. I can’t say the greater power rating makes my amp sound better at lower volumes, but that may be a trait of my speakers, which sound better at higher volumes. Then again at higher volumes there is more discernible bass, something true for all speakers, which is why old gear had "loudness" buttons or switches to boost those frequencies at low listening levels.

Happy listening.

Some speakers benefit from current and damping.   Not all watts are created equal.    Most good SS amps deliver a lot of current and have corresponding high damping. Not a fan of lesser built high power SS amps that deliver lots of watts but not much current.  

Some speakers benefit from current and damping.   Not all watts are created equal.    Most good SS amps deliver a lot of current and have corresponding high damping. Not a fan of lesser built high power SS amps that deliver lots of watts but not much current with most speakers.