Does it matter what power amp i get?

I doubt very much that, in the grand scheme of things, it matters one wit which power amp you get.

As far as the level of your wee existence here is concerned, you may simply take a listen to two different amps of different topologies (a solid state amp vs. a tube amp might yield a good demonstration), with all other components remaining the same to hear for yourself what kind of difference it does make. If that difference is significant to you, pursue the question further and do more auditioning and reading and posting here. If not, you will likely be spared of many hours of neurotic A/B/A comparisons, much speculation and useless banter here on the Gon', as well as being separated from a good portion of your savings and or credit limits.

Marco

It does matter but as long as your amp can drive your speakers with ease your pre-amp is more important as it has the larger effect on the over-all sound...one of the reasons why passive pre-amps are so in-favor with audiophiles.

Dave

If it didn't matter this website wouldn't exist.

Rob

Great topic. Aside from reading reviews and doing side by side comparisons, what should one look at on a spec sheet when trying to narrow down such a vast field? I mean - it is really difficult to even get a firsthand look at many of the different brands. So if you find an amp and research the specs on their website, what are the most important things to compare?

Your trying to make it simple. You sure asked the wrong crowd. You don't realize that we argue over Triodes vs Pentodes and whether one $4000 amp blows away another $4000 amp (that have basically the same specifications.)

I will assume you are sincere but are not all that critical and you just want a good performing amp for your speakers. Your search is pretty simple.

1. Find a dealer that has your speakers or something very close to them in cost size, and efficiency.
2. Select some CDs you are very familiar with.
3. Go to the dealer on an off day when the store isn't being overloaded with other customers music.
4. Have the salesman point out the amps that are in your price range and listen to them. Buy the one that sounds best with your speakers and your music. One more piece of advice. Take a woman with you that you respect in terms of "good ears". Women usually have better hearing, they are less swayed by techno hype, and there is usually a significant other who will be pleased you asked. My wife is sensitive to overly bright sounding equipment. I certainly don't want to buy a system that she has to leave the room for me to listen to. (Yes it happens to men all the time.)

I could tell you about impedence matching, TIM, continuous power vs RMS and lots of other items to consider but hay its what the beast sounds like to you that matters.