The End Of Big Iron?

Class D amps are taking over for traditional big heavy Class A/B amps.

I think some go up to 1000 watts into 8 ohm, but I find 500 w/ch Class D to never break a sweat in my application.

That's still way more juice than most people would have ever been able to apply practically prior.

No, Big Iron always been for people with Big house, Big room, Big speaker and Big wallet.

Maybe in the USA. AnalogDomain still offers their Apollo amp at 4000 watts 8 ohms and 8000 watts 4 ohms.

I would assume that demand has been off for such high wattage stuff. Due to the economy? Saturation? Dunno.

Practically speaking, the big power was really only useful for bass content in big inefficient woofers.

Nowadays, many speaker manufacturers have moved away from very inefficient acoustic suspension designs and are using more efficient bass reflex variants and even some really efficient horn-loaded configurations.

In addition, many audiophiles are opting for separate powered-subwoofers, taking a load off the "full range" speakers and therefore also their amplifiers.

Personally, I would be intrigued by a really big acoustic suspension woofer powered by some gazonga amp -- back to the old days. (But isn't this just what a lot of subwoofers are?)

"Nowadays, many speaker manufacturers have moved away from very inefficient acoustic suspension designs and are using more efficient bass reflex variants and even some really efficient horn-loaded configurations."

Maybe, but most "quality" speakers you see these days are small to fit mot peoples lifestyles better and go for an extended low end to boot, which means they are inherently inefficient and benefit from watts and current.

Flip side is many with these speakers don't realize the shortcomings they may be living with in lieu of 250w/ch or more often needed to realize full potential and/or they don't care all that much even if they do.