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What does moving from a 150 watt amp to a 400 watt amp get you?

Hi all, I’m coming back to tap the knowledge of the forum again.  I have a pair of revel ultima studio 2s that I very much enjoy. I’m currently running them with an Ayre V-5xe.  I’ve seen others say that these speakers need to be driven by 400 Watts to get them to sound their best.  I sort of understand the relationship between wattage and sound volume, but if I am not looking for “louder” what do I get with a more powerful amp?  I don’t hear clipping. More current?  But what does that do?  Sorry for my ignorance!
miles_trane
theothergreg
222 posts
 
A much larger electricity bill :)
tgrisham
1,291 posts
 
Louder
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
If you add a great sub to any speaker, you automatically need only half as much power for the speaker. If you bi-amp, same thing for the m/t drivers.
initforthemusic
282 posts
 
I have Revel Ultima Studio 1's and have half a dozen Power Amps. They are not a difficult load, but the more high quality Watts/Current you put into them the better they sound.  I've ran them with Amps 150 W. up, they just seem to lap up more high quality Wattage. They sound best with the Vincent SP-998 Mono Blocks, conservatively rated @ 300W 8ohms, 600W 40hms, 50W Class A. Everything just opens up, grip on bass, dimensionality, soundstage, bigger more powerful, more control,more musical, everything.

Must stress, make sure they are high quality Watts/Current. not just run of the mill, Parasounds, Rotel, Emotiva etc. All Watts are not created equal.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
It depends how power is specified.  For sinewave it will be 33% louder.  For music signal it will depend on the headroom of the amp, type of music, type of speaker, etc.  
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