Power Uber Alles ?

It all depends on what it is you're trying to do.

Can you get by with a 100 watts...uh, like...yeah!! But, if you want better bass sound in a normal size room, you can always expand and go for better results. 

Put it this way: I have 3 stereo amps in an active setup. The bass amp was originally in stereo at about 150 w into one 15" woofer/channel (crossed in at 150 Hz). Result?? Very good...excellent, I would've said.
Then, just to see, I tried bridging the amp and then running into the two mono 15-inchers at 4 ohms. Same amps, same woofers, same crossover settings, same EQ, same placement...just a different amount of power feeding each woofer. Now about 500 w/chanel, RMS. This was more than the 225 w each woofer was rated for at 4 ohms, but for the sake of the test, I wasn't at all worried about that.

Holy Cats! Wow! BIG difference...subjectively more reserve "force" on tap. More 3D, more transparent, not really so much noticeably more "power" per say (which was not really an issue beforehand), i.e. I couldn't really play it that much louder, but clearly the amps were no longer sweating! More relaxed. More grip on the woofers. More sinewy, more lithe. I could go on, but it was clearly better in about every way I could think of, and worse in none. Didn't take me long to realize I was not going back.

If you're looking to draw the line somewhere and choose your battles carefully, then not trying to jump in with a new trade-up search for a more powerful amp in your existing system makes some sense. Bass is the hardest and most expensive part of the spectrum to get right, but it's also the one most people express the most dissatisfaction with in their system. To seriously commit to fixing bass problems, you end up having to cross what amounts to almost a personal threshold, since better bass itself can end up covering an awful lot of territory, depending on how far you want to take it.

But, is "more power" a viable option to "normal power" for those looking for better sound? From what I've gone through, I'd say that could be a resounding yes...but you may notice that I jumped up quite a lot with the power ratings, even well beyond what my woofers could take (but then, I was able to adjust gain wherever needed in this setup).

My experience doesn't support "power uber alles" which is not to say big watts don't have a place.  I've got a Merrill Taranis, and Hegel H200 which are each spec'd at 200 or more wpc.  I enjoy listening to these driving Totem Forest or Silverline Prelude Plus speakers.  BUT the amp that is bringing the most enjoyment at the present time is a First Watt F7 (25 wpc).  Music sounds great using it to drive the Silverlines or Forests and it easily produces SPLs in the mid 80s and peaks in the upper 90s at 10-12 feet away with no sign of strain in a 19'x21' listening area (albeit, 7' ceilings).  With either speaker, the music's clarity, imaging and stage depth produced with the F7 seems superior to that produced by the other more powerful amplifiers.  

@erik_squires

have you experienced that bigger amps sound better, or is the overall quality of the amp more important.

The answer is yes.

@elizabeth made some good points I agree with,

“Everything has good points, and bad... they all have compromises.......No one size fits all, No one kind fits all. No ’easy answer’.”

My room is about 18 by 30 feet, with the system mainly projecting to an area with dimensions of about 18 by 22 feet. I have tried a bunch of amplifiers (still sort of looking) on speakers of 90 dB and currently 85 dB. What I have learned that works for me,
- Power matters, particularly if you want a dynamic presentation, in a larg’ish room, with moderately efficient speakers, and you don’t like your sound thin or tonally bleached
- The quality of the power matters too, and particularly the power supply - the ability to double power (or close) into halved impedances is one indicator
- Design implementation and quality of components matter too
- Low output impedance is helpful
- High input impedance is nice for flexibility, and critical if using a passive attenuator, but not necessary with most SS preamps
- Adding two high quality subs and removing the low bass burden from the main speakers was a good move for both amplifier performance and particularly for bass performance and flexibility
- There are significant sonic differences between even highly regarded Class AB, Class A, and Class D amplifiers that go beyond the heat issue. IME, Class AB is probably the most flexible for a wide range of music and listening preferences but each of those classes have their own sonic signature and which you like will depend on what you listen to and what sonic attributes are important to you.....sort of back to Elisabeth’s “no one size fits all”

+1 roberjerman / Nice amp!