Is there such a thing as too much power?

atmasphere,

" We are one of the very few manufacturers that make more powerful amps that actually **do** sound better than our smaller ones"

So, it is indeed possible to do so.  Pass Labs is another definite manufacturer in this regard.

So, at least for the 2 manufacturers above, higher power is possible & better :-)  It is only the cost that will be the negative aspect.

If you're speccing an amplifier you need to go for the amount of power that you'll actually use plus a small amount of headroom. That doesn't sound very helpful but in order to optimise your system properly you need to understand the gain structure... if you've got a 1000W system and you never turn the volume higher than 30% then you're hearing more noise than you need to because every time you attenuate you move the noise floor closer to the signal level.

This is true regardless of the quality of the components you are connecting together. If you factor in the trade offs that need to be made when designing an amplifier then you'll work out extra power will either drive cost upwards or other qualities (such as sound quality) down.

If you follow the instructions in the thread I previously linked you can work out the amount of power you use and optimise your choices. I'm happy to explain more if anyone wants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg14jNbBb-8

No, power is your best friend.

@atmasphere 

You really nailed this question. It's all about matching amp to speaker efficiency. And amplifier has a sweet spot in it's distortion vs. power curve. 

I've got a 500 watt integrated amp (which I bought in 2015) that I now realize is totally unnecessary with my current speakers, which have 89db sensitivity. I'm probably only ever using 1 of those watts because I rarely listen over 90db in volume level. I'm looking into some 25-50 watt class A and tube amps to better match my speakers and on focus on quality watts, not quantity.

I thought I needed a lot of power for my Maggie 3.6's and had a 540 watt class D.  The room would shake and it was fun to show off but no way to listen to music that loud for long.  I have 60 watt Pass class A amps with powered subwoofers.   Much more musical, I don't need to make the room shake any more so there is plenty of power for my listening levels.   There is enough power to make the Maggies come alive when I want to open them up for a short while and the inner detail and blackness of the background is really appreciated with the Pass amps.  And I have found that the pre-amp makes a bigger impact on the quality of sound at higher levels than the amplifiers.  A big amp makes a noisy pre amp sound more noisy especially when it is driven.