Is there such a thing as too much power?

Simple fact is that if you can get a more powerful amp to sound as good as a lower powered amp through the entire spectrum more power is better. Problem is that many higher powered amps dont sound as good as their lowered powered alternatives. This seems especially true of S.S. amplifiers. Part of this must be an issue of circuit complexity.

What irritates me more than speaker efficiency is the issue of low impedance speakers. To me there is no reason for the existence of low impedance speakers!

@handyman said,

"High current amps are what is needed, not necessarily high wattage amps, unless you’re pushing high efficiency horn loaded speakers, or something like them, although they usually go hand in hand."

I agree, while recently researching class D amps I asked PS Audio about the output current of their M700's Here is the reply....

"The M700's run 350 w at 8Ω and 700 w at 4 Ω. Of course there are times it will peak above this but this is a general continuous wattage. I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions."

I explained that I knew the power rating, I wanted to know the current and received this response.....

"I did not have this Spec so I went to the Designer of the amp and this is his reply.

“it’s not a good idea to look at the power In terms of amps. It really needs to be considered in watts to understand the m700s capabilities.”

I found that interesting since I had read the output current of other brands of amplifiers. Not sure what to make of the lack of response.

I don’t see explicit current specs for that amp but if it does in fact double into 4 ohm as indicated that is a good alternate related indicator that it is designed to drive difficult loads effectively. .

I’ve never heard it, but it’s said, to reproduce the cannon shot in the 1812 Overture, an amp needs 700+ watts to reproduce it.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say to reproduce a cannon shot you need a cannon- as otherwise in terms of power its logarithmic and you can forget 700 watts, as that is only a measly 3dB more than 350 watts. A gun shot is 140dB, a cannon certainly louder than that. But even 140dB, again, its a log scale. Say your speakers are 100 dB at 1 watt. 10 watts then is 110dB. To get to 120dB calls for 100 watts. You can see where this is going.... 130 dB, 1000 watts. 140dB 10k watts.

Again, that's a gun. Not a cannon. I've heard- felt- the cannon at Gettysburg. If that is the criterion having enough power is the least of your problems.

Underpowered amps /receivers,...are detrimental to tweeters and midrange.

 Having enough power, for crescendos, ending spikes, is a must.
 My speakers are rated a max of 250W peak I’m sure,
I use McCormack DNA-750s’ rated at about 650W @8 ohm, and a lot more into 4ohms!

 I learned my lesson long time ago, there is absolutely no substitute for having the headroom needed when you need it!

when you push the volume at times, you will need the power and headroom as to not send distortion to speakers, from overdriving a low watt amplifier into distortion.

been through more warranty situations anyone should go through, from lower watt amps.
 When I hit my first high powered amp,  no more blown tweeters/mids/woofers.

after I melted the binding,posts to red and black puddles of plastic from my onkyo m-504. At 165W @8 ohms,

I went to a pair of pro amps, Carvin dcm-2500’s in bridge mono, for the good price and watts.
  They were not reliable, but the first year, I never heard such effortless sound, peaks, airyness, it was an epiphany for me.

have never strayed from a minimum of 300W RMS, 
never an issue since.


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