More power for moderate listening levels?

@hshifi speaks a bunch of truth here in regards to what constitutes a system for dancing, whether or not you subscribe to the cult of Klipsch or not. When it comes to dance music history there's the Richard Long side, but the Klipsch/Levinson combo is a major crossover for home dancing—the Mancuso/Loft approach, not about "power"—you could do similar with loads of old horn-driven speakers like JBL monitors, Altec, TAD etc... but again, more cults.

I have found that a high powered amp, even at low listening levels, provides a sense of dynamics that a low powered amp doesn't have, even with Klipsch Forte speakers.  Just makes sense to me.  

I have found that a high powered amp, even at low listening levels, provides a sense of dynamics that a low powered amp doesn't have

And I'm fairly certain that the amps are likely sonically chalk and cheese.

To contradict Mr. Miller, you don’t buy speakers to match your amp. If you like your speakers (and I don’t have any familiarity with them), buy an amp that matches the speakers.

My mains are 85 dB sensitivity. I use tube mono blocks. When I started they had the popular EL34s, very sweet sounding but not enough power for the speakers at 50 watts in triode mode. I swapped the EL34s out and replaced them with KT150s doubling the power. In triode mode I now have 100 watts and can play almost anything at a reasonably loud volume. When I switch to ultra-linear it doubles the power again and you can hear an increase in volume as they switch in real-time. They’re 3 dB louder. Now at normal listening levels I have plenty of power in reserve for peaks and dynamics and if I want to go to 95 dB I still have enough power for peaks and dynamics. So yes, it is reserve power. Tubes burn the power that is needed based on how hard they are driven by the input signal. I'm absolutely sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe SS amps burn at full power all the time.


You have to pay attention to the damping factor and the impedance curve of your speakers. Once I had decided on my speakers, I carefully checked all the amp specs to see that I would match to the speakers properly. Then the listening began.


If you go about it bassackwards as Chucky says you’re in for trouble.

That’s not a contradiction, because I never said to buy speakers to match your amp.