More Power Part II

The power question comes from me reading someplace that to reproduce the sound level of a real piano takes 200 Watts.

That's nonsense.  And no, you should not get the most power you can afford, but the best power.  I believe Bob Carver was one of the people hyping the idea that anything less than a few hundred watts would clip, or some nonsense like that, something no reputable study has reproduced.

Good 90 Watts beats mediocre 300W any day of the week in home reproduction.  If you are trying to fill an auditorium you might feel very different.

I've had 600 wpc to 35 wpc amps over a 50 he period. The 3 best were a 45 wpc  Harmon Kardon ss and a 35 & 60 wpc tube amp. I replaced a 250 wpc with the 35 wpc and never looked back. High watt amp are not needed unless for a PA system.

All are different, owned multiple receivers, onkyo, Yamaha, pioneer, technics, Sansui, and several others since 1984.
plus amplifiers, - Onkyo, carver, proton, carvin, crown, crest,
Most were 45x45, 85x85, 100, 125, etc etc.
the amps with over 200@8 Ohm, were always better. Sounded better, effortless, and reproduced the power chords, drums solos, guitar solos, and everything else much better.
The notion of why do you need 248 more of the same watts when it’s the quality of the 2 watts. This is a selling point, advertisement of a companies product. This is my opinion, and thoughts after 35+ years owning a pick-up truck full of electronics. There is no substitute for having the headroom to power through every part of your music.
I rarely do any low level listening from my stereo system.
Many, many get rapture from a small flea watt amp into a nice pair of speakers. Personally, I’ve not had less than 250-300+ W amps since the very late 90’s til present.
  Hav clipped %90 of every receiver & amp I’ve bought until I hit the 300+ wpc mark

My opinion and experience.

Nothing more important than the watts you never use. 

Why do I feel reading this thread is like watching Tim the Tool Man?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBNPAJLhKZ4

Quality vs. Quantity

I sold my 405 WPC Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature and replaced it with a Lexicon LX-7 200 WPC amp.

I moved my 460 WPC Wyred4Sound amp into my bedroom and replaced it with Rogue Audio M-180 180 WPC amps, and more recently those have been replaced by Herron 150 WPC monoblocks.  

I replaced my Peachtree Grand X1 440 WPC integrated with an Audio Research 55 WPC tube integrated. 

My Peachtree Nova 300 WPC integrated was replaced by a Simaudio 125 WPC integrated.

Notice a pattern, besides the fact that I have found I prefer tubes and solid state amplification to Class D?  

Would I turn my nose up at a pair of D’Agostino 500 WPC Progression monoblocks?  Absolutely not!

Beside the sound quality, having a lower powered amp has the benefit of giving you finer control over volume.  With the 460 WPC W4S amp and my Klipsch Quartets, every incremental volume change is pretty noticeable.  I'm using an ARC LS26 preamp which has something like 110 stops on the volume dial.

With my Kef Reference 1 speakers in my main system (85db efficiency) and the Herron 150 WPC amps, I often have the volume around 3 o'clock, but have much finer control over the volume than I would with a more powerful amp.  And it sounds glorious.  Which matters more to me than how many watts.