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.
More Power Part II
Hi, problem solved. I am going to get the new KEF powered subwoofer. I am very lucky that I suffer from confirmation bias. If I think about an read all the reviews on stuff I want to buy and then I finally get it, it sounds Great!. The power question comes from me reading someplace that to reproduce the sound level of a real piano takes 200 Watts. So I will not feel that I am hearing the full experience unless my amps have 200 watts or more. Thanks so much for all the answers to my question. You guys do good work and plenty of it !. Regards Pat O.
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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WPC Wyred4Sound amp into my bedroom and replaced it with Rogue Audio M-180 180 WPC amps, and more recently those have been replaced by Herron 150 WPC monoblocks.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. |
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