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WPC Wyred4Sound amp into my bedroom and replaced it with Rogue Audio M-180 180 WPC amps, and more recently those have been replaced by Herron 150 WPC monoblocks.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WPC Wyred4Sound amp into my bedroom and replaced it with Rogue Audio M-180 180 WPC amps, and more recently those have been replaced by Herron 150 WPC monoblocks.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