Raven Audio and Beyond...

@tsushima1 you have to realize this thread is more about validation of a preconceived idea. You’re simply wasting your time trying to shine a light on reality … ie 20 watts are 20 watts. Heck they’re not even pure class A tube watts. If someone wants to sacrifice excellent speakers from a well respected manufacturer at the altar of flea watt amps there’s not much you can do. Sometimes the best way to learn is the hard way. So hail Raven Audio! Best amp regardless of price.

there”s an excellent discussion from a few months ago where the gentleman bought a Blackhawk to drive his not-so-efficient speakers. Everyone tried to tell him that 20 watts are 20 watts no matter what someone says. He bought it, realized his mistake and moved on to a solid state amp pretty quickly.

The Raven will be a huge, massive upgrade to what you have now, with virtually no downsides. It will be plenty of power, not enough to party loud or blast yourself out of the room, but with that caveat still definitely plenty of power, not at all something you are wishing every day for more.

Your plan for system development is music to my ears. This is basically the way I have done it, certainly the way I started. One major component every year or three. No baby steps, each one a major improvement, the kind of thing many audiophiles would say is out of balance or not matched. So? If you are building a system the smart way to do it is great strides. This means there will be times you have something that seems way out of line with the rest of your system. A Raven will tower over everything you have right now. But then over time as you gradually improve speakers, source, cables etc it will come more and more into balance.

The one time I didn't do that was interestingly enough my current Blackhawk. Before that I had a Melody I880 integrated. The Blackhawk certainly is better. But not great strides better. Incrementally. Worth it, but kind of a place holder. What you want do is avoid incremental improvement, at least in components. In tweaks, fine. Incremental tweaks really add up. Add Pods, elevators, HFT, Podiums, etc they all combine to make something really special. With components though it is better to make a significant commitment with each one. This is how you build for the long term.

🙄

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks"  William Shakespeare.

@millercarbon said:

No baby steps, each one a major improvement, the kind of thing many audiophiles would say is out of balance or not matched. So? If you are building a system the smart way to do it is great strides....What you want do is avoid incremental improvement, at least in components. In tweaks, fine. Incremental tweaks really add up. Add Pods, elevators, HFT, Podiums, etc they all combine to make something really special. With components though it is better to make a significant commitment with each one. This is how you build for the long term.

I'm new at this -- just a couple years of putting together a system and reading a lot -- but this seems like the right advice. Tarun (YouTube) said the same thing in one of his early videos, saying that if one wants to ensure a change, that spending 2x to 3x is best (if possible). Best part about this advice is that it is scaleable. The person with $700 speakers (e.g.) can save a bit and spring for $2k speakers the next time. But what they should not do is just buy $900 speakers and expect a big improvement (unless they're changing designs or correcting a room or amp-synergy problem)

@mijale 

If you have a small room and only listen to “girl with guitar” music, 20 watts should be fine. But if you care a whit about dynamics and realism, 20 watts with 85 db speakers ain’t gonna get the job done. Doesn’t matter how much you wish it so.