Basic question about power/watts

All too often we focus on only the watts per channel number. There is so much more that make up the power of an amp. One of the best explanations is relating it to a car engine(if you understand cars of course). Cars have torque ratings and horsepower ratings. People like to focus on the hp (watts per channel) numbers snd not the toque (internal power supply). I can give you a car with 1000 Hp that will go zero to sixty in 3 seconds, then I can give you a tractor that will take a day to go zero to sixty but has all the torque to pull a plow and rip tree stumps from the ground. This leads to we’re a compromise has to happen and with stereo amps especially. While watts per channel are the end result you need to see what the quality snd power behind those watts are. Matching speaker efficiency to your amp will influence the end product. If the first watt is not good everyone after it will be bad as well.

Hi everybody! First off, thank you all so much for your thoughtful answers. I read all of them several times (often times more lol) and learned a lot. 

I realized after reading, I should have supplied more info.

First, the speakers... They are the MG . 7- not a way up there model. The s/n is 155899-1&2. A gentleman asked for this info.

To another response, yes, I have done all the "Maggie things" in regards to placement. It is no joke when you say a 1/4. " adjustment makes a difference. I read all I could find and dinked with them for a solid week. They ended up roughly 4' out, towed in, tweeters in and 9' apart.

The amp part... This is where it gets weird. When I first got them, I put the them on my Pioneer AVR. This model (vsx-834) has a 4 ohm option. When I fired it all up I was underwhelmed. I sort of expected this. I will say however, the 834 did not have any trouble driving the Maggie's. Never got hot though I did have to crank the volume a bit. In everything I read, I knew I was supposed to have a lot more power, in particular, current. Due to my limited budget, I bought an old geezer Adcom amp that was mentioned a number of times. Using the preouts from my AVR, I fired it up. It was a wall of sound. Yes, it was loud and to my ear, rather unlovely. In a weeks time, one channel of the Adcom failed. I didn't cry, heck, that thing was only a couple hundred bucks and was new when I was in highschool. Tossed it into the garbage. I did learn the . 7's can get very loud.

So, back to the direct connection with the AVR. This time I added a 12'  Klipsch sub. It was an epiphany of sorts. Suddenly, the . 7's sounded warm, rich and balanced. I was delighted and a bit surprised. I had continually read that Maggie's can't blend well with a sub. That, apparently (to me anyway) was a crock.

Problem solved, right? Nope. I want my HT back! I had, the whole time, been in two channel mode. Now I will need two separate systems. In trying to decide what I need on my thin budget I stumbled across another Pioneer product.. the integrated A-10 AE.

I kid you not, it was 200 bucks new. The specs claim 50wpc @4ohm (in my op, I stated 80, my mistake) and 30@ 8ohm.  Anyway, this thing is barebones. Just two channel, designed for strictly music playback. I assumed, incorrectly, there would be pre-outs. No, it truly a basic 2 channel amp. Add this to my heap of mistakes lol. I hooked it up anyway and you know what? It actually is sounding good! Great sound stage, detailed in most respects. Vocal performances such as Dominique Fils-Aime are remarkable. I am able to achieve the volume I want without cranking this thing up very high.

But...... But .... But..... The lower end is blah and weak. On just about anything I listen to other than vocal performances and chamber type classical, they are uninspired to say the least. 

So this is how I landed at this point and posed my original question. How is this cheap-ass integrated amp doing ok with rather low power? And, where do I go from here? My thought, building on what I discovered while running a sub, would be to buy two Emotiva 8" subs using the line level input and outputs. It seems this might work as I can control the crossover from these units.

Or do I scap that idea and work with something else? If money were not an issue, I am sure I could just buy my way into sonic bliss.  I realize no matter what, the . 7's need a sub (s). 

So, given the financial constraints of say, a thousand bucks, what might any of you do with these Maggie's? 

Just a bit more info. I only hard wire stream at the moment via Qobuz. I do not have any interest in vinyl. I am CD capable but meh... to lazy to dig thru the 1,000's of discs. My dedicated listening room is, I believe, near perfect. 19x26, wall to wall carpet, minimal furnishings, no female (she has her own living room). Also, I never had a chance to audition these speakers. It is a 450 mile r/t to the nearest dealer for me. I live rather rural.  I bought them on the glowing reviews. I knew going in they were difficult at times to deal with. 

Again, thanks for reading and responding. Y'all are great. 

tim - add’l info useful

couple other questions

- what stands supporting the lil maggies? - the stock stands under the lrs/lrs+ and .7 really do the speaker no favors... see/search magnarisers

- a pic of your room and setup would be immensely helpful to help us help you

one overarching thing i would say to you, is that the unfortunate truth of the matter is that lil maggies need EXCELLENT ancillary equipment upstream, especially the amp (yours is entirely insufficient at this point to let the speakers show what they can do, sorry to say... the pioneer receiver, used as amp or preamp, needs to be replaced) --- it is one of the huge ironies of maggies and their low-cost-of-entry speakers at 800-1000-1500 a pair... the customer buys them, then they need 3--5 thousand bucks of upstream gear to make them do what they are capable of doing... 😥

OP,

There is a place to put photos under your user ID… create a virtual system. This would be very helpful.

Whoever told you that Maggies don't pair well with a sub was extremely confused. In fact, Maggies (except maybe the 30.1s) should ALWAYS be paired with a sub so the sub can handle the low Hz and the Maggies don't have to work as hard. Then that ribbon tweeter will really sing (pun intended) for you.