Shocked. Need Opinions. How muck power do I need?


I’m moving so of my sound gear around. As a temporary measure, I set up my little Cambridge EVO 75 in my main system. Driving my Dali Mentor 6s in a large room (36x36). Speakers are 9 feet apart and seat is 10 feet from speakers. This 75 water replaced my much more powerful monoblocks. To my shock, the amp drove these speakers just fine. The bass was a little weaker, but perfectly acceptable.  Here’s what I want to know— if 75 watts are enough, will 40 watts do? I’m talking all solid state. What say you?
 

 
 

 

tomaswv

@loomisjohnson  - I can believe that, but also Pass I think likes big old school speakers.  See if you can find Pass' article on damping factor and whether it really should be low or not.

I once tried my little Onkyo from my bedroom system on my Maggies. It's rated at 44/70. To my amazement, it was really good! That little Onkyo is a gem.

In some ways, a high performance amplifier is like a high performance race car. It needs to accelerate instantly and then stop on a dime - without swerving off the track.

Transient response* is an important factor in amplifier design.

In audio, an example would reproducing a 96 piece orchestra that’s reaches a crescendo, then pianissimo. The finale of Gershwin’s ’Rhapsody in Blue’ would be a good example.

Other examples would include: hearing a close-mic’d plucking of a guitar string - or - the thwap of a drum stick hitting a snare drum - and then the decay that follows. Does it sound like the real thing? A good synergy between the amp and speakers will define that. Much depends on the kind of music being listened to and the priorities of the listener.

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* In electrical engineering and mechanical systems, the transient response refers to the temporary behavior exhibited by a system when subjected to a sudden change or disturbance in its input. It encompasses the system’s reaction to a stimulus before it settles into a stable, long-term state1. Specifically:

@ssg308 The 250.8 does approx 16 Watts peak in class A into 8 ohms and half that into 4 (according to Pass)

Audioman58 agree it’s always good to have extra power. Anthony Michelson from musical fidelity said less than 250 w all you get is distortion.So I tried his supercharger 550 mono block to run my Red rose speakers monitors? He is right the speakers came alive.