Does the amp wattage make a big difference?

On power amps, the doubling of power results in a 3db increase. An increase from a 50 watt to a 100 watt power amp would result in a 3db increase in sound pressure levels. So increasing an amp from 50 watts to 200 watts would increase the SPL by 6db. As this is a logarithmic progression, you can see that SPL levels reach a ceiling rather quickly! For voltage amps (phono amps & preamps) the doubling of VOLTAGE results in a 6db increase. Although this is not the specific answer to your question, it helps to understand what increasing power will mean in real world applications. Don't forget that you can increase power by reducing speaker impedance for SS amps (although this may result in a decrease in performance of certain parameters (bass damping and exceesive circuit heat) in certain amps. Many tube amps though, perform better when matched with a HIGHER impedance speaker, especially OTL (transformerless) amps. Here are the decibel formulae:

Watts...dbw = 30 x log (E2/E1)
Volts...dbv = 20 x log (E2/E1)

These formulae are useful for comparing the actual increase/decrease of power or voltage when working with amps that are not doubled (or halved) with respect to output.

Not if you're using Audio Research amps.---- Sorry, just couldn't resist that. I'm workng on self control mamagement. Twice the power at low volumes still helps, I think. Having been there and done that I find the presentation seems more effortless.

"You can never have too much power." I got that quote from Krell, and I agree.

Richard

on planer speakers,the amount of current is more important than the volts,especially 4 ohm rated speakers.i have a 250 watt carver amp that is voltage driven,it is not nearly as effective as my 225 watt current driven b&k 2220 amp.