Dynamic Headroom

Magfan -- No correction needed. You don't need any dynamic headroom provided that brief musical peaks do not approach the 500 watts. Keep in mind, though, that 500 watts is only about 12db louder than 30 watts.

Best regards,
-- Al

Al - I like percents or ratios instead of dB. In case of 500W vs. 30W ratio of perceived loudness is:

R = (500/30)^(1/3.5)= 2.23 where "^" means "to power"

Grimace,

Before the post turned into a congressional assembly, I think Al's initial post is a legitimate answer.

Cyclonicman - Thank you for you valuable summary.

Thanks for all the comments. Feel free to battle it out. Interesting conversation