W4S ST-1000, How Loud Should It Play?

I feel something similar.....I have an STI 500, sometimes I find myself listening to music at about 30 on the dial (which I notice is very loud when my S.O. comes to speak to me and can hear a thing....), on the other hand the amp will go to about 50 on the dial without distortion and the sound is "club" like, so I dont know....this one is rated at 250 @ 8 ohms so yours should really rock at high volume.....FYI, I am using the balanced inputs on my amp, and the RCA inputs give lower sound in my case (I have a CD player which has both outputs) but I cant say for certain if the output have more voltage or if the inputs have different gain.

I'm thinking you are not able to drive them to full power. It's a common problem with ICE amps. Call W4S and see what they say.

ICE amps......virtually all the ASP module amps are strictly time limited at full power.
The Wyred amps are near-clones of the PSAudio offerings of a few years ago.

http://www.icepower.bang-olufsen.com/files/solutions/icepower1000asp.pdf

NOTE: the 15 seconds at max power and the fairly low FTC power rating, which is 'continuous' per FTC testing procedure.

If you require, as average power, more than the amp is capable of, you may simply need to upgrade to something with more......real power....
Perhaps Bryston or Pass?
I own a 'd' amp, so I'm user. At 90db output to my listening position about 11' from the speakers, I measure about 20v to my Magnepans. The peaks must be much higher, but I don't have a scope or peak capture meter.

Interesting points, Magfan. I note, though, that the FTC power rating shown at the link you provided for the Icepower module is based on the assumption of no external heat-sinking. I'd imagine the rating would be significantly higher if the module were in a well-designed amplifier housing. And anyway, if he were exceeding whatever the amplifier's limit is I would think he would be hearing obvious clipping distortion.

In this case, along the lines of my earlier comment I think the OP may simply be expecting too much of the speaker, in terms of maximum volume. I suspect that the root cause of the problem is simply that it is a small speaker having low sensitivity. And adding more power and/or more gain would just add to the risk that it will be damaged, especially given that it is a 2-way speaker having a first order crossover.

I should add that the calculation I presented earlier for maximum continuously attainable volume is overly optimistic, because it doesn't take into account a phenomenon called "dynamic compression," which (among other things) causes sensitivity to decrease when voicecoils reach high temperatures, as a result of having to handle excessively high power levels.

Regards,
-- Al

Al,
Right you are. And from a personal standpoint, I simply NEVER play my panels loud enough to get 'slap', what panels do when they bottom out.

You also bring up one of the really big differences between commerial sound gear and home audio. Professional sound reinforcment speakers can take the kind of pounding which reduces home speakers to junk.

My ICE amp never gets more than warm to the touch. More a tribute to my moderate habits than any inherent high efficiency. A couple kilos of heat sink would probably really help the FTC power.