2. amps-preamps
  3. 1328988990

Is there any truth to this question?

Will a lower powered amp that can drive your speakers, in your room, listening to the music you like sound better than using a powerful amp to avoid clipping?

Here's the scenario: Use a 50 w YBA amp to drive 86 db efficient Vandersteens in a 10 x 12 room, listening to jazz or

Will a 200 w Krell or such sound better and more effortless.

Some say buy all the power you can afford and others say the bigger amps have more component pairs ie) transistors to match and that can effect sound quality.
digepix
bradluke0
163 posts
 
Hi all ! This is my experience....two amplifiers from the same company , one a 50wpc amp ...and the other a 250 wpc amp . The smaller amp (operating below clipping) always sounds better than the 250wpc amp . Why ? The larger amp is more complex with more output devices which muddies up the sound . Same goes with tube amps ...same company , same amp family ...one is 30wpc , other one is 140 wpc ...unless clipping the 30 wpc sounds better . Simpler with less BS in the signal path is almost always better .
digepix's avatar
digepix OP
121 posts
 
Pubul..the best I've ever heard Vandersteen 2 speakers was with a Music Reference RM 10. If I were looking at tubes that little EL 84 amp can do magical things. I guess you're all right, you have to try it..it's one time that following the rules doesn't always give you the best result.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,631 posts
 
IN your case with 86db efficient speakers my guess is the 200 w Krell will sound better and more "effortless".
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
Digepix, you are not the first person to tell me that the best they ever heard the Vandersteens was being driven by the tiny RM10 - I kid you not. In fact, I think Roger designed the amp when he owned a pair of the 2Ces, it seems he thought 35 watts was enough power!
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Pass gets mentioned a lot in discussions like this.

2 gain stages simple enough for 'ya? I've read thru his DIY stuff and many amps are simple 'scale ups' of a basic design. More output devices in parallel with minimal matching. Increased PS size / capacity / output heatsinking.

The Pass amps, at least the 'a' amps, avoid certain distortions (crossover) by using a different, highbias design than a/b. His 30x2 'a' amp has something like 20 output device pairs per channel.

I think more important, perhaps, or at least on the table, is degree and type (global or stage-2-stage) levels of feedback. Amps with multiple gain stages can suffer here.

Clipping distortion is awful and enough power should be provided to avoid it.

Personally, I have one of the large 'd' amps of 250x2@8 which doubles up into my panels. I doubt I've ever got the amp past half that on peaks....and 1/10th that in rms.
More to discover