Is there any reason why a more powerful amp should sound better?
- Thread starter davidro
- Start date
Well, if one needs more power, they need more power. I don't think anyone here would suggest that small amps suite everyone's needs.
If an amplifier is too small to reach the power levels you want, and the speakers can make use of that additional power, well then you need a bigger amp.:yes:
musichal
poet emeritus
All in all, I'm in the rather-have-too-much-power-than-too-little camp. The speakers I'm using now with the big Adcoms don't require all that power, but if I do ever come home from GW with some power-hungry behemoths, at least I'll likely have enough high-quality juice to enjoy them!
bshorey
Super Member
Well, there's "hard to drive", and "needs a lot of watts". My Quad ESL's (and some Infinity's) are hard to drive amp killers, but don't require a lot of power.
My Ohm I's need some power to get moving. They don't really wake up until you can throw something significant at them. The Walsh series speakers were similar, they seemed to need > 100 watts to sound decent.
bs
bshorey
Super Member
The simple answer is 'headroom'. I forget the exact numbers, but I seem to recall that if you are sending 5-10 watts continueous to a speaker, then on some loud passages you might easily send 10x that, or 100 watts. If all you've got is 50, then you might end up clipping.
Second, in my mind, would be dynamic range. Maybe more noticeable on a speaker that can handle more power, but the difference between the loud passages and the quiet ones may be more limited if you have less power.
My .02,
bs
If one is listening at an average level of say 5 watt continuous and a peak of say, +20dB occurred beyond that, it would require 500 watts to make that peak without clipping. A +20dB increase from 10 watts would require 1000 watts.
Of course I can confuse the issue further by pointing out that a highly sensitive speaker with low compression will have more headroom with a low powered amp than an insensitive and highly compressing speaker will with a high powered amp.
Why would you want to confuse the issue?
SaSi
Seriously Illogical
You are right, no point in strolling in a fast car. But when you can drive a fast car faster, then that's fun!
yamahammer
mikiesmadness continues
i like over my 400 wpc sand powered amp but i also like my 2.0 wpc SET tube amp driving the right speakers or headphones the music can come alive
You're humorless. I don't think I've confused anyone but added another wrinkle to the story; when talking headroom one must take into consideration a speaker's sensitivity and it's compression characteristics.
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Its not like you have a lifetime of experience with highly efficient speakers or anything.
Now go pick up a pair of Altec 19s so I can listen to them whenever I unbury myself from this mountain of work.
You're confusing the issue. OP asked if swapping between higher and lower power amps would make a difference with all else being equal. All else includes speakers and now you are making a mess of the discussion by swapping speakers.
A mess is humorless. Unless it is made by an infant pouring Spaghetti-Os on its head. Then its pretty darn funny.
I'm replying to the turn towards headroom the discussion took, I didn't initiate it. As you should damned well know. I think you're just being contradictory because I made it clear, in a polite but pointed way that I disagree with you.
wizargoz
Super Member
I'm too lazy to read all these posts- but my take is that it's not so much the "power", WPC etc. It's the components, design and the build quality.
In my experience (YMMV), the best power amps that I have had are of dual mono design, with big caps, and quality parts and wiring. My current Soundstream amp (designed by Krell) has quality built into every aspect of it- same with the Vincent Hybrid preamp. The Soundstream puts out a conservative 200 WPC- with 4db of "headroom"- and sounds fantastic. So to me it's not so much the WPC, as the fact that when they build these high power amps, in most cases they use a quality design and parts for the best sound.
Now I'm sure there are some crappy high-power amps out there that will sound worse than a Marantz 2016. But IMHO, in general, many of the higher power amps are just built better. :tresbon:
In my experience (YMMV), the best power amps that I have had are of dual mono design, with big caps, and quality parts and wiring. My current Soundstream amp (designed by Krell) has quality built into every aspect of it- same with the Vincent Hybrid preamp. The Soundstream puts out a conservative 200 WPC- with 4db of "headroom"- and sounds fantastic. So to me it's not so much the WPC, as the fact that when they build these high power amps, in most cases they use a quality design and parts for the best sound.
Now I'm sure there are some crappy high-power amps out there that will sound worse than a Marantz 2016. But IMHO, in general, many of the higher power amps are just built better. :tresbon:
TerryO
Super Member
I was wondering when someone would just come out and actually mention Damping Factor by name instead of hinting around about it.
Since DF has been dismissed as a viable figure of merit, I believe that there's no point in mentioning it again.
Best Regards,
TerryO
TerryO
Super Member
I guess I missed it, where are the speakers that are being used, mentioned by the OP?