I think the kool-aid is strong. Tried my EL84 amp on my friend;s studio 590s (92db/W/1m) and it had PLENTY of volume and that thing puts out like... 2 watts before distortion goes above .5%. I think his room is ~20m^2?
HEadroom makes basically 0% difference in sound unless you're trying to drive woofers way below resonant. I threw thousands of dollars at my stereo HT system before I tried room correction / measured EQ. It made more difference than my pocketbook.
If you are really curious then set a test tone of ~150hz as loud as you can stand. Measure the RMS voltage at the amp. I = Vrms / Z (~4 ohms at 150Hz). At that same frequency, the JBL 530 measures about -10Degrees or -.17rad. power factor = cos(phi) = cos(-.17) = .999. Basically a pure resistive load at that frequency where the impedance is lowest.
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5A of power in, let's just ball-park 80% efficiency between DC input and amplifier output (even though over 10-20W should be closer to 90% per TI's datasheets) we can say that max current should not exceed 4A, throw that into the equation Watts = Amps * Vrms * power factor. Working backwards we get 55W / (4A * .999pf) = Vrms. If you measure under 14Vrms then you aren't clipping and any deficiency you note is in your room or in your head.
And oh hey look, the chip's specs for a 6-Ohm nominal speaker almost exactly match what Amir measured.
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If we pretend that you are hitting clipping and sit 3m away from the speakers, you should still be hitting 97dB. Guess what? OSHA studies show that an exposure to 97dB for more than 30 minutes will cause irreversible and permanent hearing damage. (full document:
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/98-126/)
Do you listen at nightclub levels? Louder than your average Jazz concert?
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Do your neighbors complain that you music is literally louder than a jackhammer at 50 feet?
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If we pretend you are 20 feet away, the peak SPL only drops to 94dB. You said it's not a huge room. You probably don't ever exceed 10-20W.
"But some reviewers said XYZ sounds more lush and immersive with more breadth and dynamics" Sure, I can also say that I had a threesome with Olivia Wilde and Natalie Portman in 2010. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯