Thanks for the reply, appreciate it. While I can't argue with your logic -- seems very good -- I can't help but wonder why Amir includes dynamic range specs in his testing. If you're correct, it has pretty much nothing to do with real world listening. Any thoughts?
Great point, as you alluded to, for real world listening, i.e., in practical terms, most of us will be limited by, but not limited to, the following facts:
- The maximum peak voltage/current your speaker can take when listening to the most dynamic music you listen to.
- Your speaker's sensitivity, in dB/2.83 V/m
- Your seating distance
- Impedance/phase angle characteristics
- The contents we listen to, for example: heavily amplified live rock concerts recordings, vs huge symphony orchestras (classical such Beethoven's Symphony No.9)
Just because many members on ASR might have the likes of the McIntosh 2 kW per channel amp, or bridged Crown audio XLS2502, doesn't mean your 125 WPC AVR (just as example) are clipping in your own applications. For example, I know in one of my 2 channel system, my 500 W 4 ohm rated amp would never be pushed to more than 50 W under the most demanding condition. My own rule of thumb is, if the calculated (easy to do) maximum power I need is say 20 W 4 ohms, I would go with an amp rated 200 W, preferable much higher, based on my speaker's recommended power handling spec of, say, 200 W. That's just me, to me, you can't have too much power whether you need it or not.