In theory, maybe. But I have noticed a distinct sound difference in certain speakers when you feed them more power or hook them to an amp that just has more grunt. They sound "more alive" and dynamic than what they do with less WPC.
For example, the original Elac UNi-Fi's are still loud with lower power amps, but they just sound flat and dull. Give them more power with a good 4ohm amp and they completely transform. I'm sure there's a point where X watts will sound the same as X+n watts, but every speaker is going to differ in that and some may and will respond better to a higher power amp.
And given AJ's previous designs, his speakers typically like more power.
Absolutely not. You cannot make a claim that is contrary to fundamental facts unless you at least provide a smidgen of evidence to back up what you are saying. There are basically two ways to do it. You can either show results from a properly executed double-blind test where it had been confirmed that at least one person was able to reliably tell the difference between the sound of the weaker amp vs. the stronger amp, when everything else was the same, when the volume level was low enough to insure that neither amp was clipping, where both amps are similar in terms of nominal distortion below the point of clipping, and where the volume levels are properly equalized. The other way is to use measurements to show that there should be an audible difference under those same conditions.
The language you used to make this silly claim is meaningless jabberwocky. "more grunt" means what exactly? "more alive" means what exactly? I understand the meaning of the word "dynamic" but the way you are using it is mysterious because it is not the least bit apparent what you mean. It is just a buzz word that you are using without any concern with whether your use of it has any palpable meaning. And that is annoying.
What you're saying just doesn't make sense, because it is incompatible with facts that are about as fundamental as facts can be. Given two amplifiers with similar levels of nominal distortion, and with both operating at a power level where neither is clipping, with the sound level equalized, they will not sound different unless one of them is distorting in some way that hasn't been identified. The ability of one of the two amps to supply more current than the speaker uses at the non-clipping signal level cannot possibly affect the sound. The idea that it would is preposterous, because it is entirely the same as claiming that even though the speaker uses the same amount of power with both amps, it uses more power with the more powerful amp than with the less powerful amp. Self-contradictory statements do not ever make sense, and even though you didn't say this in a clear manner, it is in fact what your claim amounts to.
The reason this bugs me is that it is one of the most common misunderstandings among common audiophiles, and it is contrary to fundamental facts and also contrary to common sense. A speaker uses only as much power as it uses, and the only way it is possible for the sound to improve if the speaker is connected to an amplifier that is capable of supplying more power than the speaker uses is if distortion is lower with the more powerful amplifier. It is possible that distortion will be lower with the more power amplifier, and it is possible that distortion will be lower with the less powerful amplifier. Obviously only one of these two possibilities is possible if the weaker amplifier is clipping, but if the weaker amplifier is clipping, this is a different matter altogether, unless you happen to believe that all amplifiers are clipping to some extent all the time. If we're talking about the weaker amplifier clipping, we don't use words and phrases like, "more grunt", "more alive", and "dynamic". Rather, we say that if the weaker amplifier is clipping, a more powerful amplifier will sound better.
I'm sorry, but when someone says something that is just plainly wrong, it does not help for them to try and rationalize the idea with anecdotal non-information. The notion is wrong. Speakers do not use more power than they use. You can bend it, twist it, swallow it and fart it out until hell freezes over, and the fact will remain that speakers do not use more power than they use.
