This may have been well covered, and I'd definitely appreciate any pointers in the right direction from those who know.
My general sense long has been that more power is better, and more than you think. I over time had been convinced that pretty large amps were necessary for getting solid, clean low end out of speakers I've owned, ones that were not necessarily vary efficient and went down to the low 30s in response, played in my living room at levels that I don't think are loud, but.. probably are louder than I think. In my home system, this theory is based on swapping various power amps in and out with no way of switching quickly enough and always full knowledge of what I was listening to with a heap of biases.
Is there any rational reason to think that, say, low-end would sound "better", perhaps more extended or tighter or something, at medium to low levels? With new Class D amps that seem to stay very linear right up until they clip, it would seem like there would be no reason an amp of double the power would sound any different than a lower powered amp within the smaller amp's usable limit.
I guess what I am wondering is if with class AB amps if harmonic distortion sets in with rising level in such a significantly different way that keeping tons of headroom actually mattered more than it does with new stuff, or if it's all pure imagination that a 250 watt per channel amp would ever sound better than a 100 wpc one at a volume you could still converse over. Were amps of 20-30 years ago such distortion factories that at, say 80 db weighted average at 8 feet with supposedly 85db or so efficiency 8 ohm speakers harmonic distortion from a 100 watt amp would likely be audible to some degree on peaks and low frequency content?
I will try to find the maths for calculating peak SPL at distance and necessary watts which I've seen floating around, but I guess what I would like to be sure about is if after figuring out a number for a reasonable target peak level if one can call it a day and stop imagining that that kick drum might be more tactile or things could be cleaner with double the power.
My general sense long has been that more power is better, and more than you think. I over time had been convinced that pretty large amps were necessary for getting solid, clean low end out of speakers I've owned, ones that were not necessarily vary efficient and went down to the low 30s in response, played in my living room at levels that I don't think are loud, but.. probably are louder than I think. In my home system, this theory is based on swapping various power amps in and out with no way of switching quickly enough and always full knowledge of what I was listening to with a heap of biases.
Is there any rational reason to think that, say, low-end would sound "better", perhaps more extended or tighter or something, at medium to low levels? With new Class D amps that seem to stay very linear right up until they clip, it would seem like there would be no reason an amp of double the power would sound any different than a lower powered amp within the smaller amp's usable limit.
I guess what I am wondering is if with class AB amps if harmonic distortion sets in with rising level in such a significantly different way that keeping tons of headroom actually mattered more than it does with new stuff, or if it's all pure imagination that a 250 watt per channel amp would ever sound better than a 100 wpc one at a volume you could still converse over. Were amps of 20-30 years ago such distortion factories that at, say 80 db weighted average at 8 feet with supposedly 85db or so efficiency 8 ohm speakers harmonic distortion from a 100 watt amp would likely be audible to some degree on peaks and low frequency content?
I will try to find the maths for calculating peak SPL at distance and necessary watts which I've seen floating around, but I guess what I would like to be sure about is if after figuring out a number for a reasonable target peak level if one can call it a day and stop imagining that that kick drum might be more tactile or things could be cleaner with double the power.
