Over the years I went significantly down with the power in my main system.
I started with 20 watts fisher push-pull amp on mids/tweeters + 50 watts for woofers,
then I changer fisher to self made ~5-7 watts single ended KT88 amp for mids/tweeters. Big improvement in quality.
Now I have only 1.6 watts OTL amp on it. Why? The sound quality. There is inverse relationship between wattage and sound quality. It's my personal opinion and I am sticking to it after numerous listening tests. Plus my speakers are 97dB...so that helps.
When I measured precisely how much watts is being used at normal listening, it was always only few hundred milliwats. Yes, milliwats not watts. Rarely I exceed one watt. I am talking about normall listening level offcourse.
Well, there are those occasions after few drinks, where no amount of power seems enough...and the more you have the better, otherwise you end up replacing tweeters from constant clipping. But I have different system for that, see my PA system for the group I built...powered by 2000 watts behringer.
Recently I was comparing some amps, bottom of the line NIKKO 35 watts after re-caping beat the heck out of 220 watts top of the line JVC super amp. Go figure...
I started with 20 watts fisher push-pull amp on mids/tweeters + 50 watts for woofers,
then I changer fisher to self made ~5-7 watts single ended KT88 amp for mids/tweeters. Big improvement in quality.
Now I have only 1.6 watts OTL amp on it. Why? The sound quality. There is inverse relationship between wattage and sound quality. It's my personal opinion and I am sticking to it after numerous listening tests. Plus my speakers are 97dB...so that helps.
When I measured precisely how much watts is being used at normal listening, it was always only few hundred milliwats. Yes, milliwats not watts. Rarely I exceed one watt. I am talking about normall listening level offcourse.
Well, there are those occasions after few drinks, where no amount of power seems enough...and the more you have the better, otherwise you end up replacing tweeters from constant clipping. But I have different system for that, see my PA system for the group I built...powered by 2000 watts behringer.
Recently I was comparing some amps, bottom of the line NIKKO 35 watts after re-caping beat the heck out of 220 watts top of the line JVC super amp. Go figure...
TRM-600 ?
I did the recap job past summer, great amp!
The preamplifier section...go figure ( all the beautiful knobs are useless
)
Too many factors to analise...there's not a simple answer
The good answer will be a long travell into efficiency, speakers, human audibility, audio preferences and ambience.
Really, gonna be 20 pages size.
Yes and no is the answer.
In the reality..only you can answer..we can analise and analise and analise and the result may not match your character or personality.... a Psycho analisis from you, in advance, is required.
Carlos
The good answer will be a long travell into efficiency, speakers, human audibility, audio preferences and ambience.
Really, gonna be 20 pages size.
Yes and no is the answer.
In the reality..only you can answer..we can analise and analise and analise and the result may not match your character or personality.... a Psycho analisis from you, in advance, is required.
Carlos
Im a 13 year old who listens to dubstep,i have a 2x40w with one 3inc and one 4" speker per channel,and i have to tell,im very dissapointed with output volume,i will build an 800w x2 amp since i dont stop till i feel it in my chest,i like loud music i dont really have detailed hearing(i cant diferentiate my cheap chip amps from tube amps)
25 wpc? Sacrebleu! What's the usage? Are you just discussing your average living room?
Fine, at my home 30wpc is plenty. Speakers are 85 dB sensitive, 200 ft^2 room. 4.5" woofer and dome tweeter. Too loud when you turn it up.
Another place I frequent, 125wpc plus a 300 watt plate amp sometimes leaves you wanting. Speakers are 96dB sensitive in a 1500 ft^2 room.
I need 1000 watts if we have a block party. Speakers are 100dB sensitive.
There is a reason those big amps exist.
Fine, at my home 30wpc is plenty. Speakers are 85 dB sensitive, 200 ft^2 room. 4.5" woofer and dome tweeter. Too loud when you turn it up.
Another place I frequent, 125wpc plus a 300 watt plate amp sometimes leaves you wanting. Speakers are 96dB sensitive in a 1500 ft^2 room.
I need 1000 watts if we have a block party. Speakers are 100dB sensitive.
There is a reason those big amps exist.
lol...very funny! you will "NEVER" feel real bass with a 4 inch driver!!! get those old Klipsch speakers with S.P.L 93db and higher and then you will feel bass.
40 watts R.M.S per channel will be more than enough.
I clip my 120w/ch amplifier more often than I'd like.
It runs the LF for a biamped system. The woofers are Tang Band W6-1139 woofers, one per side.
More efficient speakers are probably needed, but I don't have the space (thank-you, Hoffman!)
As a slight aside, anyone know how much power those woofers can stand? The spec sheet says 50w continuous, 100w peak, but I'm fairly sure that ain't so.
Chris
It runs the LF for a biamped system. The woofers are Tang Band W6-1139 woofers, one per side.
More efficient speakers are probably needed, but I don't have the space (thank-you, Hoffman!)
As a slight aside, anyone know how much power those woofers can stand? The spec sheet says 50w continuous, 100w peak, but I'm fairly sure that ain't so.
Chris
I have gone the same way as Adason. I gave my floor standing Wharfedales and my Denon 60w/ch amp to my Son and now use a 1970 10w / ch amp and cheap but sensitive Aiwa bookshelf speakers. In my small sitting room 1 watt is plenty for listening to baroque and classical music, and the sound stage at low levels is remarkable.
I'm moving to a mobile home ( a trailer in USA parlance) so this set up will be quite adequate.
The ear can be overloaded so easily!
I'm moving to a mobile home ( a trailer in USA parlance) so this set up will be quite adequate.
The ear can be overloaded so easily!
To properly hear certain music and hear everything in the track, 10W IMO is bare minimum, 25W would be a bit better. That is sitting 4 ft or less (close) to the speakers. It's definitely not enough watts to enjoy if walking around the room.
If you really want headroom without clipping, and to REALLY hear everything clearly, IMO 50-100W is MINIMUM!!! Especially if you like good SQ, using lower-efficiency speakers in sealed boxes like I do.
If you really want headroom without clipping, and to REALLY hear everything clearly, IMO 50-100W is MINIMUM!!! Especially if you like good SQ, using lower-efficiency speakers in sealed boxes like I do.
This, with music that supports a wide dynamic range
I've found that 80 watts is more than adequate as long as good speakers are used. On occasion I have my 'music hour' which means playing some tracks really loud, louder than normal, and then the watt reserves are a nice welcome. It's nice when the amp never goes into clip regardless of the volume knob setting. 25W would be fine for ambient listening, but it would fall short for my music hours lol
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You are lucky to have young ears - I can't hear as well as I used to, high frequencies go first and at night when it's all quiet you can hear 'noise' - perhaps a low level form of Tinitus but who knows. You may not feel that you have detailed hearing because your ears are 'inexperienced', but they will develop great skill if you want. Whatever you do, don't go ruining your ears with loud music
I use a flea powered tube amp as my main amp. I acknowledge that it does not have the dynamic range to produce realistic music, but I like it all the same. There will always be tradeoffs.
My home theatre needs more power, the speakers are less efficient and bass-heavy sound tracks stress low powered amplifiers because the majority of them have relatively smaller power supplies. A lot of the sonic benefit of a big amp comes from big power supplies and higher voltages across components which depending on the design can result in lower distortion even at low volume.
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AC/DC Are In The Building...
Nah, stuff like AC/DC....close to zero dynamic range !.
Dan.
This, with music that supports a wide dynamic range
Nah, stuff like AC/DC....close to zero dynamic range !.
Dan.
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