Loudness and power

[sbrads]

I think it's mainly the speakers and room placement that can destroy good dynamic sound, although amps obviously are part of the equation also. Good speakers can sound powerful and dynamic with a watt or two, and that's without needing high efficiency.

Personally I think it's all about projection, good speakers just seem to cut through the air unmolested, bad speakers (the majority) just seem to manage a polite muddled compressed sound that is just a higher volume polite muddled sound as you turn the volume up. Good amps help but they can't overcome a lost cause speaker.

 

[tvrgeek]

Perception of loudness also has a lot to deal with dynamics. Yes, I too tend to like smaller (50W) amps for my small monitor low efficiency speakers, but I do use electronic crossovers and woofers below 60 to 80 Hz. While my 6W tube amp may play a violin just fine, it fails miserably on piano. Quality pf the amp, quality of the speakers etc. I also find small dead rooms to kill the liveliness of music.

It could be I am too cheap to afford the same quality as my small amps in big power.

I may not agree with the analogy sbrads uses, but yes, speakers are 90% of the result.

 

[AndrewT]

........ With my 90db speakers, I only use about 2 watts when playing at a very loud volume. I doubt that 50 watts is too little for you......

Some music will reach peaks that are only ~10dB above your average listening level.

If when you listen loud and you only use that style of peak to average music then a 20W amplifier will never clip.

However, many music sources can and do produce peaks that are approaching 20dB above the average level repeatedly.
If you listen loud with any of these "more normal" sound sources then to avoid repeated clipping you would need a 200W amplifier.

A very few music styles can have peak to average ratios approaching 30dB.

For these I suggest you never listen loud. Just accept whatever volume you can get out of the system without clipping your audio signal.