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Need some Amp help - a little new to properly powering speakers

Hello. 

 I have some polk LSIM707s that I thorough enjoy.

However, at the moment I'm powering them using a Yamaha aventage 3070 receiver which at 150 watts at 8ohms sounds pretty darn good. 

However, since these are rated at 300 watts at 8 Ohms, I assume I will need some more power. I notice at lower volumes a lot of the imaging and clarity disappears. 

I am looking at buying a 300 watt emotiva Amplifier, or a 500 watt emotiva amplifier.

I'm assuming it would be better to purchase the 500 watt per channel emotiva so the speakers won't suck it dry or stress it. 

Am i wrong in this assumption? 
moskaudio
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mesch
1,679 posts
 
Don't worry about the 300 watt rating on the speakers. That is a max level and no indication of what is needed to drive them in a particular sized room. If you can attain the volume levels desired and are happy with your amp/speaker combo then enjoy.
noromance's avatar
noromance
1,780 posts
 
What Rob and others said. Although, I guess he was joking about the Quads. Your rig sounds pretty good at high volumes but giving it bigger amps will only make it a little louder. You need to get better quality gear to make it sound better at lower volumes.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Agree with the sentiment of pursuing higher "quality" amplifier (true for all audio products make quality the priority ) rather than higher power. 
loomisjohnson
1,526 posts
 
i agree with the foregoing sentiments (which makes me re-think why i'm posting...). more watts, as opposed to higher-quality watts, won't really help. your yamaha seems like a good match for your speakers; you seem to enjoy it and i'd be inclined to leave it as is.
willemj
1,036 posts
 
I don't know of any proper test of the Yamaha, but it may well be pretty good (and not mid-fi) if it compares to e.g. the Yamaha AS700 tested here: http://i.nextmedia.com.au/Assets/Yamaha_AS-700_Amplifier_Review_LoRes.pdf
The need for power largely depends on the music you play, the size of the room and the sensitivity of the speakers (88dB in this case). Unless the room is very large 150 watt per channel should be OK, even if (up to a point) more is always better (for cleaner response to dynamic peaks). More amplifier power does not need to cost much, of course. Better speakers would make a bigger difference, but will cost significantly more.
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