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What does moving from a 150 watt amp to a 400 watt amp get you?

Hi all, I’m coming back to tap the knowledge of the forum again.  I have a pair of revel ultima studio 2s that I very much enjoy. I’m currently running them with an Ayre V-5xe.  I’ve seen others say that these speakers need to be driven by 400 Watts to get them to sound their best.  I sort of understand the relationship between wattage and sound volume, but if I am not looking for “louder” what do I get with a more powerful amp?  I don’t hear clipping. More current?  But what does that do?  Sorry for my ignorance!
miles_trane
willemj
1,036 posts
 
A big amplifier is useful for a clean sound on dynamic peaks as in symphonic music. Harbeth's Alan Shaw recently did a demonstration of his big M40.1 speakers and the digital power meters on the monoblocks that he was using indicated they were delivering more than 500 watts/ch on peaks.
Fortunately beefy pro audio amplifiers do not cost mega bucks, and can be very good for home audio. See here for a serious test (with an AP audio analyzer) that makes precisely this point: http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/amplificateurs-de-puissance-haute-fidelite/mesures-ampli-yamaha-p...
nutty
1,928 posts
 
miles_trane, 

Are you still using the Ayre K-5xe preamp?

N
g_nakamoto's avatar
g_nakamoto
177 posts
 
I've read the 'stereo review' magazine from 1970 to it's end. they say that to hear a difference in volume you have to triple the wattage to hear a 3 decibel increase. from 100 watts you need 300 watts. from 300 watts you need 900 watts. from 900 watts you need 2700 watts. to all out there , is this still true??
jafant
10,525 posts
 

My interpretation as well - g_nakamoto


Happy Listening!

mrvordo's avatar
mrvordo
142 posts
 
+1 what initforthemusic and timlub said. MOST of the rest of the responses do not match my 45 years of experience in this hobby. But quality will matter over quantity, and I love great big power supplies.
Good listening,

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