a Power vs Volume Question

Just as a point of reference:

All other variables being exactly the same; to have something play twice as loud as a 200 watt amplifier, you would need 2000 watts (not 400). Just for you to note that 100 more watts from 200 is not a lot.

You might notice more refinement, dynamics, and less distortion, because the 300 watt amp does not have to work as hard to drive the speakers. You probably would not really notice more volume.

thanks for your enlightening responses.

Actually, if your speakers' sensitivity are 85db/1W/1M, then, of course with 1 watt of power at 1meter, you'r SPL will be 85db. Since you'd need to double your power to increase your SPL by 3db, you'd need 536,870,912 watts to double your volume to 172db. So, if your SPL was X at your listening distance with 200w,and you now raised your power by 50% you're only raising your SPL by 1.5db. Not very much.

Ohhhhhh, THAT'S where I miscalculated! I thought I needed 536,870,913 watts.

Sheesh, and yet another 37.062017-foot Marshall stack!

172dB??? Wouldn't that cause incontinence, impotence, deafness, blindness, and sudden death? WOW, now that's really something to shoot for!