power

By definition, if you have enough power then you don't need more.

There are a lot of speakers that work very well with low watts, I would  say..5w to 25w. But in the real world most speakers need Power to open up and sound great or to bring out the speakers full potential.


Matt M

More power is nice, but not at the expense of quality in my opinion, and that's often the compromise that's made. Higher power requires more creative ways of managing the inevitable distortion that aren't needed on lower power amps. 

It was explained to me this way many years ago and I always reflect. My previous understanding was that amplifiers provide power to the speaker to use. It was best to get an amp that could match the power rating of the speaker. Now I think that the speaker DRAWS power from the amp. At different peak frequencies it will draw more or less. Also the more complex the music becomes. The amp one chooses must be up the task of provided all the power the speakers demand. If not, it will strain the amp and that can lead to distortion. The best amps have enough current to provide the power needed for the speakers demand. Be aware some speakers dip to a 2 ohm load or lower. Quality amps never sound strained to me. I always pick amps of high current capability, even if they exceed the power requirements of the speaker. To me, good quality watts means less distortion. This comes from quality parts, smart design and well built (often large) transformers. Anyone out there with electrical engineering backgrounds, please feel free to correct my simple understanding here.

The key is, how can you know what "enough" power is? I read an article recently that discussed the power requirements of transients. It could be a quick slap of a snare drum or a tympani, really any sound that is instantaneous can cause the speakers to try to accurately reproduce the sound. Those transients can cause the speakers to draw a huge amount of power in a very short period of time. The ability of your amp to handle these transient peaks will affect the overall sound quality.

My speakers are 4 ohm rated at 96db which is very efficient. I recently traded amps (solid state) and went from 220w per channel which drove the speakers very well, to an amp of the same brand at 470w per channel. The difference in sound quality was amazing. I couldn't believe how much better defined everything was. The bass was tighter, the mids clearer, it was as if I had purchased new speakers. So back to that article; the author noted that due to the high power requirement of transients, the more power the better even with efficient speakers.