More power for better sound at low volumes?

Rustler 06-19-12:
I'm wondering if a more powerful amp will provide better sound at lower volumes, all other things being equal.

If everything else is indeed equal, including the input sensitivity of the power amps (or the power amp sections of integrated amps), noise levels will be worse with a more powerful amp. If input sensitivities (the input voltages required to drive the amps to full power) are equal, it would mean that the more powerful amp will have higher gain, which will amplify any noise that is introduced or generated at circuit points downstream of the volume control by a greater amount.

I suspect that in those cases where it has been found that a higher powered amp provided better results at lower volumes than a lower powered amp (with the same speakers), the reason was not the difference between the power ratings of the amps in itself, but other differences between the designs of the two amps.

Have you tried listening from different distances, compared to the distance you listen from at normal volumes? Perhaps you can find a listening distance at which differences in room acoustics will partially compensate for the reduced sensitivity to low and high frequencies that our hearing mechanisms have at low volumes (the Fletcher-Munson Effect, that was alluded to by Wolfie and Mapman).

Also, along the lines of Newbee's comment, it would seem to make sense that an amp that operates in Class A, at least when it is putting out low power levels, will generally tend to have lower distortion at those levels than a Class AB design.

Regards,
-- Al

My old Quad ESL57's were champs at low volume, so I have to disagree with Tmsorosk.

Anything you can do to lower the noise floor should help. Do you use any power conditioning?

Why is everyone assuming that noise is the biggest issue at low volume? I would think it is the lack of dynamics and bass.

I'm no longer sure what folks here believe the issue is evidenced by. FWIW I measure the low level resolution by the height/width/depth of the soundstage.

Tmsorosk, FWIW I agree with you in part. My experience with electostatic speakers (Quad 63s and Accoustats) which I used over 8 years, support the observation in you first sentence.

Where we part ways is in the second sentence. For example my Silverline Boleros (92db) sensitivity have excellent low level clarity and create a fully dimensional soundstage at SPLs in the low-mid 70's when driven by low power tube amps or high power tube amps. I believe this is not unique. To further contest your statement I owned Paragon dynamic speakers with a 86db sensitivity, 5ohm min/8ohm average impedance, that when driven by 160 tube watts still did not open up until you reached the 80 to 85db spl level. A big difference, for me at least. Think crossover issues perhaps.

I have noticed better low volume sound as the efficiency of the speakers goes up.