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Amp power and sound quality

shamrock.

shamrock.

Active Member
I decided to buy a vintage stereo.

Theres not a huge amount of options to purchase locally , Over the last two weeks I bought what I thought was the best I could find on a poor mans budget.

I got a Sansui Au505 that had just been fully recapped and restored, A pair of Beat up Bowers Wilkins DM14

DM14 are apparently supposed to be at their best with like a 100w amp.

My AU505 is rated 12watts RMS , I play my CDs at a moderate volume with the amp turned up to two through these speakers , and they sound great to me.

My question is if I drive these speakers with as good a quality amp, that I am using now. But more powerful than what I'm using ...
Will the speakers perform better at moderate volumes ?
 
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Yes, and said amplifier needs to be of the highest grade. That said, your Sansui is superb with efficient, easily driven speakers. I like Sansui amplifiers. And like their receivers.
 
Thanks for the reply. Gives me an excuse to keep my eyes out for either some good quality , more sensitive speakers ... or a quality higher powered amp
 
Power is all about headroom and reserve. Most music only takes maybe 10watts on average, but it's the instantaneous excursions that can demand way more. If your speakers are efficient, and you're listening at reasonable levels, your amp should do fine, but you won't get the crisp definition across the spectrum that a higher power quality amp can provide.

Low bass will also demand a lot of watts ...
 
Assuming that your amp has the power needed to:

a) achieve desired loudness, and
b) accommodate transient peaks without clipping, or with minimal clipping,

additional power will NOT provide improved sound quality.

In your case, the combination of the low-powered (but nice-sounding!) Sansui and the relatively inefficient B&W's (sensitivity rating of 86dB with one watt) suggests that you are probably getting some amount of clipping distortion...unless all of your listening is done at very moderate volumes.

I can send you a good article explaining the relationship between amplifier power, speaker sensitivity and impedance, loudness and sound quality...shoot me a PM with an email address (the AK messaging system does not support attachments, or I would just PM it to you).
 
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Beware! This is the start of a very slippery slope!

You start off with a few modest components, and then begin to wonder: What other choices there are? Are any of them better than what I have? Can something else make what I already have sound better?

Before you know it, you'll have at least two or three receivers, amps, preamps, CD players, turntables, etc. And a lot more speakers.

And you're gonna have a blast.
 
Since you have already put an investment into a really nice restored low powered amp, IMO I'd roll with trying to find the right speaker match (more efficient speakers) than trying to go the route of another amp right away.

+1 with what KC Bluesman said.
 
More rated power has almost always been an improvement in my experience. On the occasions when it wasn't, I'm tempted to suspect inaccurate ratings.

That said, my more powerful pieces have always also been higher in the lineup pieces, so the extra power may not have been the most important variable.
 
It depends... :)

Depends on the whole system's quality and the matching of the parts

My modified Klipsch Forte never sounded better than being driven by Krell KSA150 which most people would say is unnecessary power for them
 
Amp power and sound quality have a weak correlation, if any at all. SQ is subjective and based on personal preference. As long as you have heard a wide selection of gear, you could say Soundesign has the best SQ and no one can say otherwise. OTOH, there is a stronger correlation between power and objective accuracy.

I would be more concerned with matching the impedance of your speakers to your low powered Sansui. You do not want to clip into expensive drivers.
 
stereofanboy said:
More rated power has almost always been an improvement in my experience. On the occasions when it wasn't, I'm tempted to suspect inaccurate ratings.

That said, my more powerful pieces have always also been higher in the lineup pieces, so the extra power may not have been the most important variable.
Click to expand...

Or a variable at all. If the power is not being used to drive the signal, it cannot play a role in the sound of the signal. Stated another way...if you have a 200 watt amp but need only 100 watts to drive your speakers without clipping (at a given SPL), the additional 100 watts of output capability are irrelevant (until, of course, you decide to increase the volume!). Effectively, wattage does not exist until there is work to be done.
 
SoCal Sam said:
Amp power and sound quality have a weak correlation, if any at all. SQ is subjective and based on personal preference. As long as you have heard a wide selection of gear, you could say Soundesign has the best SQ and no one can say otherwise. OTOH, there is a stronger correlation between power and objective accuracy.

I would be more concerned with matching the impedance of your speakers to your low powered Sansui. You do not want to clip into expensive drivers.
Click to expand...

The impedance of the OP's speakers is appropriate for his amp. He can avoid/minimize the potential for clipping by a) listening only at very moderate volumes, or b) using speakers with a higher sensitivity. Clipping should be avoided regardless of how expensive one's speakers might be, as it results in audible distortion.
 
In the OP's case, he probably can't get more than 78-80dB of nominal output at a normal listening distance of 8-10 feet with that amp and those speakers (without clipping). So yes....more power, or more sensitive speakers, or some combination of both, would be nice (unless he is satisfied with listening at low SPL/loudness levels).

In my experience, reasonably priced and widely available speakers with high sensitivity ratings are either lacking in low frequency output or highly colored in their sound (or both)....but given the highly subjective nature of our preferences, the OP might be quite happy with a set of older Sansui, Pioneer, CerwinVega or Klipsch speakers (many/most of which have high sensitivity ratings).

Alternatively, there are lots of pretty good amps/receivers in the 50-75 watt range that can be had for very reasonable $$...and would be quite satisfactory for driving his B&W's to fairly loud levels in a small or mid-sized room.

And yes....a "little more juice" certainly doesn't hurt anything (except your wallet). It's hard to know precisely how much power you need because of the large number of variables involved. I always recommend using the math to determine how much power you need (given speaker sensitivity, listening distance, and desired nominal SPL), and then add 50-100% to that number as "insurance".
 
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If you are listening in a bedroom you don't need more power! How big is your room, and is it in a house or apartment (neighbors?)
 
As mentioned, it's more about matching components that play well together ... literally!

I went from 200wpc (with 400wpc instantaneous reserve) to a conservative 75wpc here ... major improvement in the smile factor. Main difference is that even the 400wpc peak power of a solid state amp couldn't handle the transients I demanded of the system, and hard clips were a disaster waiting to happen. Changing over to a 75wpc TUBE amp, I imagine I'm still clipping as bad, but as said, we're talking transients, and a tube amp doesn't clip hard like an SS would. If it does clip, I'm hard pressed to notice. I can cue up the 35mm version of Dorati playing the 1812 Overture (complete with French cannon) and still experience the shock 'n awe of the original performance. Kind of the acid test, as they say.

I'm also using fairly inefficient speakers - McIntosh XR16's rated at 89db.

Oh. And +10 on the "slippery slope". I can be a bit OCD about music ... yeah ... definitely!
 
FWIW, I usually listen at moderate levels. This usually corresponds to about 16-20 watt peaks based on load. But with certain records, listening at those levels, the peaks reach a little over 100 watts (recall a recent orchestral piece with timpani).

So if your amp was 20 watts/channel, you could say that it would be unable to play this recording cleanly. But even so, the increase in distortion may or may not be noticable so you never know. But I always like to have power reserves just in case. YMMV
 
I was running 6 ohm studio monitors rated at 20-100watts with a 20wpc tops t-amp. Great performance at lower volumes but when I would push it the legendary THD that these amps are known for kicks in really quickly manifesting itself as congestion and a loss of dynamics. Solved the problem a few days ago with a 60wpc Adcom GFA 535. I can push the volume to maximum tolerable limits very easily without experiencing the congestion and loss of dynamics that I had before hand. I never thought power could make that much of a difference. I originally started chasing HiFi via headphones. With more and more time spent in front of speakers, it turns out that it is that important.

Sent from my ZTE Olympia
 
I would start with a more efficient pair of speakers. Klipsch are known to be very efficient and easy to find. It all depends on what you want to spend.
 
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