How many watts from your main amplifier?

[monkfish]

120w per channel with 89dB speakers.

 

[trio leo]

My Albarry M1108 Mono-blocs are 110 Watts into 8 Ohms, my speakers are Allison 3 corner speakers, 4 Ohm, IIRC 93db effeiciency, I believe the 1108's are 180 Watts in to 4 Ohms, although they deliver over a Kw on peak delivery, all electronic gobbledygook to me, but they sound fantastic.

cheers Al

 

[Sibbers]

150w @ 8ohms with 87db speakers (LSA Standard Hybrid with some excellent 60s telefunken valves up front and a few replaced parts to bring it to signature/statement level - apparently will do 830+ watts into 1.3ohms and my speakers swing down to about 3.6ohms and it sounds great even unmodified with standard valves. No previous amp could really drive my speakers)

 

[rbrown]

Well over 250/channel - I have these:

http://www.adam-audio.com/en/pro-audio/products/s2x/technical-data

Lots and lots of watts.

Rich

 

[flatpopely]

JVC AX-Z1010TN:-

100W RMS both channels at 8OHM at 1KHz <0.7% THD
160W RMS both channels at 4OHM at 1KHz <0.7% THD
320W RMS into 2 OHM 'dynamic' - no specs supplied!

It's up to driving the Linn Saras!

 

[Michael J]

... my speakers swing down to about 3.6ohms ...

Eeaasy load. What was the problem with other amplifiers?

 

[gary yeowell]

Not exactly sure, as the rating for the Nait 1 seems to be quoted anything from 8-15w, so lets just say about 12 good ones.

 

[sls4321]

My amps are in the range of about 4W RMS per channel to 100 W, which is the Quad 405-2.

I can only guess that I have about thirty different amplifiers, including Radford STA25 III, Quad II's, Rogers Cadet III, Williamson, a Chinese single ended EL34 amp, Radford SCA50, Radford ZD50, Quad 405-2, Quad 303 (x4), Technics SU-V303, Pioneer SA-410 (x2), Luxman L-200, A&R A60 (x3), Leak Stereo 70 (x2), Leak stereo 30 (x4). B&O Beolab 1700 (x2), Cambridge Audio P75 (I think!), Various chips amps including Class D TPA3116 (very good).

Many people think more watts are better than less watts. Quite often the opposite is true.

Using a very powerful good powerful class A/B transistor at low levels is probably not using it in it's lowest distortion area. A similar quality, but lower power amp used at the same low level may well be operating nearer it's low distortion area, so quite likely sounding better.

Can anyone express this in a better way for me?

I believe that the above is often correct, but please put me right if I am wrong.

In my experience low level performance, in terms of retaining dynamics and soundstage, is much more to do with the speakers than the amplifier. I had some expensive speakers and at low level I might as well have used a transistor radio. I use Quad 260w monoblocks with Harbeth and at low level and the sound is superb. Better than my 20w 300BXLS SET amp that could not do bass and cost 4 times as much.

 

[linnfomaniac83]

Just had a look at the specs in the manual and it's less than I thought. 100 RMS into 8 ohms... Linn KCT.

As for speaker efficiency, I really don't know. They are Linn Keltiks driven actively (as all keltiks are) by four of the above amps. It goes louder than I can get away with before it starts to sound unpleasant.

 

[jamesd]

22 SET watts from 845 tubes

 

[Colin L]

440W @ 8ohm per mono-block
Two power cables per mono-block

 

[peter bj]

35 - 50 seems plenty for standmounts but some speakers do thrive on lots of watts , interesting that 65-100 seems most popular

 

[rbrown]

440W @ 8ohm per mono-block
Two power cables per mono-block

What are they Colin? I'm intrigued.

 

[Caledon1297]

70W.

 

[S-Man]

"How many watts output does the main amplifier have in your main system?"

Depends on the input signal!

Do I qualify for the best smartarse answer?

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

To use a Bentley quote, "more than adequate".
My assumption is that my Quad current dumping amp will be running class A with my 94db/w speakers and that's far more interesting to me. Has the smoothness akin to a good Sugden, low end control of a good SS amp and oodles of headroom.

 

[James]

I have 30 perfectly formed class A watts per side from a Pioneer M-22, which is my preferred amp.

I have other amplifiers, of course, ranging from a nifty 20W NAIT2 to an awesome 180W Dynavector HX1.2mk2.

 

[PsB]

18 watts per channel of class A goodness (parallel 300Bs), into 94db/W speakers. More power than I ever need, and helps to keep the living room warm in winter.

 

[vacuum_tubes]

8 watts of 300b into 98dB speakers.

 

[Darth Vader]

My amps are in the range of about 4W RMS per channel to 100 W, which is the Quad 405-2.

I can only guess that I have about thirty different amplifiers, including Radford STA25 III, Quad II's, Rogers Cadet III, Williamson, a Chinese single ended EL34 amp, Radford SCA50, Radford ZD50, Quad 405-2, Quad 303 (x4), Technics SU-V303, Pioneer SA-410 (x2), Luxman L-200, A&R A60 (x3), Leak Stereo 70 (x2), Leak stereo 30 (x4). B&O Beolab 1700 (x2), Cambridge Audio P75 (I think!), Various chips amps including Class D TPA3116 (very good).

Many people think more watts are better than less watts. Quite often the opposite is true.

Using a very powerful good powerful class A/B transistor at low levels is probably not using it in it's lowest distortion area. A similar quality, but lower power amp used at the same low level may well be operating nearer it's low distortion area, so quite likely sounding better.

Can anyone express this in a better way for me?

I believe that the above is often correct, but please put me right if I am wrong.

As you asked, the answer to your question is that you are wrong. A properly designed class AB amp operates in class A for the first few Watts. This is the purest method of amplification. Thats why the best amps are pure class A. They have their own problems in being expensive, heavy, get very hot and cost a lot in electricity bills. Class AB works on the principle that most of what you hear can be handled by a few Watts but transients need a lot of power for a very small time duration and need to be fast. So they operate in Class A at low levels but switch momentarily to class B operation to handle the transients.

At the expense of groans from some pfm members my own amps deliver >1600Wpc into 4 Ohms and sound absolutely wonderful at low volume levels. No I don't turn the volume down but in some classical pieces you go from a single voice/instrument playing ppp to a full on fff when the orchestra comes in. Ditto for a church pipe organ especially if someone is playing Bach.

BTW I am familar with most of the amps that you mention and have in the past designed and built my own using EL34/EL84/6L6/KT66/KT88 yadda yadda. The big powerful amps were for the guitars/vocalists in my band before we could afford to buy Vox AC30s............

The Williamson was a breakthrough and somewhere I have the original design notes. I was only a kid when I first heard one but I was shocked at how good it sounded and that was with lesser speakers than we see around today.

Oh! These big beasts of an amp are silent. No hiss nor hum even with my ears pressed against the speakers drivers - there are 8 per channel.

Cheers,

DV